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 sometimes, however these are exceptions slightly than the rule. I’ve additionally by no means actually gotten into the Metro collection 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 — identical to the remainder of the collection — that had me hooked from the second its intelligent intro started. It is also the primary made-for-VR entry into the storied collection, developed totally 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 distinct developer, Metro Awakening feels extremely much like Metro 2033 in all the proper methods. Because the story goes, it takes place primarily within the metro practice tunnels below a as soon as nice metropolis, the place you may end up uncovering the horrors that each radioactivity and determined people created. It is simply one of many greatest Meta Quest video games I’ve ever performed.
Feeling Vertigo
When you’ve performed the Arizona Sunshine video games or After the Fall, you may instantly really feel aware of the mechanics in Metro Awakening. That is to not say issues are an identical — the twin backpack-based stock system is a intelligent new design I have never seen but — however every thing that is good concerning the firm’s earlier apocalyptic shooters sits on show for gamers to expertise in Metro Awakening.
Intuitive on-body stock programs, the place you may persistently depend upon grabbing the identical merchandise each time you attain for it, make them really feel pretty much as good as a sizzling bar in a flat-screen sport.
The primary time you pull the hammer again and peer into the gun’s physique to ensure 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 worry the sport persistently holds you in, as you can make higher split-second choices 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 correct ammo or refill for the weapon you are holding.
That’s, after all, as long as you’ve got been in a position to maintain on to sufficient ammo to get you thru the subsequent part. Considered one of Metro Awakening’s greatest strengths is its constant issue degree, which is instantly 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 ensure you nonetheless have a bullet within the chamber is not simply clutch. It is important for immersion.
Whereas operating from a large 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 house 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 films. 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 subsequent encounter as doable.
However each single encounter — even those that very clearly indicate a stealthy method is greatest — will be run by means of Rambo fashion. Enemies’ weapons will 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 inventive methods. Cans and bottles will 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 operating from a large 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 house to blast it to smithereens.
There is no manner to do that in a non-VR sport, and it makes the sport really feel particular and bespoke in a manner 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 previous scenario over and over. Every hallway, air vent, metro tunnel, or different house you stroll by means of feels distinctive in a manner that is not often achieved outdoors 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 enjoying 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 realize one thing unhealthy’s about to occur. The remainder of the journey can have you questioning if she’s sane, prophetic, or possibly someplace in between the 2. Both manner, you may be venturing additional than your character’s onerous previous has ever gone earlier than.
Since many components of the world you may discover are radioactive, you may want to sometimes placed on a fuel masks and maintain 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 people who like to re-experience particular occasions or to search out all three postcards hidden in every chapter.
Regardless of not being an enormous fan of the horror style, the macabre scenes depicted always all through the sport have been fascinating in a manner 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 frequently tried to search out inventive methods to dispatch them earlier than they acquired too shut.
Whereas I would not put Metro Awakening in the identical normal class as a horror sport like Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, there is no denying the significance of horror to the story and the general ambiance of the sport. Even in case you’re not a fan of horror like me, I might encourage you to strive it. The Meta Quest retailer has a 2-hour return window, anyway, and you will positively get the sensation of the sport within the first half-hour, not to mention two hours.
If I needed to identify one particular critique of the Quest model of the sport, it could be that I anticipated to see the sport operating at the next decision than it does. I used Quest Video games Optimizer to spice up the decision to 130%, and it seemed downright breathtaking at occasions, 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 large 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 prime 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 facility of a Meta Quest 3 in a extra reasonably priced 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 whenever you purchase one earlier than April 2025.
