Nobody announced a countdown. Nobody teased a stream. 4A Games and PLAION simply opened the tunnel doors today: the Metro Redux Next-Gen Update is live right now on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, upgrading both Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Last Light Redux — and if you already own either game, it will not cost you a single bullet.
According to the original 4A Games / PLAION announcement via Games Press, the update brings the two Redux titles properly in line with current hardware. Console players get a true 4K presentation at 60 frames per second, plus an upscaled 4K mode running at 120FPS for those with a compatible display. PC players are not being handed anything new to envy, either — the same enhancements are already available on PC across Steam, the Windows store, the Epic Games Store and GOG, so every platform is now standing on the same irradiated ground. You can see the difference for yourself in the official Next-Gen Update trailer.
FREE Upgrades Are How You Do This
The pricing deserves its own paragraph, because it is the kind of paragraph publishers keep failing to write. There is none. Existing owners upgrade free. No “director’s cut” repackage, no loyalty tax, no ten-dollar toll booth between you and the version of the game your console was always capable of running. Two of the most atmospheric shooters ever made just got sharper, smoother and faster-loading-era hardware support, and the barrier to entry is owning a copy you may well have bought a decade ago.
That matters because Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light are not games that merely tolerate a revisit — they reward one. The Redux editions already rebuilt this pairing of post-apocalyptic Moscow survival stories with overhauled visuals and mechanics, weaving Artyom’s journey through mutant-haunted tunnels and faction-torn stations into one continuous descent. Playing them at 4K with a frame rate that finally does the lighting justice is less a replay and more a rediscovery: gas-mask glass catching lamplight, filters rationed like currency, and that signature choice at every encounter between the loud way and the quiet, humane way.
The Real Destination: Metro 2039
Make no mistake about why this update exists, because the timing tells the story. The next chapter of the series, Metro 2039, launches on February 4, 2027 — and it puts players in the boots of a figure known only as The Stranger. That is close enough to feel real and far enough away to demand a refresher. Dropping a free, definitive way to replay the saga’s foundations right now is 4A Games laying track straight to 2039: new players get an on-ramp, lapsed fans get a reason to re-board, and everyone arrives at The Stranger’s story with the tunnels fresh in their minds.
It also lands in a ruthlessly competitive season for shooters. The FPS calendar is stacked — as our coverage of Modern Warfare 4 Season 1 Drops November 6 — Two New Warzone Maps, a Reimagined Shoot House, and Halloween Modes THIS Friday makes clear — and a free upgrade to two beloved single-player classics is a very different, very confident pitch next to the live-service noise. It helps that PS5 owners are in the middle of a huge release stretch in general, as rounded up in New PS5 Games This Week: Phantom Blade Zero Leads a Halloween-Week Bloodbath (Week of October 26).
New to the Metro? Start Here
If you have never descended, the play order is simple: Metro 2033 Redux first, then Last Light Redux, in one continuous run if you can manage it. Together they form a complete, tightly written arc that later entries build on, and the Redux versions remain the definitive way to experience them. Take them slowly. Metro has never been a run-and-gun series — ammunition doubles as money, light and shadow are genuine mechanics, and the hardest difficulty, Ranger mode, strips away the HUD entirely for one of the most immersive experiences in the genre. With Halloween weekend upon us, there is honestly no better-timed excuse to discover why these games are spoken about in hushed, reverent tones.
A Studio That Refuses to Stand Still
Context makes the shadow-drop even more impressive. 4A Games was founded in Kyiv in 2005, is headquartered in Malta, and still has the majority of its 200-plus team based in Ukraine — a studio that has spent years developing games under circumstances most of the industry can barely imagine, without lowering its standards. A free next-gen overhaul of its back catalogue, shipped quietly and completely, fits that pattern perfectly.
So tonight’s assignment is simple: redownload the Redux bundle, wipe the condensation off your mask and descend. The Metro at 4K and 120FPS is the best these tunnels have ever looked on console — and February 2027 will be here faster than a nosalis in a dark corridor.
Source: 4A Games / PLAION, via Games Press.
Follow Proven Gamer:
X/Twitter | Facebook | Bluesky | Twitch | YouTube | Patreon | TikTok | Instagram | Threads | Discord
More Stories
Football Manager 27 Is FREE Right Now — The Full Game, Every Mode, No Catch Until November 3
New Nintendo Switch Games This Week: Minecraft for Switch 2 Tops the eShop Drop — Week of October 29
Astro Bot Is Moving Into Rayman’s World — Rayman Legends Retold Gives PS5 Players a FREE Astro Costume on December 3