Metro Awakening

Metro Awakening
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Vertigo Games
Publisher	Vertigo Games, Deep Silver
Platform	SteamVR, Meta Quest, PlayStation VR2, Viveport
Device	Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest Pro, PlayStation VR2, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index
Operating System	Windows, PlayStation 5
Type	Game
Genre	First-person shooter, Survival horror, Action-adventure
Input Device	Tracked motion controllers
Play Area	Standing, Room-scale, seated
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	November 7, 2024
Price	US $39.99 (Standard); US $49.99 (Deluxe)
App Store	Steam, Meta Quest Store, PlayStation Store, Viveport
Website	https://metroawakening.com

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Metro Awakening is a single-player virtual reality first-person shooter developed and published by Vertigo Games in partnership with Deep Silver, released on November 7, 2024 for Meta Quest (Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro), PlayStation VR2, SteamVR headsets, and Viveport. A prequel to Metro 2033, it tells the origin story of the character Khan and was written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author of the Metro novels and creator of the series.

The game is set in the irradiated tunnels of the Moscow metro after a nuclear war. Players control Serdar, a doctor searching the tunnels for medicine and for his missing wife, facing human survivors and mutated creatures. Unlike earlier Metro titles by 4A Games, which used the proprietary 4A Engine, Metro Awakening was built from the ground up for VR in Unreal Engine 5 and uses OpenXR to target multiple headsets. It won VR Game of the Year at the Steam Awards 2024 and Excellence in Immersion at Road to VR's 2024 awards.

Gameplay

Metro Awakening is played from a first-person perspective and emphasizes a physical, diegetic interface rather than menu screens. Spare ammunition and items are kept in a chest pouch and a backpack reached by grabbing over the shoulder, weapons are reloaded by hand (ejecting magazines and chambering shotgun shells manually), and the player draws a long arm or rifle stored across the back. A gas mask must be worn in contaminated areas, and its visor fogs and collects grime that the player physically wipes away. A hand-crank generator recharges the flashlight and powers some doors and machinery, a mechanic several reviewers found atmospheric early on but repetitive over a full playthrough.

Ammunition is scarce, and the protagonist is a doctor rather than a trained soldier, so combat is slower and more deliberate than in a conventional shooter. Enemies react to sound and light, including the player's footsteps and headlamp, which pushes the game toward stealth; distractions such as thrown bottles and silent melee takedowns are available, though reviewers noted that melee knockouts can be awkward to execute. Weapons include pistols, rifles, shotguns and a crossbow. Comfort options cover seated and standing play with smooth or snap turning, optional teleportation movement, head- or hand-based locomotion direction, and a vignette to reduce motion discomfort. An Arachnophobia Mode reduces or removes spider encounters. The campaign runs roughly 10 to 12 hours.

On PlayStation VR2 the game uses the headset's hardware features, including controller and headset haptics and eye tracking; reviewers described closing one eye through the eye-tracking system to line up crossbow shots.

Development

Metro Awakening was developed by Vertigo Games, a Netherlands studio known for VR titles such as Arizona Sunshine and After the Fall, with publishing alongside Deep Silver, which holds the rights to the Metro games. The story was written by Dmitry Glukhovsky, who wrote the original Metro 2033 novel and the wider book series, and it functions as a prequel that explains how Serdar becomes the mystic Khan seen in later games. The project was first announced in 2024 for release that year.

Where prior Metro games were made by 4A Games in the 4A Engine for flat screens, Vertigo Games built Metro Awakening specifically for VR in Unreal Engine 5. In an interview published by Epic Games, the studio said a team of roughly 50 to 75 people worked on the game and made use of Unreal Engine 5 systems including MetaSounds, Control Rig, Motion Warping and Sequencer, with offline optimization through hierarchical levels of detail and baked lighting via GPU Lightmass, and used OpenXR to support multiple headsets. The game was released in a Standard Edition and a Deluxe Edition; the Deluxe Edition added a Memories of Polyanka cosmetic pack and access to a VR concept art gallery.

Release

Metro Awakening launched simultaneously across its supported VR platforms on November 7, 2024.

Platform	Headsets	Release date
Meta Quest	Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 / 3S, Meta Quest Pro	November 7, 2024
PlayStation VR2	PlayStation VR2 (on PlayStation 5)	November 7, 2024
SteamVR	Oculus Rift, HTC Vive / Vive Pro, Valve Index	November 7, 2024
Viveport	SteamVR-compatible PC headsets	November 7, 2024

Reception

Metro Awakening received generally favorable reviews. On the review aggregator OpenCritic it holds a Top Critic Average of 76 with a "Strong" rating, and 59 percent of critics recommended it across 48 reviews. On Steam the game has a "Mostly Positive" user rating, with about 74 percent of 1,782 user reviews positive as of mid-2026.

Push Square scored the PlayStation VR2 version 9 out of 10, calling it one of the most immersive VR games and praising its gunplay, scarcity of ammunition and atmosphere while noting that the story loses momentum toward the end. UploadVR rated it 4.5 out of 5, highlighting the diegetic inventory, gas mask and hand-crank mechanics and the Moscow underground setting, with criticism for some repetition and minor bugs. TheSixthAxis scored it 9 out of 10. Among less favorable reviews, IGN Italy gave it 6 out of 10, and Eurogamer and GamesRadar+ each rated it 3 out of 5, citing repetitive levels and pacing problems after a strong opening.

The game won several awards in 2024. It received VR Game of the Year at the Steam Awards 2024. Road to VR named it the recipient of its Excellence in Immersion award, citing the diegetic inventory, the crossbow and shotgun, enemies that feel both threatening and fragile, and a consistently tense atmosphere, and also chose it as their PSVR 2 Game of the Year. UploadVR likewise named it their PlayStation VR2 Game of the Year for 2024. It was nominated for Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards 2024.