Metro 2039 Hands-On: A Relentless, Handcrafted Shooter That Rejects Modern Conventions

After spending three to four hours with Metro 2039, the game impresses with its unapologetic difficulty and refusal to guide the player, dropping them straight into a hostile post-apocalyptic world. The experience emphasizes constant tension, from scarce gas mask filters to a ticking wristwatch, while delivering varied gameplay and meticulously designed environments. The single-player-only focus stands out as a refreshing counterpoint to the industry's live-service trend.

The preview build opens in Sevastopolskaya Metro Station, a populated hub with NPCs and shopkeepers that serves as the sole safe haven before players venture to the surface. Once outside, the protagonist known only as The Stranger faces an entirely hostile environment, encountering mutated creatures ranging from maneating rats and tail-flinging beasts to oversized mosquitos and sewer-dwelling crustaceans, with every human survivor encountered proving immediately aggressive.

Survival hinges on constant resource management, particularly gas mask filters that must be crafted from scavenged materials while a wristwatch timer counts down toward suffocation. Navigation relies on a crude tablet map offering only general direction, forcing players to chart their own paths through the irradiated wasteland. The preview emphasized that gameplay variety kept the experience fresh, with activities rarely repeating during the hands-on session.