Today Metro Exodus developer 4A games posted a wide-ranging update on its official site letting the fans know about the current situation of the studio.
While the company's headquarters are currently located in Malta, the vast majority of the team is Ukrainian and most of its developers still work from the office in Kiev or their homes in the city or other parts of Ukraine.
Of course, this means that the studio's devs have been deeply affected by the current war triggered by Russia's criminal invasion of the country, often in tragic ways.
"Everyone has been affected. Some of us have lost homes to bombings. Some have joined the Armed Forces to defend Ukraine. Colleagues, friends, families have been injured. A number have lost their lives. Though, there is one thing Ukraine is not short of right now – it’s our heroes: those who protect our country at the fronts, those who help them, and those who against all odds work with passion and fierce dedication to keep our projects going and support the country's economy."
As a company, 4A is doing everything it can to support the members of the team in Ukraine, but they're also continuing work on their current projects.
We learn that the next Metro game is still in development and is actually changing for the better, as the developers are channeling their personal experiences in a country torn by war into the story.
"The next Metro game is also changing for the better. And not simply because of the circumstances we find ourselves in. We’ve never hidden the fact that the Metro series has always carried a strong political and anti-war message. Yes, we’ve always wanted to entertain and immerse you in our post-apocalyptic world but there’s also been a bigger story to tell. And the war in Ukraine has made us re-think what kind of story the next Metro should be about. All the themes of Metro – conflict, power, politics, tyranny, repression – are now part of our daily-life experiences. So, we’re embracing them and weaving them into the game with a renewed purpose."
Yet, that's not all, as a surprise has been delivered today in the form of the Exodus SDK, allowing fans not only to create all kinds of mods, but even stand-alone content utilizing Metro Exodus' engine that can run from its own executable. You can find the full documentation here. Of course, you can't create commercial content with it, but it's a great tool for those who want to spread their creative wings.
The SDK includes a model editor, a scene editor, a navigation mode, a particle editor, a terrain tool, a weather editor, a camera track editor, a visual script editor, and more. It appears to be very advanced, so we can likely expect modders to create great things with it.
