With so much reverence for the Metro games in the past, the developers are finally charting into the VR category with Metro Awakening. By going VR, they are fully realizing the post-apocalyptic atomic atmosphere of the original books by Dmitri Glukhovsky.

So, how does an FPS game fare in the VR world? Does it hold its own in VR and portray the vision imagined in the books or prior games? Or does it fall flat due to bugs and issues that arise from the team working on a VR game? Lets discuss this in detail in this Metro Awakening review.

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The Good Experiences About the Metro Awakening VR

First, let’s discuss what aspects we enjoyed during the gameplay.

A Different Story

The story in the game is a prequel to the previous games about a doctor. This doctor, Serdar, has to find medicine for his wife. He is off to explore the metro tunnels and fight monsters and gangs to survive. The story is enticing, inducing horror with its set pieces and an adventure to a new perspective.

The Gadgets at Serdar’s Disposal

This time around, there are many new gadgets, while some old ones are tuned for Metro Awakening VR. The battery, for example, is easy to crank up but needs commitment, adding to the survival element. The gas mask needs a replacement filter lest you gain radiation if it runs out, adding more realism and intensity. Furthermore, you have to constantly wipe your breath, adding more atmosphere to the game.

Experience a World Through VR

The best experience to play Metro Awakening is done while you play standing. Standing is better as it allows you to move around freely and ready your guns naturally. We felt sitting and playing the game was a bit awkward. Playing while standing is the nearest you can be when experiencing the game. This experience is that you can only get a chance to feel in the VR games.

Shooting and Combat

The game isn’t as combat-heavy as other games, so stealth felt a bit more atmospheric, especially when stealing weapons. Even though most of the time you aren’t gun-blazing, FPS combat feels good. Even reloading adds more realism, fun, and tension.

You get regular upgrades to weapons or new weapons to your arsenal. This progression adds more to your experience and allowing you to plan around each encounter. Choosing stealth over shooting right away is a good choice.

Art and Visuals

Metro Awakening is stunning and appealing, to the point that it would seem the book’s vision came to life. Even if you are just exploring dark tunnels, metro stations, and trains, it oozes the atmosphere. Now this is a good one at that because of all the atmospheres. Everywhere in this game is full of art and life. This full of life experience, gives you a proper feel of how you, as Serdar, are experiencing the living, breathing world.

The game direction also takes the cake, as you tend to feel the unnerving edge from dark corridors and tunnels where you may be attacked at any time. Adding ominous red alert lighting adds more feel, complementing Serdar’s visions, which are nightmarish and give the players a surreal feel.

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Headfirst into Action

Bringing a Metro game to AR does bring its own challenges along with a new atmospheric experience. One of them is how to introduce the protagonist. Here, the Devs have done very well. Instead of giving you a lore run down or a big cinematic, the game throws you right into action.

This approach allows the players to experience the action as it happens through the eyes of the protagonist, the way the game is meant to be played. For example, Morgan Freeman was thrown into Black Messa, and then the player learned about what happens with time.

The Things We Didn’t Like About the Metro Awakening VR Experience

Let’s discuss some things we didn’t enjoy and we assume you might not like as well.

Shooting in the Game

If you are buying this game for a shooting experience similar to that of the previous games, you will be disappointed. Even though that is not our intention when writing this Metro awakening review. You won’t be getting crosshair auto lock this time around. Though it adds realism, it can be frustrating for most players. The steps to take out your gun and fire add to the atmosphere, but no passive features might bog down your experience.

Furthermore, the difficulty of stunning opponents from the back and hitting or missing when shooting might deter many players from enjoying the game.

Bugs and Glitches

Even despite all the good we mentioned above, there are still some bugs and issues that might lower the game experience for some. In some locations, textures either disappeared altogether or loaded slowly. Sometimes, you also see NPCs pop out of nowhere and disappear in a split second, making that scene a bit jarring.

Furthermore, there are frame rate drops in some areas that, surprisingly enough, are sometimes in normal areas as well. A few players have shared that it droppped so much that they had to force quit the game to resolve this issue. In other cases, some have it in one area, while others have it in another area, so it is also a hit-and-miss.

These issues do hamper your enjoyment of the game, but they can be overlooked in favor of all the good things the game brings during your play.

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Final Words

Metro Awakening VR is a great game overall for fans of the franchise who happen to have a VR headset. They get to experience the game in a new form and truly experience the atmosphere the Developers have been planning. Due to being a VF title, the game has many new nuances, like good stealth, many gadgets, shooting monsters, and more. Still, there are also some bugs and glitches that might prevent the experience from being perfect.

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