A Brave New World

We visit 4A Games Malta to get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the development of Metro Exodus, one of the most ambitious first-person shooters of the generation. Join us as we delve into the decisions behind Metro Exodus' expanded design, speak with the talented team working to bring it to life and get our hands on a brand new area.

The only time that you run out of chances is when you stop taking them.

After a lifetime spent struggling to survive in the claustrophobic tunnels of Moscow’s Metro system, Artyom is only too aware that he is running out of chances to grasp a hold of. For the sake of his family, his friends and their future, he must lead an exodus out of the irradiated city he has always called home and head off to the East in search of a better tomorrow. Artyom is venturing out into the wastelands of the wider world to find life beyond the decay – he’ll die trying to prove it. This is an exodus of necessity; a last chance with no clear conclusion.

It’s easy to draw a parallel between Artyom’s mission and the journey that developer 4A Games has embarked on to make it all possible. You might not realise it yet, but departures are a part of the studio’s past, its culture and its identity. This is a studio that is proud of its past and excited by its expanding culture, although we get the sense that it is concerned about its identity. This is especially pertinent as the two core teams – based out of Malta and Kiev – work tirelessly to wrap up development on a creative endeavour that isn’t just ambitious by its own lofty standards, but by any standard imaginable.

After five years of development, this will ultimately represent a bold new beginning for Artyom, for the developers that fled a country in crisis and for a studio looking to rise above a spectre of expectation that is threatening to consume it.

This is a behind-the-scenes look at the development of Metro Exodus, a project that no other modem studio would ever have entertained, let alone pushed into active production.

LONG WAY FROM HOME