Xbox Wire announced on October 29 that the METRO Redux Next-Gen Update is now available on Xbox Series X|S. The update covers Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux.
Two performance modes and a rendering overhaul
The main addition is a choice between two performance modes: “true 4K resolution at 60fps or upscaled 4K at an even smoother 120fps.” The 4K mode renders at native resolution at 60 frames per second, the option for players on a standard 4K screen. The 120fps mode renders below native 4K and reconstructs the image, which suits owners of a 120Hz display. A 120fps signal delivers a new frame roughly every 8 milliseconds, half the interval of 60fps, so input lands on screen faster and motion stays smooth during the series’ fast gunfights. The 60fps mode keeps the native 4K sharpness that shows off the upgraded textures and lighting.
Both modes run through 4A TSR Upscaling and Antialiasing. Temporal Super Resolution reuses detail from previous frames to keep the image sharp while the frame rate climbs. 4A Games also rebuilt the visual layer itself. That work includes more detailed textures, a refined lighting and shadow system, richer environmental detail, and enhanced animation fidelity, each change tuned to preserve the look and feel of the originals.
The update also brings full support for the Xbox controller’s Impulse Triggers, so gunfire and environmental effects now push back through the controller. That tactile feedback is new for two campaigns that shipped before the hardware existed.
Play Anywhere and handheld support
Xbox Play Anywhere is now included, which makes the two games a single purchase that works across Xbox and PC with shared saves and progress. Progress carries across the two full campaigns and the roughly 10 hours of bonus content in the bundle. The Xbox Ally and Ally X receive full support and optimization, so the campaigns now have a handheld option. One owner can move between a television, a PC, and a portable without buying the games again or restarting.
A remaster of a remaster
This update lands on top of an already-remastered release. Metro Redux first arrived on consoles in 2014, bundling Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light, the campaigns that originally launched in 2010 and 2013, with all downloadable content and roughly 10 hours of bonus material. The 2014 package targeted 1080p and introduced two play styles: Survival, a slow-burn horror approach that stretches scarce resources, and Spartan, a combat-focused run built around a ranger’s skills. It also restored Ranger Mode, which removes the HUD and makes combat deadlier. The Redux bundle became the standard console version of both games, and we reviewed Metro Redux at launch.
The games adapt Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novels. In the fiction, a 2013 apocalypse turns the surface into a poisonous wasteland, and by 2033 a whole generation has been born and raised in the Moscow Metro. The station-cities struggle for survival against each other and the mutant horrors that wait outside. Artyom, born in the last days before the fire, leaves the tunnels on a mission to warn what is left of humanity, while rival factions fight over a doomsday device in the military vaults of D6. Along the way he relies on a gas mask and an arsenal of hand-made weapons against mutants, human foes, and the environment itself.
The 2014 Redux versions shipped at 1080p. The updated versions run at up to 120fps in upscaled 4K or 60fps in true 4K, with upgraded textures, lighting, shadows, and animation. That is four times the pixels of 1080p at up to twice the frame rate, and the story and mission design carry over unchanged.
Free for owners, ahead of Metro 2039
Existing owners of Metro 2033 Redux and Metro: Last Light Redux on Xbox download the update like a patch, with no purchase step. Newcomers can buy the Metro Redux Bundle for $29.99, which covers both campaigns with the update already applied. A technical pass of this scale on a ten-year-old remaster is unusual, and it removes the paid-remaster question for people who already own the games.
Xbox Wire frames the release as a refresh ahead of METRO 2039, which launches on February 4, 2027. The series is 16 years old and has been played by more than 50 million people.
