Preview Metro 2039's Extreme Detail and Smart Visual Feature Set Has Us Wanting More

4A Games is one of the most technically capable developers in the industry that still uses their own engine, so Metro 2039 is an ideal game for Digital Foundry coverage. We went hands-on with an early preview just ahead of Gamescom, and what we saw lived up to the hype - suggesting another richly detailed depiction of life and combat in the unforgiving metro tunnels of post-apocalyptic Moscow and the even more dangerous surface world above.

Before we get into the details, it's important to say that we were playing the game via GeForce Now, which is not uncommon for game previews these days, as developers want to prevent leaks and deliver a curated experience. We weren't able to capture our own gameplay, but we do have some approved video b-roll shown in the embed above that is representative of the experience. The platform here is essentially a high-end PC with an RTX 5080 equivalent, using ultra settings and a 4K resolution that's upscaled from 1440p via TSR; it's not clear if there are higher-than-ultra settings available.

Overall, the game looks as impressive in live gameplay as it does in the handful of trailers released so far. The game is built on the bespoke 4A Engine and makes good use of ray tracing, as you'd expect from a company that pioneered the first major RT-required release in Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. That includes RTGI for the lighting and RT reflections, the latter of which are supplemented with screen-space information in a hybrid approach. The shadows look like shadow maps, and the entire presentation is extremely detailed - perhaps using a virtualised geometry technology analogous to Epic's UE5 Nanite, though we don't know the details at present.

The game also looks to avoid the most common artefacts common to current-gen RT-heavy titles, with no obvious noise, boiling artefacts and so on. There was a bit of pop-in evident in foliage, but not really anywhere else. Part of this could be down to the sorts of environments being shown - overcast skies and dimly-lit Metro corridors are perhaps easier to get looking right than bright, sunny days or neon cityscapes - but perhaps we'll see more variety in terms of settings in the full game.

There also could be some work to be done on the performance side of things, with a few drops or stutters evident in our testing that saw the game tumble below the 60fps target frame-rate. That's not entirely unexpected for a game still six months from release, but it's something we'll be looking out for in future outings and the final code to see if it has improved. Generally, the visual makeup and "wide linear" levels don't feel hugely boundary-pushing, which may hint towards concessions that keep the game running at 60fps on current-gen consoles too.

We're looking forward to seeing more, as 4A Games have a unique approach that comes across well in the level that we played, and it'll be fascinating to see how the game scales from current-gen base consoles to higher-end machines like the PS5 Pro and PC. This was quite a limited preview too, so there may be room for another, slightly less fettered look at the game when it gets closer to release.