4A Ukraine, the studio behind Metro: 2033, Metro: Last Light, and (alongside 4A Malta) Metro: Exodus, has a new name and a new game. From this day forth, the studio will be known as Reburn, and its first new project under that title is La Quimera: a dystopian sci-fi FPS set in a "fictional Latin American megalopolis" in the latter half of the 21st century.
Which is all well and good, but it's not the part that gets me. It turns out that, in a reverse Fight Club twist, 4A Ukraine and 4A Malta have actually been entirely separate companies ever since the latter split off from the former all the way back in 2014.
Despite the two studios sharing a name, an engine, and even co-developing the last Metro game, the-studio-now-known-as-Reburn says that the "studios in Ukraine and Malta are separately owned. 4A Malta is an independent company formed by splitting 4A Games and now acquired by Embracer Group. Both studios collaborated on Metro Exodus, but now work on their own projects." 4A Malta—ensconced in the loving arms of the Embracer Group since 2020—will keep the 4A name and trademark, while both studios retain use of the 4A Engine on which Metro was built.
Which is surprising to me, a person who writes videogame news for a living, so I have to imagine it's surprising to a few other people too. For its part, 4A says the fact that its two halves have actually been entirely separate companies this whole time has always been public knowledge, but if you go all the way back to 2014, the announcement that a bunch of devs were leaving 4A Ukraine for Malta sure was spoken about more in terms of expansion than anything else. It's not an embarrassing or nefarious secret or anything, but it's an odd thing to be blindsided by.
Anyway, now we've all internalised this new-old reality, the trailer Reburn has put out for La Quimera doesn't reveal much in terms of plot, but you can expect a lot of explosions, sci-fi guns that click into segments, and creepy corpos. Another surprise: the "world and narrative of La Quimera is written and created by Nicolas Winding Refn," as in the guy behind Drive and Only God Forgives, which perhaps explains its kinda neat aesthetic blend of sweaty Latin American jungle and future murder-tech.
The whole thing will be playable in singleplayer or by up to three players in co-op, and it's set for a PC release on Steam at some undetermined point in the future. "Fans of the Metro series will enjoy familiar tense gunplay and intimate storytelling combined with new game experiences," says Reburn. But probably expect fewer jaunts across Lenin's Mausoleum.
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