This page contains major spoilers for Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, and Metro Exodus. Metro 2039 itself is still unreleased, so its complete plot and ending have not been disclosed.
Metro 2039 tells a new, original single-player story set in post-apocalyptic Moscow in 2039. The protagonist is the Stranger, a former Metro resident living in isolation beyond the city. Violent waking nightmares and unresolved events from his past force him to leave exile and return to the one place he swore he would never enter again: the Metro.
Moscow's underground society has changed in his absence. Its factions and station communities have been united under the Novoreich, an authoritarian regime led by Hunter. The regime controls the population through propaganda and fear while preparing for a new war on the surface. This conflict provides the confirmed foundation of the story, but the Stranger's precise objective, Hunter's complete plan, and the ending remain undisclosed.
The confirmed Metro 2039 story setup
The Stranger is a new, fully voiced protagonist rather than another version of Artyom. He is described as a reclusive survivor haunted by his past. The available story material establishes that these nightmares drive him toward Moscow, but it does not identify their cause or reveal everything that happened before his exile.
The Stranger is Metro 2039's new protagonist.
Inside the Metro, Hunter has become the leader of the Novoreich. He promises to lead humanity back to the surface, yet his government subjugates the remaining population through violence, propaganda, misinformation, and fear. Its rule is presented as a false peace rather than the end of the Metro's conflicts.
Hunter leads the unified Metro under the Novoreich banner.
The central journey will move through both the shattered surface of Moscow and the underground tunnels. The story is delivered through exploration, survival, combat, stealth, and environmental scenes that preserve smaller human stories within abandoned spaces. These elements describe the announced narrative structure, not a complete mission list.
Metro 2039 is the fourth mainline game and continues the game series, but it is not a Metro 2033 remake, an expansion, or a direct adaptation of one Metro novel. It is an original story created by 4A Games in collaboration with Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky.
| Story element | Confirmed information |
|---|---|
| Time and place | Post-apocalyptic Moscow in 2039, including the surface ruins and Metro tunnels |
| Protagonist | The Stranger, a former Metro resident returning from wilderness exile |
| Ruling power | The Novoreich, led by Hunter |
| Immediate pressure | The Stranger's waking nightmares and the return of his past force him toward the Metro |
| Wider conflict | Hunter rules through fear while preparing the population for a new surface war |
| Continuity | A new original story following the earlier mainline games |
| Current limitation | The complete plot, objectives, character outcomes, and ending have not been revealed |
How the previous games lead into Metro 2039
Metro 2039 introduces a new protagonist and conflict, but earlier events explain why Hunter matters, why Moscow's political transformation is alarming, and why the fate of the Metro extends beyond a single faction.
Metro 2033
Metro 2033 follows Artyom, a young resident of Exhibition station. After his home is threatened by psychic beings called the Dark Ones, Hunter tells Artyom to reach Polis and warn the rest of the Metro if Hunter does not return.
Artyom's journey exposes him to the underground's competing powers, including the Fourth Reich, the communist Red Line, Hanza, Polis, and the Rangers. When the Polis council refuses to save Exhibition, Artyom joins Ranger commander Miller and reaches the D6 military facility.
The story ends with missiles destroying the Dark Ones' home. Although Metro 2033 contains an alternate ending, the following game continues from the missile launch. Hunter does not return to guide Artyom, leaving his fate unresolved within the early games.
Artyom's journey begins beneath ruined Moscow.
Metro: Last Light
Metro: Last Light takes place after the attack on the Dark Ones. Artyom, now a Ranger, learns that a young Dark One survived. The Red Line and other factions also pursue the creature while competing for control of D6 and its military resources.
Through the young Dark One, Artyom discovers that the creatures had attempted to communicate with humanity. Their psychic contact had been misunderstood as aggression, and Artyom recognizes the consequences of his earlier decision.
The canonical outcome has the Dark Ones intervene during the Red Line's assault on D6, saving the Rangers before departing. They promise that their kind may return when humanity is ready. The exact part they will play in Metro 2039 has not been established by the available story material.
The surviving Dark One becomes central to the struggle over D6.
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus reveals that Moscow is not the last surviving human settlement. Hanza has been using signal jammers to hide outside communications and maintain the belief that the wider world remains empty or hostile.
After discovering the deception, Artyom, Anna, Miller, and the Spartans escape Moscow aboard the Aurora. Their journey across Russia becomes a search for somewhere safe to live. Anna falls seriously ill, and the group eventually travels to heavily irradiated Novosibirsk to find medicine.
Miller sacrifices himself after helping Artyom recover the treatment. The survivors later reach a habitable area, where Artyom assumes leadership of the Rangers and intends to help other survivors learn the truth about the surface.
This departure removes several familiar figures from Moscow and creates space for a different power to dominate the tunnels. By Metro 2039, the remaining factions have been absorbed into Hunter's Novoreich.
The Rangers leave Moscow in search of a safer future.
What changes in 2039
The new story shifts attention away from Artyom and toward a survivor with a separate history. The Stranger's return makes the Metro familiar territory viewed from a new perspective: he once lived there, deliberately left it, and is now compelled to go back.
Hunter creates the strongest direct link to the beginning of the game series. In Metro 2033, he is the respected Spartan whose disappearance begins Artyom's mission. In Metro 2039, he has resurfaced as a fanatical ruler with the entire underground under his control. The published setup does not yet explain how he survived, what happened during his absence, or why he embraced the Novoreich ideology.
The political conflict is therefore more than another battle between independent stations. The underground has already been unified, but that unity rests on coercion. Hunter's promised campaign for the surface places the Stranger's personal journey inside a larger struggle over tyranny, silence, war, and freedom.
Confirmed details and unrevealed mysteries
Because Metro 2039 has not launched, descriptions of its story should stop at the announced premise. Trailer scenes and preview footage can establish characters, locations, and broad conflicts, but they do not disclose the final order or outcome of the campaign.
| Confirmed | Not yet revealed |
|---|---|
| The player controls the Stranger | The Stranger's real name and complete history |
| His waking nightmares force him out of exile | The origin and meaning of those nightmares |
| He must return to Moscow and the Metro | His precise target and complete objective |
| Hunter leads the Novoreich | How Hunter survived and became its ruler |
| The regime uses propaganda and fear | Hunter's full plan and the true nature of the threatened surface war |
| The story continues the game continuity | Whether Artyom or other absent Rangers appear directly |
| Earlier Dark One events remain relevant to the setting | The Dark Ones' exact role in the new conflict |
| The campaign combines exploration, survival, combat, and stealth | Mission order, player-dependent outcomes, and the ending |
How much previous Metro story you need
The new protagonist and original conflict make the basic premise understandable without completing every earlier game. A new player mainly needs to know that Moscow's survivors lived in divided underground factions, Artyom and the Rangers eventually left the city after exposing Hanza's deception, and Hunter has returned after a long unexplained absence.
Playing or reviewing the earlier stories adds context. Metro 2033 explains Hunter's connection to Artyom and the original Dark One conflict. Last Light establishes the surviving Dark Ones and Artyom's attempt to correct his mistake. Exodus explains why the Rangers departed Moscow and why the surface represents both hope and danger.
That history clarifies the stakes without supplying answers that the unreleased game has not provided. Metro 2039 begins with a known political crisis and an intentionally mysterious protagonist; the rest of the Stranger's story must remain open until additional official information or the finished game reveals it.