Metro 2039 is still a while away, and if you haven’t dived into the franchise before this one, now would be a good time to get started with an adventure that has done pretty well over the years and stands tall among its peers in the survival horror genre.
Of course, Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux have been remasters that brought a lot of new features to the original releases. The fact that they’re now hitting next-gen systems right in time to experience the beginning of a story that continues across the two titles, Metro Exodus, and the upcoming sequel is definitely a welcome opportunity to see why the franchise has done as well as it has over the years.
Irrespective of whether you’re a returning veteran or a complete franchise newbie, the Metro Redux bundle is bringing a lot of cool things to next-gen consoles and PC. With that in mind, here are a few things we believe you should know if you’re thinking of buying a copy for yourself.
1. Native PS5 and Xbox Series Versions
This goes beyond just backwards compatibility since having a native version of Metro Redux for a PS5 and Xbox Series ensures that both consoles have access to a number of current-gen features that wouldn’t have been possible on previous editions of the game, which we’re going to talk about a little later.
If you own the previous-gen versions of either one of these games or both, know that this next-gen update is going to be free for you, and you can just go ahead and get started with the adventure once you install it.
For the rest of you, the PC version is going to release on October 22, with the exception of the Windows Store version, while console versions are releasing on October 29, with a Japan release scheduled slightly later for November.
2. Native 4K at 60 FPS on Consoles
We’re pretty thrilled with the fact that both games can now run at native 4K with 60 FPS on consoles. There’s also an option for up to 120 FPS with an upscaled 4K image, but that’s going to need a compatible display for you to take advantage of it.
Running the game at 120 frames per second is definitely going to appeal to those of you who appreciate the extra frames in a tough fight. You’re going to be facing a load of those as you make your way through the world that both sides are in, and that additional smoothness is certainly going to be welcome against enemies that don’t really like to mince their words (or actions).
It’s also going to be really great to have 4K texture support on board since that’s going to help present the remaster’s already excellent visual upgrades in the best possible quality on current-gen hardware.
3. Improved Lighting, Shadows, and Particles
The remasters were already an excellent upgrade over the original versions’ lighting and shadows, and the next-gen update is going to help improve the precision of those newly introduced lighting systems, making it the best possible version that you can get.
The global illumination that the Redux versions brought to the table was excellent at making the remaster stand out from the original version. The same applies to the shadows, with every individual light source interacting with the world around it to create shadows that were very authentic and more than capable of adding a layer of immersiveness to the experience.
We’re expecting the same quality to apply to the particle effects as well, with stuff like the dust, mist, and smoke in the tunnels, snowstorms, ash, and rain on the surface already working well in the Redux versions, with every reason for it all to look a lot better in the update.
4. No Ray Tracing Support
This one is a bummer, but 4A Games is sticking with the dynamic lighting and global illumination without bringing ray tracing support to the table. This is across the PS5, Xbox, and PC versions of the game.
While that might seem like something that should be part of the next-gen update, we would like to remind you that the lighting and shadows were already pretty good in the remasters. Bringing that to the next-gen versions of the game for the PS5 and Xbox is something we would still say works quite well.
5. No Migration to the Updated 4A Engine
If you’re wondering about the lack of ray tracing support, it’s probably because the developer has decided to just stick with the version of its 4A Engine that was already actively running the remasters, and hasn’t shifted things over to its latest version to support the rendering pipeline that the tech needs.
We say it doesn’t need to, since the remaster already does a pretty solid job of bringing the first two games in the franchise to life, while Exodus took things up a notch. We can’t wait to see what 2039 is bringing to the table when it finally hits the shelves in February next year.
6. More Detailed Environmental Geometry
Features like hardware tessellation and displacement allow Metro Redux to portray an excellent level of detail. Places like environment surfaces or pipe networks, where cracks and dark corners come with inky blacks that work well to create the kind of tense and frightening gameplay loop that forms a central part of these experiences.
The next-gen patch could make things even better by improving the detailing on walls and floors, making them distort light more accurately, which could in turn make for better shadows across uneven surfaces. If this is your first time with either title, know that those shadows matter, as they’re often places where danger lurks out of sight, waiting to bring your adventure to a premature end.
All of this is sure to make playing the next-gen versions of both games even more immersive as a result.
7. Improved Animations and Audio
While we’re on the subject of improving immersion, the next-gen update is also bringing improved frame windows to the animation. This is going to help with improving stutter and jerkiness when you’re running it at the upscale 4K and 120 FPS on a compact display.
In addition to the improved animations, native spatial audio support is also going to be a factor on the PC and Xbox. Those 3D soundscapes are going to be quite handy when you’re trying to pinpoint where that mutant growling in the background is coming from. Higher-quality audio across platforms is also going to help make your gunshots ring out a lot better or make explosions sound even more realistic.
8. Controller Features
Remember when we said that having native PS5 and Xbox versions was a good thing? Aside from enabling many of the improvements we have listed above in the next-gen version of Metro Redux, another lovely addition is the fact that the game comes with support for the DualSense’s adaptive triggers and Impulse Triggers on the Xbox Series X/S.
That’s means your guns are going to feel all the more realistic in your hand, with gun jams and recoil, with jammed weapons and recoil now coming with a tactile response from your controllers.
9. Image Reconstruction Options on Consoles
Another excellent improvement that comes from having native PS5 and Xbox versions is compatibility with upscaling tools like PSSR on the PS5 Pro and TSR upscaling and anti-aliasing on the Xbox Series X.
Both are excellent ways to make an already great-looking remasters look even better on its next-gen version, and are definitely going to help bring the first two chapters of the iconic franchise to life in a way that feels modern enough for any of you coming to them without any time spent with the original releases.
10. Community Fixes and Quality-of-Life Improvements
The developers have been quite enthusiastic about detailing a significant number of community-led bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements that are coming to the next-gen updates. We already know of Xbox Play Anywhere compatibility and handheld optimizations, along with platform-specific power-saving options.
However, details are currently scarce as the team is keeping things pretty close to the chest, and we’re expecting more details to emerge once each version’s complete patch notes are published alongside the update’s release.
That’s about it for this one. We can’t wait to dive back into a couple of games that have given us so many fond memories over the years and brush up on a story that we’re sure is going to take us to very dark places in the upcoming instalment of the franchise. If this is your first time with a Metro game, all we can tell you is that you might want to keep a light on if you’re playing it at night.
There’s still a while to go before this one hits the shelves, but you can be sure that we’re going to be prowling the tunnels under Russia alongside you once Metro: Redux is in our hands.
