Metro Awakening review — The Metro series arrives in VR

The critically acclaimed Metro series has landed on VR, bringing with it its signature grit, scares, and quasi-survival horror gameplay. I am happy to report that overall, the series has made the transition fairly seamlessly, though a few issues do prevent this entry from ever reaching the lofty heights of its predecessors.

Set in 2028, 15 years after a nuclear armageddon, Metro Awakening focuses on a group of survivors as they attempt to proceed with their lives in a fortress-like lair nestled deep within the Moscow metro system. Since this is a prequel to the Metro series, players will take the reins of a new character, Serdar, who is a well-respected doctor of the underground, as he attempts to find and save his wife Yana. I’ll stop there so as to not spoil the twists and turns. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of interesting moments, and an ending which is ultimately satisfying and ties into the other Metro titles, I couldn’t help but feel as if this entire game was more of a side quest rather than a full-blown story, especially when compared to the other titles in the series.

If you’re a fan of the Metro series, you’ll immediately be impressed by how well everything translates to VR. The makeshift community of the underground metro system makes for a fascinating VR arena to explore, filled with dilapidated homes, ramshackle bars, and small glimpses of life attempting to persevere despite hardship. Metro Awakening also makes great use of its claustrophobic hallways for tension, keeping the player constantly in fear of what may be lurking around the corner. Gameplay is further elevated by impressive sound design with far off growls, creaking floorboards, crumbling ceilings, swift moving spiders, flies buzzing around the dead, and a bevy of other realistic sound effects all working in tandem to immerse you into your surroundings. Even the most steadfast of players will find themselves unintentionally hesitating as they round a dark corner and hear the low rumblings of a growl from somewhere up ahead. For a game that is not necessarily a horror game, Metro Awakening sure has its share of well done creepy moments and even a few jump scares.

Likewise, the small details which have always made the Metro series stand out, such as having to ration your gas mask usage, wipe your mask off when in use due to condensation from your heavy breathing, etc. all fit seamlessly into the VR experience. Equipment management translates well to VR as well, thanks to the addition of a backpack which can be grabbed by simply reaching behind your left shoulder, preventing the need for cycling through menus to switch or use items. Basically, anything you’re carrying, aside from ammo, shows up attached to your backpack and you simply physically pull the item off when you need it. Your backpack holds your charger, which is used to keep your headlamp running and to power various doors and machinery found throughout the metro, as well as grenades, gas mask filters, a lighter, and your weapon stash. To view your weapon stash you simply reach behind your right shoulder, which flips the backpack around. 

Metro supports manual reloading of weapons, with no option for automatic reloading. While manual reloading is generally considered part of the VR experience, there are a few moments where you’ll find yourself staring down a seemingly endless mob of enemies and start to fumble when grabbing your ammo and during reloads, leading to frustration or death. I personally feel as if these moments add to the overwhelming oppressive nature of the series as a whole, where having the odds stacked against you is par for the course, but for others it may be more of an annoyance. Overall though, the reloading process is as simple as ejecting the spent clip, reaching into your ammo pouch located on your stomach to grab a new clip, inserting that clip into the gun, and then cocking it. The reloading process becomes relatively seamless as the game progresses, though in tense moments I did find that the game sometimes thought I was trying to cock the gun rather than grab ammo, which does lead to a few moments of frustration.

You can hold two weapons in quick grab spots, one on your right hip, the other behind your right shoulder, and three weapons can be held in your backpack, though only one of each type of weapon can be held at a time. Health is restored via a medicine gun attached to your left hip which functions similar to a weapon, meaning after use you must eject the spent vial and swap it with a full vial. While you begin your adventure with just a pistol, as you progress you’ll eventually stumble upon an AK, crossbow, shotgun, and a blowpipe. Yes, a blowpipe is an actual late game weapon and it is quite fun to take down enemies from the shadows while mimicking blowing into a tube in VR. I highly recommend experimenting with all weapon types and becoming comfortable with their aim and reload patterns, rather than sticking with whatever gun you are most comfortable with, so you can swap as needed during the more intense combat sections. Thankfully, every enemy with a weapon will drop it upon death, so there is rarely a shortage of weapons, though ammo can be scarce in harder difficulties. To avoid getting stuck in a gunfight unprepared, I made sure to pick up any dropped weapon and, at minimum, eject their ammo clip and store it in my pouch, though sometimes I opted to just use it until empty to save from dipping into my ammo stash.

Unfortunately, there are a few areas where Metro Awakening falters. First and foremost among these issues is that aiming just never feels intuitive. I’ve played quite a few VR FPS games recently where aiming was never a second thought, like Arizona Sunshine Remake and even Behemoth’s bow and arrow, and I was constantly surprised at how difficult aiming was in Awakening. It wasn’t just with one weapon, and it wasn’t just when I attempted to aim quickly, it occurred no matter what I did. I’m not going to pretend that I am a crack shot in VR, but when I recently played a game where headshots and shooting off specific body parts came easy, to having trouble hitting the middle of a large beast, then I do believe the game has to take at least partial blame for the issue. It’s not enough to ruin the fun, but during intense combat sections, especially involving humans, it can be quite frustrating and often required me getting far closer to an enemy than I was comfortable with. 

Another issue that dampened my experience as I progressed was the constant backtracking and general reuse of areas and objectives, especially the need to use your charger to either brighten your headlamp or open a door every few minutes. What began as a fun underground world to explore, eventually became stale despite slight changes or new enemies showing up. Cutscenes, or dialogue in general, can also ramble on for quite some time, which in a flat game would be appreciated, but in VR it becomes awkward to just stand for five minutes while someone speaks to you, and you have nowhere else to go. Thankfully these moments are few and far between, but can really slow down the pace.

Overall, while it may not be as in-depth or fleshed out as previous entries, and towards the end it all becomes quite repetitive, Metro Awakening is still a compelling chapter of this incredibly solid series of games.