Good VR game, bad Metro game.

Finishing the campaign took me an enjoyable 7.5 hours, which is an above average length for a VR game - but considering the cutscenes and copy-paste sections, it's just average. There is a lot of passing through the same locations (not backtracking, just many levels that take place in the same stations) and a whole lot of "shoot waves of Nosalis on the moving trolley's mounted turret" sections.

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Metro Awakening handles 2 things well: guns and atmosphere.
As with other Metro games, when you're not shooting monsters and people, you're slowly venturing into the dark and ominous bowels of a huge russian metro system on its best post-apocalyptic/abandoned fashion that makes any urban exploration enthusiast drool. It is very spooky at times, what with the constant managing of your flashlight battery and stellar sound design.

When you are shooting though, you have a decently-sized arsenal of guns that feel punchy and satisfying to reload, since you have weapons like the Shambler and Crossbow with their distinct improvised designs. Handling all of the equipment you carry on yourself is well thought out and responsive, making it probably the game's biggest highlight - physically grabbing your backpack, putting on your mask, wiping the condensation, swapping the filters, checking the ammo on your cartridges, turning on your headlamp...it's what you want from VR. In fact, it could've had even more of it, which is when you realize:

Like many VR entries of existing franchises, it feels like a stripped down, budgeted experience that only resembles its original counterpart. Yes, you're in a metro, there are Nosalis, there's the Shambler...and that's about it. The story is about different characters and different station than the ones in the mainline games and it was okay I guess, but most of the gameplay aspects that makes the Metro series what it is are missing:
- No 'safe' settlements where you can trade and interact with characters
- No weapon customization
- No upgrades of any sort
- No moral choices
- You don't ever visit the surface (big disappointment); areas where you have to wear the mask are far and few between so you don't really have to manage your filters
- Low enemy variety; the 3 mutants you see are Lurkers, Nosalis and Spiders and humans are either cultists or just regular bandits. Story aspects like the many different factions and the dark ones are not present at all
- Your lighter has the sole purpose of burning specific spider webs that block doorways. It doesn't scare off spiders or produce any light at all
- Speaking of spiders, they are incredibly annoying to encounter because for some reason they don't actually react to your flashlight and lunge at you anyway, and take too many bullets to kill
- AI is very basic, makes most stealth sections boring

With so little going for it, Awakening would at least benefit from stunning graphics or highly interactive environments, but it's very clear from the get-go that, again, like many VR titles currently, it limits itself technically in order to run on standalone headsets like the Meta Quest.


All of this makes this game mostly unremarkable and I don't see myself replaying it. Overall, though, I did have fun with it and it did spook me at times, so I definitely recommend getting it on sale.