4A Games’ post-apocalyptic ‘Metro Exodus’ delayed to next year

Metro Exodus, the third installment in 4A Games’ gritty post-apocalyptic shooter series, was scheduled to hit consoles and PC later this year, but we’ll have to wait a bit longer before we dive back into radiation-filled Russia. Publisher Deep Silver now expects the game to arrive in 2019.

The news comes via the latest financial earnings report from Deep Silver’s new parent company, THQ Nordic. The report, published on May 16, said that Metro Exodus is now scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2019. It will be the first new entry in the series in nearly six years, with 2013’s Metro: Last Light being the most recent game. Both Last Light and Metro 2033 were enhanced for current-generation consoles as Metro Redux, with 2033‘s gameplay being tweaked to more closely resemble its sequel.

Metro Exodus will make some substantial changes from its predecessors, including more side quests, the removal of the military ammunition economy system, a more open world, and a decreased focus on the titular underground metro. You’ll still play as Artyom this time around, however, meaning that the game took the “good” ending from the previous game as canon.

The Metro games are based on a series of novels published by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky. In addition to helping with the scripts for the game series, Glukhovsky has continued his work on the novels. They began as self-published online works in 2002, and did not appear in English until a short time before the original game was released.

THQ Nordic’s report also gave us more details on its action-adventure games Biomutant and Darksiders III, but players might have to keep waiting a bit more. Neither title has a release date year, making it unlikely that either will launch before the end of the year. Darksiders III is a long time coming, as it survived the liquidation of the original THQ before Nordic Games purchased it. Nordic Games company subsequently purchased the THQ name as well, resulting in a reunion of sorts, and developers who worked on the previous games are now in charge of Darksiders III over at Gunfire Games.

When Metro Exodus launches, it will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC.