THQ signs Ukranian shooter Metro 2033

By Robert Purchese Published 22 October, 2009

Cross between S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout 3.

THQ has become the publisher of promising Ukranian shooter Metro 2033, and plans a release on PC and Xbox 360 early next year.

Metro 2033 was revealed in a video at Germany's Games Convention in 2006, giving off an atmosphere sandwiched somewhere between S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Fallout 3. Given that the developer 4A Games consists of many former GSC (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. maker) employees, the similarities are understandable.

The key is the licence: a novel bearing the same name written by Dmitry Glukhovsky that has sold hundreds of thousands of copies in Russia, as has its recently released sequel.

Set in Moscow in 2033, the game follows a young chap called Artyom who, like the rest of his race, now lives underground in Metro City-Stations - colonies established after a terrible apocalypse turned the Earth's surface poisonous 20 years earlier.

He's not going to stay put for long, though, as a desperate event forces him outside the established boundaries on a quest that leads on and on and on.

The PC version of Metro 2033 will use NVIDIA PhysX graphics, but those are all the gameplay details we know.

There's a newer trailer on the official Metro 2033 website. Looks promising.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Grom #1 2 years ago

    Thank god someone's making a post-apocalyptic FPS at last, it's an untapped market.

  • MattyD #2 2 years ago

    Wow, it's been so long since I'd heard anything about this I assumed it'd been canned! Very interesting even if its long development means it will now inevitably be compared to F3 and the rest.

  • DaemonSpawn #3 2 years ago

    Setting is good, but book was shitty - poor characters' motivation, kindergarden level dialogs and extreme number of unlogical plot points. If 4A Games will manage to transfer great setting and create Stalker-like atmosphere (I mean best parts of STALKER - underground ones) with solid shooter gameplay while removing Glukhovsky's poor storytelling, this will be a cool game.
    But chances are we aren't so lucky.

    BTW developer is from Ukraine, not Russia. It consists of former GSC (guys who made Stalker) employees and it looks like engine is very alike (if not completely the same).
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/09 @ 12:26

  • altitude2k #4 2 years ago

    Why does it have to be a cross betwen two games? Why not a cross between awesome and something original?
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/09 @ 12:27

  • Eraysor #5 2 years ago

    All this game needs adding is zombies to unite the two current main themes of gaming.

  • jaxon58 #6 2 years ago

    Liking the look of this, very atmospheric.

  • trooperdx3117 #7 2 years ago

    If this ends up like Stalker its going to be brilliantly atmospheric but broken

  • DDevil #8 2 years ago

    I noticed they've dropped the PS3 version. Good job, now the 360 and PC versions won't be hamstrung by the PS3's technical limitations.

  • Hantheman #9 2 years ago

    Post-apocalyptic games as so the flavour of the month.

  • crazyhorse174 #10 2 years ago

    Sounds kinda cool - might check it out when it arrives.

    But isnt it time that someone created a future where we arent all dead/mutated and where everyone is happy?! I know it wouldnt make a good setting for a game, but it would stop me from having nightmares! :p

  • Empedocles #11 2 years ago

    Anyone else got a feeling of Deja Vu?

  • Dave797 #12 2 years ago

    Looks like Fallout 3, sounds like Fallout 3, THQ think it will be a winner because it feels like Fallout 3 but do you know what it will never be..........

    Fallout 3 ;)

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #13 2 years ago

    Not only did I call the Ukranian developer Russian, but I also suggested that the first video was from this year's gamescom, not 2006's Games Convention.

    I'm sorry, Eurogamer readers. I'm hopeless.

  • smernicki #14 2 years ago

    come here Bertie

    *hugs*

  • Pastici #15 2 years ago

    Look ok. :)

  • Silvervein #16 2 years ago

    Lets hope this will be a good game. Actually, so far only ukrainian guys seem to know how to make proper post apoc shooter. In my book, comparing their games to fallout 3 is kind of offensive. For instance, I don't remember baddies in stalker games developing magic immunity to headshot kills due to game being wired to pseudo rpg mechanics. The same mechanics that carried your bullets on dice rolls instead of where you actually pointed your boomstick...So, yes. Hopefully, metro will be decent, especially if they nail stalker atmosphere :)

  • des #17 2 years ago

    Hmm..hopefully its released before 2033
    Edited by 1 at 22/10/09 @ 18:09

  • Pablo2k5 #18 2 years ago

    I'm getting bored with all this post apocalyptic stuff...

  • Turambar #19 2 years ago

    Well let's just hope THQ don't send in another creative consultant (or whatever ther hell they called him) to cut out all the good bits and force them to add in a bunch of shit.

  • YourMessageHere #20 2 years ago

    I don't understand the objections to post-apocalyptic settings. There is nobody forcing you to play this or any other game, and a wealth of other games in other settings out there. More choice is never bad. Personally I'd far rather play something post-apocalyptic than something with space marines or orcs or zombies in - but those things are fine for those who like them.

  • Nikanoru #21 2 years ago

    (I mean best parts of STALKER - underground ones)


    Wait, so the best parts of an otherwise wonderfully creative game are the only parts that are just like every other shooter piece of shit on the market? Ughhhhhh.

  • Baranga #22 2 years ago

    It's not like Fallout 3, it's just like Fallout.
    If anything, Fallout 3 is like this game, since footage of Metro was released way earlier.

  • DaemonSpawn #23 2 years ago

    2 Turambar
    Well let's just hope THQ don't send in another creative consultant (or whatever ther hell they called him) to cut out all the good bits and force them to add in a bunch of shit.

    THQ producer (not "creative consultunt";) was sent to GSC to ensure the game will actually ship anytime soon. Without these cuts STALKER probably wouldn't have released at all or would end up even more bug-filled laggy mess than Xenus - Boiling Point. There were simply too much stuff in original Oblivion Lost concept.

  • mkreku #24 2 years ago

    Yeah, originally Stalker was supposed to be free-roaming with vehicles and co-op. Thank god they didn't include that!

  • john_silence #25 2 years ago

    Fear the Future!
    Shoot the Past!
    Shoot the Present!

    I mock this because, actually, I found it quite effective. Somehow I hope it's more shooter-like than STALKER. What is it with me and shooting tonight, anyway? I'd better get back to shoot - to work, I mean.

  • UncleLou #26 2 years ago

    "(I mean best parts of STALKER - underground ones)


    Wait, so the best parts of an otherwise wonderfully creative game are the only parts that are just like every other shooter piece of shit on the market? Ughhhhhh."

    A list of games please with FPS games as incredibly scary as Stalker was in the underground sections, I must have missed them all, but would love to play them.

  • mkreku #27 2 years ago

    My favourite setting is post apocalyptic! And I loved Stalker! YAY!

  • Grom #28 2 years ago

    "I don't understand the objections to post-apocalyptic settings. There is nobody forcing you to play this or any other game, and a wealth of other games in other settings out there. More choice is never bad. Personally I'd far rather play something post-apocalyptic than something with space marines or orcs or zombies in - but those things are fine for those who like them."

    The ironing is delicious - I completely agree with more choice being good but the proliferation of post-apocalyptic games is surely not an example of there being more choice. I've played some great post-apocalyptic games (and I love books and films on the subject, right back to John Wyndham and A Canticle For Liebowitz) but to me "We're a new developer! We're bursting with enthusiasm and ideas, and the best idea we could come up with is a post-apocalyptic FPS!" is just depressing.

    Post-apocalyptic games are just adolescent wish fulfilment (nothing wrong with that in essence but it gets a little monotonous), or excuses for developers not to have to put any other people in their worlds - everyone's dead so that saves on crowd AI!

    I would prefer it if developers and publishers pushed the boundaries a little and came up with some games which are genuinely new and unique.

  • Amon_Amarth #29 2 years ago

    Sounds interesting we'll see

  • Caspar_Esq. #30 2 years ago

    Former GSC emplayees in that they were fired or that they chose to leave?

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