THQ Goes to Post-Apocalyptic Moscow with Metro 2033

THQ has announced a new first-person shooter based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's Russian novel Metro 2033: can you survive in the ruins of Moscow's shattered subway system?

Game publisher THQ has announcedMetro 2033, a new first-person shooter game based on the Russian language novel of the same name by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Set in a world where an apocalyptic even has wiped out most of mankind, players are thrown into the ruins of Moscow’s underground subway system, where a handful of remaining humans are struggling to survive against mutant and monsters on the surface. Naturally, it won’t be a video game unless the fate of all humanity rested in players’ hands, and THQ is promising an immersive, gripping experience that leverages Nvidia’s PhysX technology—at least on the PC version, although THQ will also be publishing the game for the Xbox 360.

“Metro 2033 boasts some of the most advanced graphics and PhysX effects we’ve ever seen,” said Nvidia GPU VP Ujesh Desai, in a statement. “From what we’ve seen so far, this will be a showcase PC gaming title for 2010!”

Metro 2033 centers on the character of Artyom, who has spent almost his whole life within the confines of one of the underground Metro Station cities—an entire generation has been raised underground, with a handful of Station Cities vying against each other for limited resources as well as again horrors creeping in from outside. However, a crucial event provokes Artyom to venture into the heart of the Metro system to warn surviving humans of a devastating new threat—and, of course, Artyom eventually winds up in the above-ground wasteland battling for all of humanity.

Metro 2033 is being built by the Ukraine’s 4A Games using a proprietary engine. THQ says it will reach consumers in early 2010…not in time for the end-of-year buying season, but maybe in time to catch a wave of gift-card purchasing after the holidays.