Metro 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux Get a Free Next-Gen Update on October 22 for PC and October 29 for Consoles

By CriticalPixel · 2026-10-01

Metro fans just got a free reason to go back underground. According to Deep Silver's own announcement, Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Last Light Redux are both getting a next-gen update, and it costs nothing if you already own either game. The update lands October 22 on PC and October 29 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It arrives with the franchise sitting on 50 million copies sold and Metro 2039 only a few months away. Before anyone starts typing the word remaster into a comment box, the publisher is already telling you this is not one.

Official Deep Silver header art announcing the Metro Redux next-gen update

What the update actually adds

Deep Silver is blunt about the scope: this is not a full remaster or remake, and the original Redux look and feel is being preserved. What you get is careful tuning for current hardware. Every platform picks up support for 4K textures, plus improved animation fidelity, higher-quality audio and richer environmental detail. The team also says it folded in a batch of community-led bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements, which is the kind of line that usually means someone on the dev side finally read the Steam forums. On PC, the German outlet Zockerheim reports 4K with an unlocked frame rate, and Deep Silver confirms DLSS and spatial audio support.

Consoles get the more interesting technical list. Both games gain native support for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X|S. The PS5 Pro version supports PSSR, while the Series X version gets TSR upscaling and anti-aliasing plus spatial audio support across Xbox platforms. Deep Silver promises true 4K at 60 FPS and upscaled 4K at 120 FPS, with the usual caveat that you need the right monitor or TV for the second one. Lighting, shadows and particle effects are higher quality, and consoles get hardware tessellation and displacement at runtime. DualSense adaptive triggers and Xbox impulse triggers are supported, and there is a Power Optimized Mode on Xbox and a Power Saver Mode on PlayStation. Xbox Handheld and Xbox Play Anywhere support round out the list.

Who gets it and what it costs

The update is free for existing owners of Metro 2033 Redux and Metro Last Light Redux on Steam, the Epic Games Store, the Windows Store, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. That is the list Deep Silver gives, and it says nothing about other storefronts or older consoles, so check your own library before you celebrate. PLAION Americas adds on its X account that the update is free to current owners and available to purchase for new players, but neither the publisher post nor the outlets I read put a price on that. Full patch notes are being held back until each launch date, so the announcement is, in Deep Silver's own words, just a taste for now. The split release matters too: PC players get theirs a full week before PS5 and Series X|S owners.

Screenshot from Metro Last Light Redux on Steam showing the game's tunnels and lighting

Why the timing matters

Deep Silver ties the whole thing to Metro 2039, which launches February 4, 2027, and it does not hide the pitch. Existing fans get a thank-you for helping the franchise cross 50 million copies sold, and new players are invited to catch up on the stories before the next game arrives. The publisher even nudges returning players to try a different approach this time and chase another ending through the Karma system. That is smart, because Metro 2033 is now 16 years old by the publisher's own count and a lot of potential Metro 2039 buyers have never touched the older games. A cleaned-up Last Light, which is still sold on the Steam store page for Metro: Last Light Redux, is a far better on-ramp than sending newcomers back to the original builds.

Community reaction

Reaction is limited so far. The news was only a couple of hours old when I looked, and most of what I found was outlets relaying the press release rather than players weighing in. There is no consensus yet on whether the update is enough, and I am not going to invent one from a handful of posts. The obvious open questions are what the full patch notes contain, how the 4K textures hold up in the tight corridors these games are known for, and whether the PC version arrives in good shape on day one. Until the patch notes land, treat the feature list as a publisher promise rather than a tested result.

The CriticalPixel take

Free is the right price, and I will say that plainly because publishers love charging for the same game twice. Metro 2033 Redux and Last Light Redux already got their big visual overhaul back when they were first rebuilt, so a free pass that adds native current-gen builds, 4K textures and proper upscaling is a fair gift to people who bought them years ago. It is also a clean piece of marketing, and nobody should pretend otherwise: every owner who reinstalls these games is a person warmed up for Metro 2039. What I would not accept is a thin update dressed up with a long feature list, so the real test is the patch notes on October 22. If the PC build ships stable and the console modes hit the frame rates Deep Silver is promising, this is a rare case of a publisher doing right by its back catalog.

Mark the dates. October 22 for PC, October 29 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, and February 4, 2027 for Metro 2039. If you own either Redux game, you do not need to do anything but wait for the download to show up, and if you never played them, the next few weeks are the cheapest time to catch up before the series moves on.