In the Metro universe, pre-war military-grade (MGR) 5.45x39mm rounds are used as a primary currency for trading amongst the survivors living beneath the irradiated ruins of Moscow. It’s always been a fascinating system. It not only fuels Metro’s exceptional sense of place and immersion, but always forces players to make a difficult decision:
MGR ammunition is a powerful alternative to the standard rounds most weapons take, but every round ejected from a Kalash in combat is akin to literally shooting your money away. And given the increased challenge in Metro 2039 – a new global faction of human combatants, and monsters who have suffered further mutation in the four years since Artyom and the Spartan Rangers fled the Metro system – currency is king if you want any chance of survival.
Speaking to the decision to bring this system back in Metro 2039, executive producer Jon Bloch tells me the decision was easy for the team at 4A Games. “That is the currency of the Metro, so how could we go back to the Metro without having the currency come back as well?”
This was a prominent part of Metro 2033 and Last Light, but was ultimately removed from 2019’s Metro Exodus due to the story taking place far beyond the confines of the Metro system. “It didn’t make sense from a lore standpoint to have it in Exodus because you were leaving. Who are you going to trade it with? Who has established MGR as a currency out in the middle of nowhere, right? So we found other ways to approach how the players can interact with the world to upgrade themselves, because that’s effectively what the in-game currency does,” says Bloch.
Metro 2039 may be bringing back ammo-as-currency but that doesn’t mean that it’s stepping back from the crafting systems introduced in Exodus. “Now that we’re going back to the Metro, we’re able to revisit that idea and intertwine it with the solutions that we brought to Exodus,” says Bloch.
So you’ll still be able to craft rudimentary items (like medkits and gas mask filters) and basic ammunition from your backpack while exploring the irradiated wasteland of Moscow, and build more powerful weapon components and secondary ammunition types from Workbenches strewn around the world. Workbenches are also where you’ll be able to clean weapons to prevent them from jamming, choose between one of two protective suits, and upgrade your equipment – perhaps you want to strengthen the visor on your gas mask, or expand the battery in your backpack.
A new feature in 2039 sees the introduction of Blueprints, which let you craft bigger and better upgrades for your equipment and weapons once discovered. All of this means there’s a bigger impetus than ever to explore environments carefully, both to collect more MGR ammunition to trade for vital materials at outposts, but also to ensure you’re ready to craft items in the field.
Bloch tells me that the team listened carefully to feedback concerning resource scarcity in Exodus as it approached Metro 2039. “As you may have noticed, you can now get resources from mutants. You weren’t able to do that in Exodus, so by putting these two systems together we think that it’s the best of both worlds – a solution that I think people are going to enjoy.”