4A Engine and ray tracing

Metro 2039 uses 4A Games’ own 4A Engine. Official posts describe it as the first Metro game built for ray tracing from the start. PS5, PS5 Pro, and Xbox Series X are said to offer a 60 fps performance mode with ray tracing. PC upscalers and preset names have not been published.

First-person view down a dark metro tunnel with a rifle marked 2039
Tunnel lighting in an official Steam screenshot.
Sunset view of a ruined bridge over a frozen river
Sunset bridge, where the marketing shots show outdoor light.

I separated two facts while reading the September 2026 PlayStation post and the Deep Silver FAQ. The console performance mode is a published feature. A PC requirement that you must own an RTX card is not. Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition already shipped a ray-traced PC path in 2021, so “first ray-traced Metro” would be false. The new claim is narrower: 2039 is built around that path from the beginning.

What is still missing

No official page lists DLSS, FSR, or XeSS version numbers for 2039. No page lists which ray-traced effects (global illumination, reflections, shadows) are in the shipping game. Digital Foundry has discussed the series before; a full 2039 technical review is not a substitute for the spec sheet 4A has not posted.

The empty PC requirements box is documented on the system requirements page.

Engine notes we will stand behind
TopicStatus
Engine name4A Engine, in-house
Console ray tracing60 fps performance mode cited for PS5, PS5 Pro, Series X
PC ray-tracing requirementNot published
Upscaler versionsNot published
Exodus Enhanced Edition2021 PC update, a different game

Questions

Is Metro 2039 on Unreal Engine?

No. 4A uses the 4A Engine for this series.

Do I need a ray-tracing GPU on PC?

Unknown until the PC requirements are published.

Does Series S get the same performance mode?

Series X is named in the 60 fps ray-tracing line. A Series S breakdown has not been published.

Sources

Last checked 2026-10-16.

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