Metro Awakening from Vertigo Games transports players into the haunting, radiation-soaked underbelly of post-apocalyptic Moscow where every step could be your last, but is this a journey worth taking? Read on for our full review.
At its core, Metro Awakening is an impressive first-person shooter driven by a strong narrative grappling with difficult themes of grief and mental health. Set in 2028, the game follows Dr. Sedar as he navigates the shadowy tunnels and supernatural threats of the Moscow Metro in search of his missing wife. His journey into the chilling depths of the Metro universe is accompanied by emotional storytelling and elevated by phenomenal voice acting that solidifies a connection between the characters and the player.
Sights and Sounds of The Metro
Metro Awakening visually excels, displaying a masterful use of light and shadow creating a visceral tension that grips players from the start. I sometimes find myself frozen in fear at the flashing of a slaver’s headlamp in the distance or the glowing eyes of a Nosalis, the large mutated mole-like creatures that live in the metro’s dimly lit tunnels and burrow under its architecture.
Entering the game’s many vents and tunnels can be an unsettling experience for those who dislike tight spaces. Every shadow that catches your eye amplifies a fear of being caught off guard. Playing Metro makes me appreciate the little details Vertigo paid attention to like wiping away dirt from the gasmask, a nice touch that adds a sense of realism. Some visual flaws are noticeable in objects and character models though, like enemy creatures that lack precision in details such as whiskers floating above the facial surface or the occasional ragdoll twitching of a deceased enemy corpse.
These visual anomalies are easily forgotten next to the game’s detailed spatial audio design. Sound and voice acting are such an integral part of making games like this feel believable and Vertigo has done an outstanding job with the soundtrack in Metro Awakening. The eerily realistic 3D audio cues heightened awareness of enemy and environmental threats, adding a layer of psychological horror and creating one of the most atmospheric experiences I’ve had in a long time while playing a VR game. The voice acting is fantastic and conveys deep emotion that made me care, like the angst in the main character’s voice when we discovered deceased friends and the furious rage for the slavers who took his wife. I became so swept up in the emotion when a bound character was put in harm’s way that I screamed out loud for them to stop.
Gameplay Experience
The atmospheric immersion and compelling narrative Metro provides are highly captivating. My 12 hour and 28 minute journey into the tunnels presented many challenges, ranging from the need for stealth to intense direct confrontations requiring strategic resource management. There are times when I wish I would have been more sparing with my ammo… Especially when I reached the 8-legged creepy crawlies that you will find scurrying around further into the tunnels.
If you care about your sanity, keep some extra bullets ready and manage your stamina because you’re going to sprint a lot. If you are severely arachnophobic, this is a game you might consider skipping. Vertigo has even added a trigger warning that players must bypass at the beginning of the game because of this, so be aware anyone with this phobia will find that a few sections of the game very difficult to complete.
Combat is satisfying and the enemy AI is smart enough to offer a challenge. Stealth is preferred in most scenarios, but the game allows for a more forceful approach if desired. So, if you’re like me and prefer the more Leroy Jenkins run-and-gun style of gameplay just remember to shoot sparingly, because if you choose this path, resources like bullets can be hard to replace. During stealth missions enemies are activated by both audio and visual cues, so things like hard footsteps or forgetting to turn off your headlamp are sure ways to get yourself caught.
* Video brightness enhanced to show more detail. Scene is much darker in headset.
Weapon selection is varied and progresses throughout the gameplay with some of the later weapons in the game having a cool aesthetic, making them seem authentic to something that would be scavenged from the rubble or cobbled together from spare parts. Reloading is fully manual and sometimes can get a bit frustrating. There were several times when in the heat of battle that I kept reaching to my chest pouch for more ammo but failed to pull the next clip and instead got my backpack or syringe.
Metro Awakening offers support for both seated and standing play, complemented by customization options such as snap turning, teleportation, and vignetting to alleviate VR motion discomfort. These inclusions should help to make the experience accessible to players prone to motion sickness or those with varied play preferences.
The game’s environments, while richly detailed, become increasingly repetitive as you progress. Rooms and train cars appear to be re-used often and a lot of backtracking through Metro stations I had previously explored was persistent throughout the gameplay. Limited interaction with in-game objects such as drawers, some of which couldn’t be opened, and other items that my hand seemed to pass through took me out of the experience from time to time. I’d love to see Vertigo further solidify the world and objects within it as the most jarring effect is when your head passes through a wall, causing the entire scene to be replaced with a blurry solid-colored mesh. Making all walls solid would negate the need for this effect and would greatly improve the immersion.
Other gameplay mechanics, such as the hand-crank charger used to keep the flashlight going, and access certain doors and machinery, added to the immersion but quickly became tedious to use as the game progressed.
Metro Awakening – Final Verdict
With Metro Awakening, Vertigo Games has once again delivered a mesmerizing VR gaming experience. One that serves as a testament to the studio’s proven record of creating adventures geared to provide atmospheric immersion and deep storytelling. Although it can get slightly repetitive at times and has a few graphical anomalies, Vertigo triumphs in creating a deeply immersive VR adventure that tackles some sensitive subjects along the way, and one that will haunt players long after the credits roll.
Metro Awakening is a chilling and dark virtual world woven into a narrative-based VR adventure game. It’s one that I’d recommend to anyone who loves a bleak dystopian story and doesn’t mind a little repetition or a few minor bugs along the way. Ya know…the kind that aren’t those terrifying spiders you just ran from.
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