Metro 2035 author hints series will continue after end of book timeline

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"This doesn't mean [the] story can't continue in other media."

Last month, a misleading timeline appeared on the Metro 2035 novel website which suggested "the next Metro video game" was expected at some stage in 2017. The game series' publisher Deep Silver intervened shortly thereafter to suggest while it has "ambitious plans" for Metro moving forward, releasing the next game next year was not among them.

During a recent Reddit AMA, Metro author Dmitry Glukhovsky—whose books have directly inspired the videogame series—admitted that while he has no intention of extending the novels beyond the most recent Metro 2035, the series may continue in another form.  

"Metro 2035 terminates the book part of the Metro saga. I am not planning to write any other Metro story as a novel," says Glukhovsky. "I think, the main questions are answered in Metro 2035. And even if there won’t be any other Metro BOOKS, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Artyom’s story can’t continue in other media... All the 'next game' questions have to be asked [to] Deep Silver—the publisher of the first two Metro games."

Glukhovsky's AMA is worth reading in its entirety, as it offers insights into his influences and thought processes—which is particularly interesting given he collaborated with 4A Games with the writing of Metro: Last Light. That said, Glukhovsky later admits he has never expected the games to directly mirror his work, lending credence to the idea he'd be okay with the games extending beyond his writing.   

"I didn’t expect Metro games to be a sentence-by-sentence repetition of the novels," he says. "I wanted [the 4A] guys to create an independent masterpiece based on my stories. And they did. That’s a rule of life: work with talented individuals and grant them creative freedom—instead of working with idiots and controlling every step they make."

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show