Metro 2033 writer Dmitry Glukhovsky has a brand new VR sport, in addition to an 8-year jail sentence inside Russia

Russian-born journalist and writer Dmitry Glukhovsky has been within the public eye because the early 2000s. That’s when his Metro tales first kicked off on-line, initially as a viral transmedia mission and later as a collection of profitable novels. These books would finally change into the inspiration for the Ukrainian studio 4A Video games’ beloved, award-winning trilogy: Metro 2033, Metro: Final Mild, and Metro Exodus. Now he’s on the cusp of a brand new entry within the collection, a VR title from Vertigo Video games (Arizona Sunshine) referred to as Metro Awakening. gamerlifemedia sat down with Glukhovsky in early September to be taught extra.

The mainline Metro collection follows protagonist Artyom by means of the byzantine passageways beneath a post-apocalyptic Moscow and, in the end, among the many unusual factions making their method ahead in that grim, darkish future. Based on Glukhovsky, these novels and video games have at all times been pushed by his personal private ideologies — by his personal politics. That’s why, when Russian president Vladimir Putin launched the unlawful invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, Glukhovsky knew he couldn’t again down.

“The Metro books and the video video games, all of them have this anti-war, pacifist, anti-dictatorship political message,” Glukhovsky informed gamerlifemedia in our latest interview. “Some folks confuse them [with] horror tales, [but] they’ve the horror tales to entertain the avid gamers. From Metro 2033 to Metro: Final Mild and Exodus, that is all about xenophobia. That is about manipulation from the state, from the federal government. That is about how the governments push us into world conflicts.

“Now if, in actuality, when this factor actually occurs, and a world conflict begins probably from my very own nation attacking the neighboring nation — which may be very pricey to me and from the place loads of associates and former loves and enterprise companions stamp [their passports] — if I shut the fuck up proper now, that is to say that every one of my earlier books and video games have been faux.”

After a couple of social media posts on these matters following the invasion, Glukhovsky had sealed his personal destiny. By August 2023, he had acquired an eight-year jail sentence — delivered in absentia by a Russian court docket — for “intentionally spreading false details about Russia’s armed forces.”

“I’m completely sure that I’ve accomplished the fitting factor,” Glukhovsky stated, “and I’d undoubtedly repeat it. [And] it’s essential to, as a result of the Metro video games at all times had this part of social commentary, of analyzing how dictatorships work, of making an attempt to wake folks up — as ridiculously bold [as] that may sound — and to make them conscious of the manipulations of hate speech, xenophobia, concern of exterior enemy, [and] the [fallacy of the] besieged fortress.”

Metro Awakening, he stated, tells a way more private story. At its middle is the mysterious Khan, a form of mystic identified for guiding Metro’s Artyom by means of supernatural horrors. This sport, it seems, will probably be Khan’s origin story.

“When […] Vertigo studio got here to me saying that [they wanted] to focus this new sport on this character […] I used to be very excited, as a result of […] together with his issues that he can hear however others can’t, issues that he can see however others can’t, he feeds completely nicely into the thought of VR in a world the place some issues are actual, however loads of issues are surreal.”

First revealed with an atmospheric trailer in February 2024, Metro Awakening is a prequel to the mainline Metro collection. Gamers start the sport as a personality named Serdar, described as a physician searching for his spouse. However Glukhovsky says their relationship as portrayed inside the sport world is way more sophisticated than that.

“This isn’t your typical love story,” Glukhovsky stated. “I feel {that a} love story for a person […] it’s at all times very private once you get to really feel these items. It’s normally not stereotypical. It’s not what the media [says that] love is. It’s way more controversial [and] it’s not what you in all probability really need even to expertise, as a result of it deprives you of management and of your individual life.

“You cease belonging to your self and also you belong to, in the very best case, to a tandem,” he continued. “Within the worst case, to one thing utterly exterior. And it could get naughty, it could get soiled, and it could get darkish, and it could get grim, and it could go utterly south. So I assumed that few issues can inform us a few man’s character […] as a darkish and grim love story.”

Greater than something, Glukhovsky stated he’s simply completely satisfied that the principle character this time round has each an exterior voice and an inner monologue — two issues considerably missing from earlier entries within the Metro collection. As an writer, he stated it gave him much more narrative area to work with. He stated it’s additionally a chance to assist gently steer the franchise in a barely totally different path.

“The good hazard that awaits everyone who witnesses his do-it-yourself little factor rework right into a franchise is simply to let it go,” Glukhovsky stated. “You let it go. You let executives take over. You let employed writers take over who can do their greatest, however it’s only a onerous job for them typically.

“I feel it’s crucial for someone who creates to guarantee that [the] individuals who they rent give [a] shit mainly,” Glukhovsky stated. “Not simply that they offer [a] shit, not professionally, however they will really feel the issues that you just tried to make them really feel; that they [are] followers of the franchise, they’re followers of this world, of this universe.”

However why VR? Glukhovsky defined that it appeared like a pure development to him, and that to date the expertise has utterly blown him away.

“I’ve simply been enjoying the newest model that is able to launch earlier right now,” Glukhovsky stated. “You take a look at the gun, it’s [a] fucking actual gun. And the gloves are actual gloves, and all the pieces is so actual, and so lifelike. Simply being there, that was an actual breakthrough to me. However narrative-wise, you don’t should create something significantly totally different.”

Despite the fact that it’s a love story at its coronary heart, Glukhovsky stated the Metro franchise nonetheless has a strong message to inform — particularly to its viewers in Russia.

“It’s crucial to maintain telling [this story],” Glukhovsky stated of the bigger Metro universe. “Even when myself and different folks have failed in warning the Russian society in regards to the risks of it, I feel it’s crucial to protect this political, academic wake-up message within the leisure as a result of leisure goes a lot broader than any [other outlet], and it then has [a] a lot deeper emotional impression than any information outlet would have.

“However it doesn’t imply that I’m not going to do any non-Russia-centered tales sooner or later,” Glukhovsky added. “There’s going to be one characteristic getting launched later this yr, hopefully, that’s targeted on the [United] States [that] has nothing to do with Russia.”

Metro Awakening arrives on Steam, for Meta Quest, and for PlayStation VR2 later this yr.