Variety and a bit of half life
There was never a time in Metro Awakening’s 12-hour campaign where I felt like I was repeating the same old situation over and over again. Each hallway, air vent, metro tunnel, or other space you walk through feels unique in a way that’s rarely achieved outside of something as good as Metroid Prime. While this isn’t a Metroidvania by any stretch of the imagination, the variety of locales and the compelling story kept me coming back to the game for more each day.
Metro Awakening has you playing the community’s doctor whose eccentric wife seems to always cause problems. When she starts hearing the voice of your long-dead son in the steam pipes, you know something bad’s about to happen. The rest of the journey will have you wondering if she’s sane, prophetic, or maybe somewhere in between the two. Either way, you’ll be venturing further than your character’s hard past has ever gone before.
Since many parts of the world you’ll explore are radioactive, you’ll need to occasionally put on a gas mask and keep track of how effective its filter is working. Finding and swapping out filters will let you explore these areas more, often helping you find survival supplies and a few collectible items. If there’s any replayability in the game, it’s for folks who love to re-experience specific events or to find all three postcards hidden in each chapter.
Despite not being a big fan of the horror genre, the macabre scenes depicted constantly throughout the game were fascinating in a way I didn’t expect. Likewise, the horrifying creatures that had me jumping and blindly shooting were always interesting to encounter, and I regularly tried to find creative ways to dispatch them before they got too close.
While I wouldn’t put Metro Awakening in the same general category as a horror game like Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife, there’s no denying the importance of horror to the story and the overall atmosphere of the game. Even if you’re not a fan of horror like me, I’d encourage you to try it. The Meta Quest store has a 2-hour return window, anyway, and you’ll definitely get the feeling of the game in the first 30 minutes, let alone two hours.
