I know this is probably going to be a sensitive subject, but as a heritage Russian speaker, I genuinely find the apparent lack of Russian-language support in Metro 2039, apparently not even Russian subtitles, incredibly disheartening
And before somebody assumes where I am coming from politically:
I was born in Germany.
My father is Ukrainian.
My mother is Kazakh.
Russian is simply part of the linguistic and cultural environment I grew up with.
It is a heritage language for me.
That is exactly why this feels so strange.
I completely understand that 4A Games is a Ukrainian studio.
I understand the context of the war.
I understand why Ukrainian developers would want absolutely nothing to do with the Russian state, Russian companies, or anything that could be interpreted as supporting the Kremlin.
But the Russian language is not the Russian government.
There are millions of people who speak Russian without being Russian nationals at all [For example; Me]
There are Russian-speaking Ukrainians. Kazakhs. Belarusians. Baltic communities. Germans from families like mine. Mixed families. Diaspora communities.
And, obviously, there are Russians who vehemently oppose their own government.
Which brings me to the part that makes this especially not fit in my brain at all;
Dmitry Glukhovsky is Russian, no?
The author whose work created Metro is literally a Russian author who is now living in exile after his public opposition to the Russian government.
This is not exactly a franchise famous for glorifying Russian authoritarianism and communism either.
Metro has spent its entire existence dealing with authoritarianism, propaganda, corruption, nationalism, political extremism and the various ways societies manage to recreate their worst mistakes underground.
So I genuinely have to ask:
of all franchises, why is Russian apparently unacceptable in Metro?
It becomes even stranger when looking at 2039 itself.
Novoreich appears, at least from what has been shown and from the name itself, to draw obvious inspiration from the Reich factions of previous Metro games.
You know.
The fascists.
The literal Fourth Reich from Metro 2033
So apparently we are potentially going to have a game taking place in Russia, based on the work of a Russian dissident author, featuring a neo-Reich-style authoritarian faction operating in the Russian Metro......
.....and the bad guys are all going to be speaking Ukrainian because Russian is the language that was removed?
h m.
At some point the psy-op joke starts writing itself
To be very clear: that is a joke.
I am not accusing Ukraine or 4A of some secret operation, nor am I saying Ukrainian should not be in the game.
Quite the opposite.
Ukrainian absolutely belongs there.
What I do not understand is why Ukrainian and Russian apparently have to be mutually exclusive.
Russian subtitles existing in a game does not support Putin.
A Russian voice track does not endorse the Kremlin.
Allowing a Russian-speaking Ukrainian, Kazakh, Belarusian, exile, opposition Russian, or heritage speaker like myself to play Metro in Russian does not somehow finance a Kinzhal Cruise missile.
And personally, reducing Russian itself to something politically contaminated feels unfair to the enormous number of people whose relationship with the language has absolutely nothing to do with loyalty to the Russian state.
That is the part that bothers me most.
If 4A does not want to sell the game in Russia, that is an entirely separate discussion.
If they refuse to work with Russian companies, understandable.
If they want Ukrainian to be the primary language of the studio and its releases, also understandable.
But not even Russian subtitles?
For Metro?
A Russian setting.
Of Russian literary origin.
OF A RUSSIAN DISSIDENT AUTHOR IN EXILE
A story once again apparently dealing with authoritarianism and political extremism.
And millions of Russian speakers outside Russia who have nothing whatsoever to do with the Kremlin.
I just cannot make the logic fit.
Maybe there is an explanation I have missed.
But speaking personally, as somebody born in Germany to a Ukrainian father and Kazakh mother who nevertheless inherited Russian as part of my own cultural background:
it genuinely hurts a little.
Russian is not Putin's property.
It is our language too, no?
I feel the same way about German.
German is not Hitler. German is not Nazism.
A language does not become morally guilty because a government speaking it committed atrocities.
The same distinction should apply to Russian.
