Metro Awakening promises a heightened atmospheric adventure that only VR can deliver. Here are our full impressions.
You don't need to look far for post-apocalyptic action in VR, but there's something particularly exciting about a new Metro game. Written by the series creator, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Awakening takes an intriguing approach by delivering an origin story set five years before Metro 2033. You play as Serdar, a doctor trying to survive within the Moscow Metro and protect his wife.
Metro Awakening - Gameplay Footage
Joining the release date confirmation, I recently previewed the PSVR 2 version at Gamescom 2024 for a 45-minute demo where I played three different areas stitched together out of sequence.
The first mission sets the tone well, giving me an idea of who Serdar is while introducing the basic mechanics. The second requires finding a gas mask before you die from radiation poisoning, later confronting you with a choice: do you take down every nearby enemy or try and sneak past via stealth? I feel tense when sneaking around, and a mistimed move scuppered my initial plan to bypass these villains quietly.
Where Metro Awakening particularly shines is in the third mission. Instead of using immersion breaking visual cues, some clever audio design effectively signposts the way forward without being overly obvious. It's a great approach that plays into VR's immersive capabilities well and puts you directly inside this bleak world, which only heightens Metro's intense atmosphere.
I've always appreciated how Metro delivers atmospheric tension through exploring depressing locations, even with the constraints of flatscreen platforms. Its narrative ideas are hardly unique, but Metro's delivery is effective; there's an interesting world left behind in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust. While this isn't a horror game, Awakening always makes me feel uneasy.
In the deathly silence of these corridors, I'm more aware of the subtle whirring of machinery. You can hear footsteps of other creatures from afar, and I'm constantly looking for signs of trouble. When mutant creatures emerge from holes in the walls as the music ramps up, I ensure my gun is always ready. When a spider jumps at me like a face hugger, I did not hesitate to shoot my face.
Great physicality complements this all. Some design similarities with Arizona Sunshine Remake - which I also previewed at Gamescom - were apparent with the manual reloading and satisfying gunplay. Awakening goes a step further with inventory management. Grabbing objects from the same shoulder with a different controller picks up other items. Your right hand will pick up a gun off your right shoulder, but your left hand will grab your backpack, where additional weapons are stored.
The backpack system isn't a new method in VR, yet it's a more natural approach that maintains immersion and holsters several crucial accessories. Your electric generator is handy for powering up doors to advance, which requires manually rotating a crank and attaching cables via motion controls. It also charges the torchlight on your head, a crucial tool when exploring these dark, eerie hallways. Meanwhile, your lighter is effective against spider webbing.
It's worth remembering that previews are carefully curated slices of an experience, so I'm reserving full judgment until the final release. Right now though, I don't have any real criticisms. Vertigo Games is making a solid effort with Metro Awakening that adapts the flatscreen series well with strong atmospheric design and good physicality. Everything feels right at home inside a headset.
Metro Awakening arrives on November 7 on the Meta Quest platform, PlayStation VR2, Steam, and Viveport. Pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition on Steam or PSVR 2 also unlocks early access to the full game on November 5.
