Metro 2033, the new game from Ukrainian developer 4A Games, has been picked up by THQ and given a new release date of early 2010, according to a recent announcement.

If you've not heard about the game before now then join the club - this is the first announcement we've seen on the game too, via RockPaperShotgun.

Likened to both Fallout 3 and STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Metro 2033 is based on a novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky and tells the story of humanities remnants, who have survived an earth-side apocalypse by fleeing into the abandoned underground train tunnels of a half-destroyed Moscow.

Players are cast as a man who grew up in the underground society, trapped there by the inhospitable cold and roaming beasties that control the surface. After discovering something nasty is happening though, it's up to you to warn the various groups within the tunnels - though details beyond that are scarce.

According to 4A Games, the communities that have sprung up within the tunnel-cities will be a focal point of the game and players will get a chance to interact with democratic, totalitarian, military communist and primitive groups as they progress through the game. There'll be plenty of mutants to fight with too, obviously.

Metro 2033 will be released for PC and Xbox 360 in early 2010, with the first official trailer watchable below. Let us know your thoughts in the forums.