Metro Awakening

Metro Awakening is a VR prequel to the Metro series, set before the events of Metro 2033. As the young doctor Serdar, the player sets out to find his missing wife in the Moscow metro, infested with mutants and torn apart by factional wars. Vertigo Games, the creators of Arizona Sunshine, brought the series' signature elements into VR - limited ammo, manually reloading weapons, wiping the fogged-up gas mask, and the cramped atmosphere of dark tunnels where every bullet and every step matters. Like previous entries in the series, it emphasizes moral choices that affect the story's ending, as well as improvised repairs and crafting gear from scavenged materials on the go. The world consists of interconnected metro stations inhabited by factions such as the Order, the Reich, or the Communists, among whom the player must skillfully navigate to survive.

On PC VR, Metro Awakening was likewise released on November 7, 2024, and is technically the most demanding and most visually elaborate version of the three, since it runs on the power of the player's specific gaming rig instead of the fixed hardware of a console or a standalone headset. It supports headsets connectable via SteamVR, so the graphical fidelity of the environments, the reach of the flashlight, and the density of detail in the tunnels can surpass both the console and the wireless versions, provided the player has a powerful enough computer capable of rendering the VR image smoothly. The player can also fine-tune graphics settings according to their rig's performance, which isn't possible on either the console or mobile versions.

Why play it: For players with a powerful gaming PC and a VR headset, this is the visually richest way to enjoy Metro Awakening, with environmental detail and lighting that neither the mobile nor the console version can offer. It's the choice for those who want to get the most out of the metro's horror atmosphere and don't mind higher hardware demands. Anyone with a strong gaming rig at home will get the best that Metro Awakening has to offer in VR on PC VR.