Step into a New Reality: Metro Awakening VR Download Now Available

The game Metro from 4A Games impresses with its personal story and environment, but above all with its technical complexity. So when it was revealed that the next installment in the series would be a virtual reality experience, it was no surprise that expectations soared. Unlike other Metro games, Metro Awakening is the brainchild of longtime virtual game developer Vertigo Games, so the underworld of post-nuclear war Moscow is well curated. Or is it?

Before the events of Metro 2033, Sedar, a combat medic returning from a mission, learned that his wife had run out of anti-anxiety drugs. This was already causing problems in the community, so, in the interest of the public good and his wife, Sedar began looking for more drugs outside the safety net, where mortal danger awaited in many forms.

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Metro Awakening doesn’t shy away from the story too much. Living underground, fighting mutants, and waiting to die is a sad business, and players can see and feel it at every turn. The characters try to find hope everywhere they turn, but the harsh fate of the characters ensures that the game won’t make you feel good. Partly for this reason, Awakening feels like a burdensome experience. It’s always dark underground and even the few light sources you have need to be repaired or recharged every few minutes to see ahead. Meanwhile, bright outside air means a crackling Geiger counter, followed by blurry eyes and rapidly developing nausea. The balance between being cooked alive in daylight or bitten by monsters in the shadows takes its toll.

Experience the thrilling fight for survival through the eyes of a hero. In confined environments, you can roam freely by teleporting or using your virtual hands to progress through various challenges easily. Progression is balanced between encountering monsters and solving small puzzles, but most of the time is spent in empty corridors and building ruins, which is admittedly a bit boring.

Technically speaking, Metro Awakening is well maintained. The character’s hands precisely follow the controller’s movements, which is nice since they are used to move objects in the game. Among other things, players must turn valves to close, roll magazines, operate doors, and load weapons, including managing magazines. The action is fluid and there’s a lot to do, but repeating the same things can get frustrating at times. In particular, it makes sense to charge the headlamp by fiddling with the charger, but after hours of gaming, having to recharge it every few minutes is really annoying. In addition to the use of weapons, the shooting is also as realistic as possible. This mainly means that it is impossible to shoot from the hip. Hitting a target, especially a slightly smaller target, is nearly impossible unless you aim carefully with the grain or scope. Even on the easiest difficulty level, facing multiple enemies becomes a challenge. While I appreciate realism in games as much as I do in movies, part of the reason I play games is for escapism and entertainment. Real life, at least when playing games, is slow and ultimately boring.

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The visual aspect of the game is perfect. There are many details that bring the environment to life and give atmosphere to the Moscow underground. Although lighting is used intelligently as part of the game, the world is very dark. Constantly wandering in the dark and trudging through death is unsettling, even if the corpses and monsters you encounter look fantastic. The animation is well done so all the hand movements look believable. The game runs smoothly on PlayStation 5 with no noticeable loading gaps, but after less than an hour of free roaming the nausea is evident. With Teleport, on the other hand, it’s hard to keep up with the combat, so it’s a tough choice.

The game’s soundscape has been refined. The effects are believable and varied to keep the atmosphere alive. The various rattles and hisses of the ruins of the underworld and the disgusting screams of the monsters manage to create tension and fear. The soundtrack expresses a genuine exhaustion and melancholy brought on by the harshness of life, and the characters have a believable Russian cockiness that fits perfectly into the beautifully presented world. The music is dark and sweet, high quality but minimalistic, keeping the mood heavy and melancholy so that the mood doesn’t become too light.

Metro Awakening is a bit of a strange case. Expectations and enthusiasm for the game are high and technically everything is as it should be. The graphics are spectacular, the gameplay is smooth, and the world is interesting, but there’s still something off. A dark and gloomy gaming experience can quickly take its toll, especially when there is physical nausea everywhere. While you can do a lot with your virtual hands, the virtual experience feels a bit artificial: like playing a regular FPS game with a virtual joystick. Plus, walking around empty hallways and playing in lifeless environments for too long can get boring. Strangely, the atmosphere didn’t match the game I was experiencing and the overall experience left me feeling empty.