Metro Awakening VR Review
Before the first minute was up, I knew Metro Awakening was going to be good. The dark tunnels and rooms of the post-apocalyptic Moscow Metro system make for the perfect setting for a VR game, with developer Vertigo Games able to add so much interactivity to the ideas and mechanics from previous Metro games, while retaining all of the charm, and indeed horror, from its non-VR brothers.
Set mostly in 2028 you play as a Doctor called Serdar, a survivor of the nuclear holocaust and resident of the Metro systems in Moscow. His wife seems to be hearing the voice if their long dead son and you are soon on a quest to work out exactly is happening, exploring themes of grief and mental health as you do so.
The prologue does a great job of setting the scene for newcomers or reminding Metro fans just what was great about the games. You wander through one of the station camps which is packed full of details and this, combined with lots of NPCs chattering away and some superb lighting and graphics, really brings the experience to life. Within a few minutes of playing you forget that you’re in VR and really feel like you are there – something many games fail to achieve.
The controls are well thought out with realistic weapon loading mechanics and the usual holsters on your hips and over your shoulder to store guns – it’s basically the same set up as Arizona Sunshine 2 and Vertigo Games’ other recent titles.
Metro has always had some retro and survivalist tech, but now the mechanics of winding up hand held generator to create electricity for your head lamp has been made fully interactive. In fact, all the mechanics from the Metro games have been reworked for VR, from putting on your gas mask and changing filters to simple touches such as turning your headlamp on and off by raising your controller above your head to click a button. These could have been simplified or even automated, but by making them all interactive it adds a whole new layer to the game. Frantically trying to attach a
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