To mark the fifth anniversary of the most excellent post-apocalyptic shooter Metro Exodus, developer 4A Games announced today that it has now sold more than 10 million copies, and teased—very gently—the arrival of the next game in the series.

Metro Exodus was a major departure from the first two games in the series, 2033 and Last Light. It begins in the rotten Metro tunnels beneath Moscow but quickly moves out into an unexpectedly habitable, verdant overworld, and an impressive blend of gameplay ranging from open-world exploration to tightly scripted horror. Despite that change in approach, it worked really well as both a big-budget shooter and a fitting coda to the adventures of Artyom and his Spartan pals.

As conclusive as Metro Exodus is, I remain eager for more, and so I was a little let down when Metro Awakening was revealed at the Sony State of Play showcase in January. It's a VR game and, well, I don't have VR stuff—and while having goggles wrapped around your face will no doubt make for some good jump scares, the nature of VR is a little limiting for a full-on Metro experience.

Publisher Plaion also noted in the announcement, however, that “the next mainline installment of the Metro series” is still in development at 4A Games (Metro Awakening is being made by VR studio Vertigo Games), and today the studio was a little more on-point about it, although not terribly informative.

“Metro Exodus turns 5 years old today, and has now sold over 10 million copies,” the official Metro account tweeted. “Metro will return in VR with Metro Awakening from Vertigo Games in 2024—and the next mainline Metro from 4A Games… When it’s ready. Thank you for coming on the journey so far with us.”

The message was accompanied by a little Metro-style map, beginning Metro 2033 in 2010 and ending with a big “M” in 202oh come on!

In a follow-up tweet, the studio said “we won't be saying any more than that for now,” but—and it's quite possible I'm reading too much into it here, but—this tease feels to me like 4A is getting close to getting ready to start revealing at least a little something about where the next Metro game might be headed. After all, hype cycles are often a lot like trains: You don't go to the trouble of starting one up unless you're planning to go somewhere with it. Is my optimism driven by my eagerness? Quite possibly, but at this point I'll take what I can get.

If you haven't yet tried any or all of the Metro games and want give them a shot on the cheap, GOG has all of them on sale right now: The Redux editions of Metro 2033 and Metro: Last Light are both 90% off, making them just $2 each, while Metro Exodus Enhanced is $6, 80% off the regular price. The DLC is on sale too.

And now, let's take a moment to appreciate a bunch of Russian hard-asses getting in touch with their sensitive sides.