Metro 4 resurfaces as devs confirm "development continues" separately from that new VR game

Metro 4, the next mainline installment in the FPS survival horror series, is still in development, studio 4A Games has confirmed.

In case you missed it during Wednesday's PlayStation State of Play, Vertigo Games and Deep Silver revealed the series' rumored VR spinoff, Metro Awakening, which is coming to Meta Quest 2 and 3, Steam VR, and PSVR 2 in 2024. However, tucked away in the press release sent out for Metro Awakening is this little tidbit confirming: "development continues separately at 4A Games on the next mainline installment of the Metro series."

Some crucial context: 4A Games was founded in Kyiv, Ukraine, and most of its workforce is Ukrainian. Although the studio's headquarters were moved to Malta amidst the Ukrainian crisis and the Russian annexation of Crimea, most its developers chose to remain in Kyiv and other locations around Ukraine even after Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022. In an update shared to the studio's website in January 2023, the company confirmed that "some" of its employees had joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces and "a number of them" had died in the war.

I tell you all of this both to underscore the cosmic headwinds 4A Games continues to face, and to add some much-needed color to the somewhat unusual development timeline of Metro 4. The new installment was first announced back in November 2020, at which point it was said to be taking advantage of current-gen hardware with a complete engine overhaul and focusing on a new multiplayer element in addition to the single-player campaign. However, the studio fell silent on the project until that January 2023 update, at which point it was revealed that the game's story was being re-evaluated around the lived experiences of the developers.

No additional details were revealed about Metro 4 in the press release, but it's encouraging to hear it's still in the pipeline despite the developers' unprecedented challenges. We wish everyone on the team all the best.

For everything on the calendar for this year, here's a list of new games of 2024 and beyond.