Review of Metro Awakening (PS5/PSVR2)

Metro Awakening stands out as the most anticipated PSVR2 game of 2024, marking a significant leap for Vertigo Games, the creators of the Arizona Sunshine series. Arizona Sunshine established a fun, chaotic zombie-slaying experience that almost seemed custom-made for virtual reality. However, the Metro series brings a distinct flavor with its emphasis on stealth, bullet economy, and a pervasive sense of unease. Initially, it was uncertain if Vertigo could successfully translate these iconic elements into a VR setting. However, not only did they rise to the challenge, but they also delivered one of PSVR2’s finest titles.

Before the main series events unfold, Metro Awakening follows Serdar, a survivor trapped in Russia’s metro system. Living within a tight-knit community, Serdar’s main goal is to find medicine for his wife, Yana, who is tormented by the haunting memories of their lost son. Armed with a pistol and a trusty gas mask, you venture into the metro’s treacherous depths.

From the get-go, the game’s aesthetic feels like a true Metro experience. Rustic shelters bathed in the orange glow of barrel fires set the stage, while your journey unveils disturbing sights like decrepit camps covered in human remains and mutant lairs dotted with radioactive fungi. Despite the grim visuals, the artistry shines through, creating an atmosphere of palpable tension.

While Metro Awakening might not visually compete with games like Horizon Call of the Mountain, its clever use of lighting crafts a believably gritty environment. Scenes are brought to life with touches like the green shine of mushrooms, the flickering of dim lamps, and the piercing beam of your headlamp, all contributing to the Metro series’ signature gritty feel.

The visual excellence is further bolstered by the game’s immersive VR elements. Subtle interactions—like wiping your gas mask’s visor or igniting webs with a lighter—create memorable moments that pull you deeper into the experience. One standout sequence involves navigating through a spider-infested corridor, weapon drawn, as a monstrous arachnid lunges and crawls over your skull, simulated through headset vibrations—a sensation impossible to fully recreate on a traditional screen.

To handle these challenges, Metro Awakening equips you with a modest yet satisfying selection of weapons. The enthusiasm for weapon handling from Arizona Sunshine 2 is evident here, as manually reloading feels tactile and rewarding, enhanced by the PSVR2 Sense Controller’s haptic feedback. Advancements have been made since the Arizona series, allowing for nuanced dual-hand interactions—for instance, holding a gun barrel with one hand while performing actions with the other. After a bit of familiarization, switching and managing weapons feels intuitive.

The intuitive control scheme deserves praise. Metro Awakening strives for immersion by keeping interactions realistic and in-world, with an absence of traditional menus beyond basic functions like pausing. Many actions feel natural: pressing the R2 button activates your flashlight, reaching over your shoulder accesses your rifle, and inspecting your magazine involves physically checking it.

There might be occasional mishaps, like mistakenly grabbing the backpack instead of ammunition, but overall Metro Awakening avoids the technical glitches that plague many VR shooters. Engaging in combat, you find yourself closing one eye for a precise crossbow shot, your limited ammunition maintaining that classic Metro tension. The tactile action of scavenging bullets or retrieving bolts intensifies your involvement.

When the action heats up, Metro Awakening excels. Landing a headshot, swiftly recovering a fallen adversary’s weapon, and firing from cover are exhilarating. Stealth sections crank up the tension, using distractions and shadows to navigate around foes. However, melee attacks can be inconsistent, occasionally bungling silent takedowns, and enemy footsteps can be hard to decipher.

Combining its mechanics and visuals, some of Metro Awakening’s campaign moments are intensely suspenseful. The unsettling music, striking illumination, and seamless controls effortlessly immerse players into this gripping world.

Narratively, the game kicks off strong, featuring likable characters with convincing motion capture for a VR title. However, as the plot dives deeper into the supernatural—the series’ hallmark—it loses some engagement. The game’s less captivating supernatural gameplay can detract from the main experience, which thrives on stealth maneuvers against human foes and nightmarish creatures.

While the narrative falters slightly, the gameplay keeps you hooked throughout its roughly ten-hour campaign. However, the experience does slightly dip towards the end, with a yearning for more varied locations and a more impactful emotional conclusion.

Technically, the game occasionally suffers from performance hiccups like crashes during area transitions, brief immobility upon loading new sections, and minor frame rate drops. Yet, these issues are sporadic and don’t significantly mar the overall polished experience.

Ultimately, Metro Awakening showcases Vertigo Games’ remarkable achievement in crafting a VR masterpiece. They’ve managed to capture the essence of the Metro series, enhancing it with standout VR-specific mechanics. While there’s room for improvement in storytelling and setting diversity, the game’s highlights unquestionably justify repeated playthroughs. The cohesive blend of visuals, atmosphere, and controls makes Metro Awakening one of the most immersive VR titles available today.