AC thVRsday
In his weekly column, Android Central Senior Content material Producer Nick Sutrich delves into all issues VR, from new {hardware} to new video games, upcoming applied sciences, and a lot extra.
Metro Awakening is the horror sport I did not know I wanted. I say that as a result of, first off, I am not precisely a fan of the horror style. I’ve loved the occasional scary film or sport once in a while, however these are exceptions moderately than the rule. I’ve additionally by no means actually gotten into the Metro sequence regardless of having fun with the theme and the unique launch of Metro 2033.
However Metro Awakening is one thing particular. It is a narrative-heavy, linear first-person shooter — similar to the remainder of the sequence — that had me hooked from the second its intelligent intro started. It is also the primary made-for-VR entry into the storied sequence, developed completely by veteran VR developer Vertigo Video games, the identical firm behind VR classics like Arizona Sunshine and After the Fall.
Regardless of being from a unique developer, Metro Awakening feels extremely much like Metro 2033 in all the fitting methods. Because the story goes, it takes place primarily within the metro prepare tunnels underneath a as soon as nice metropolis, the place you will end up uncovering the horrors that each radioactivity and determined people created. It is simply one of many finest Meta Quest video games I’ve ever performed.
Feeling Vertigo
If you happen to’ve performed the Arizona Sunshine video games or After the Fall, you will instantly really feel accustomed to the mechanics in Metro Awakening. That is to not say issues are equivalent — the twin backpack-based stock system is a intelligent new design I have never seen but — however every thing that is good in regards to the firm’s earlier apocalyptic shooters sits on show for gamers to expertise in Metro Awakening.
Intuitive on-body stock techniques, the place you possibly can constantly rely on grabbing the identical merchandise each time you attain for it, make them really feel pretty much as good as a scorching bar in a flat-screen sport.
The primary time you pull the hammer again and peer into the gun’s physique to be sure you nonetheless have a bullet within the chamber is not simply clutch. It is important for immersion.
That is notably necessary given the extent of concern the sport constantly holds you in, as you’ll make higher split-second selections since you will not be fumbling with an unreliable stock system. Therapeutic is all the time in your left hip, a pistol all the time in your proper, and reaching into the pocket in your chest all the time delivers the right ammo or refill for the weapon you are holding.
That’s, after all, as long as you have been in a position to maintain on to sufficient ammo to get you thru the following part. Certainly one of Metro Awakening’s largest strengths is its constant problem degree, which is straight relative to how a lot ammo you are given between any of the sport’s encounters.
The primary time you pull the hammer again and peer into the gun’s physique to be sure you nonetheless have a bullet within the chamber is not simply clutch. It is important for immersion.
Whereas working from an enormous mutant rat, I grabbed a big sliding door and closed it three-quarters of the way in which, blocking the rat’s entry and giving me sufficient area to blast it to smithereens.
Metro Awakening’s fight encounters are as typically about taking the stealthy method as they’re about blindly capturing at unseen enemies like a personality in one among Ridley Scott’s Alien motion pictures. Most encounters with people provide the choice to be stealthy — which I am going to encourage you to make use of — to be able to save up as a lot ammo for the following encounter as doable.
However each single encounter — even those that very clearly suggest a stealthy method is finest — could be run by Rambo fashion. Enemies’ weapons could be taken after they’re downed, and whereas ammo in these weapons is all the time severely restricted, they permit expert gamers to hop from enemy to enemy and piggyback in artistic methods. Cans and bottles could be introduced from place to put and used to distract enemies, so you should utilize a stealthy melee assault to take them out.
The flexibility to behave naturally in VR dawned on me throughout one early encounter. Whereas working from an enormous mutant rat, I grabbed a big sliding door and closed it three-quarters of the way in which, blocking the rat’s entry and giving me sufficient area to blast it to smithereens.
There is no method to do that in a non-VR sport, and it makes the sport really feel particular and bespoke in a method that one other flatscreen entry could not.
Selection and a little bit of half life
There was by no means a time in Metro Awakening’s 12-hour marketing campaign the place I felt like I used to be repeating the identical outdated scenario again and again. Every hallway, air vent, metro tunnel, or different area you stroll by feels distinctive in a method that is hardly ever achieved exterior of one thing pretty much as good as Metroid Prime. Whereas this is not a Metroidvania by any stretch of the creativeness, the number of locales and the compelling story saved me coming again to the sport for extra every day.
Metro Awakening has you taking part in the group’s physician whose eccentric spouse appears to all the time trigger issues. When she begins listening to the voice of your long-dead son within the steam pipes, you recognize one thing dangerous’s about to occur. The remainder of the journey can have you questioning if she’s sane, prophetic, or perhaps someplace in between the 2. Both method, you will be venturing additional than your character’s arduous previous has ever gone earlier than.
Since many components of the world you will discover are radioactive, you will want to sometimes placed on a fuel masks and preserve monitor of how efficient its filter is working. Discovering and swapping out filters will allow you to discover these areas extra, typically serving to you discover survival provides and some collectible objects. If there’s any replayability within the sport, it is for folk who like to re-experience particular occasions or to seek out all three postcards hidden in every chapter.
Regardless of not being a giant fan of the horror style, the macabre scenes depicted consistently all through the sport have been fascinating in a method I did not count on. Likewise, the horrifying creatures that had me leaping and blindly capturing have been all the time fascinating to come across, and I commonly tried to seek out artistic methods to dispatch them earlier than they obtained too shut.
Whereas I would not put Metro Awakening in the identical normal class as a horror sport like Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, there isn’t any denying the significance of horror to the story and the general ambiance of the sport. Even should you’re not a fan of horror like me, I would encourage you to attempt it. The Meta Quest retailer has a 2-hour return window, anyway, and you may undoubtedly get the sensation of the sport within the first half-hour, not to mention two hours.
If I needed to title one particular critique of the Quest model of the sport, it will be that I anticipated to see the sport working at a better decision than it does. I used Quest Video games Optimizer to spice up the decision to 130%, and it appeared downright breathtaking at instances, all with none noticeable efficiency hitches. Hopefully, Vertigo Video games can patch in one thing like this quickly.
The VR group has had its share of ups and downs with massive releases this 12 months, however this final quarter has confirmed to pack a critical punch that provides me excessive hopes for the way forward for big-name VR video games. Batman Arkham Shadow sits firmly on the high as sport of the 12 months, though Metro Awakening has already making me query which title will get the crown on the finish of the 12 months.
Get the ability of a Meta Quest 3 in a extra inexpensive bundle with the Meta Quest 3S, the brand new VR headset from Meta. Plus, get Batman Arkham Shadow and three months of Meta Quest Plus once you purchase one earlier than April 2025.
