Metro Awakening: Everything We Know

The Metro series has been a fantastic atmospheric and eerie experience for action gamers. It combines immersive storytelling with compelling world-building mechanics to create a wholesome journey. With Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novels, you get a vivid sense of a devastated Moscow Metro system crawling with biological and nuclear warfare. More writers have picked up the mantle to launch more books in the series, and video games haven’t been left behind either. You can play several Metro games, all taking place within Glukhovsky’s post-apocalyptic Metro universe, with some games even extending out into the open air. And now, with Metro Awakening, we’ll be delving into the Metro universe in VR.

We already have trailers to give us a rough idea of what you can expect in the final game. Yes, one of the trailers is actual gameplay footage of the Quest playthrough. Besides trailers, here’s everything we know about the upcoming Metro Awakening.  

What is Metro Awakening?

Metro Awakening is a story-driven, first-person adventure created specially for virtual reality. In the game, you’ll dive into a heavy atmospheric setting inside Moscow’s Metro system. You’ll need to explore the underground tunnels in search of your wife amid the horrors and constant danger lurking in the shadows.

To avoid setting alarms, you’ll use stealth to bypass enemies. But you may also need to engage them in combat. So, with a gas mask in hand, you’ll head out into a dangerously high radiative space, drawing closer and closer to the source of the post-apocalyptic threat.

Story

The story takes place in 2048 when a nuclear apocalypse wiped out all but a few remaining survivors. The survivors seek refuge within the tunnels of Moscow’s Metro. However, their hiding place reeks of all kinds of horrors, from lurking dead spirits to monsters. You’ll control a doctor named Serdar, who has to find his wife and give her the medication she needs. 

Serdar’s wife has been in the radiative space deep in the tunnels and is running out of time. So, you head out amid the darkness and deadly threats looking to kill you. Even as you trudge deeper into the tunnels, your sanity and physical health will deteriorate, beginning to turn you into your worst fear.

Gameplay

Being a story-driven, first-person adventure game, you can expect some pretty compelling storytelling that carries your playthrough forward. The story will have realistic implications, but it will also add supernatural horrific influences. Overall, it’ll be based on Dmitry Glukhovosky’s universe, featuring the renowned Metro post-apocalyptic world.

As for the gameplay, you can expect a mix of tense stealth and thrilling gunplay. All gameplay will take place in VR, with players donning their masks, reloading ammunition, and surviving the horrific tunnels of Moscow’s subways. There’ll be atmospheric, eerie visual, and auditory worldbuilding, aspects like your only source of light burning out and leaving you trapped in the darkness. 

Meanwhile, you can expect to wield reliable tools like hand-made weapons and gas masks, with a backpack for managing inventory. You’ll need all the protective gear you can get to face the mutant monsters you come across, bandits out for blood, and other unknown dangers lurking in the shadows. Lastly, Metro Awakening will be entirely a single-player campaign.

Development

Vertigo Games will be developing Metro Awakening in collaboration with Deep Silver and Dmitry Glukhovsky. The upcoming game is based on Glukhovsky’s best-selling sci-fi novel Metro series. So far, there’ve been three video game adaptations of the series, with the most popular one being Metro Exodus. Meanwhile, Vertigo Games is a highly reputable developer that has worked on Arizona Sunshine and After the Fall. 

After an interview with Creative Director Martin de Ronde and Game Director Samar Louwe, they revealed the new game will be a prequel to the original title Metro 2033. Further, the gameplay will involve a lot of “creeping up on enemies, listening to what they’re talking about. Of course the nature of VR, you can physically sit behind cover, maybe you can peer through a hole in the cover, and then you can spy on your enemies. But rest assured for everybody that it is a little bit more trigger happy.” 

Trailer

Check out the official trailer for Metro Awakening on YouTube. At first, we received the reveal trailer that brushed over the story and gameplay for the upcoming game. Then, we got the release date trailer, which went a little deeper into the story and worldbuilding. However, the horrors within the tunnels of Moscow’s Metro never became as surreal as the extended gameplay trailer released a few days ago. 

It’s a pretty solid look at the stealth and gunplay mechanics you’ll engage in. The best part is that the gameplay trailer captures actual gameplay footage, which looks pretty juicy on the Quest platforms. It almost makes you want to play the game exclusively on the Quest. Either way, Vertigo Games is cooking some pretty immersive dystopian playthroughs that every gamer ought to try.

Release Date, Platforms, & Editions

Metro Awakening will be launching on November 7, 2024. So, that’s pretty soon, in only a couple of weeks. In preparation for launch, Vertigo Games has released a pre-purchase deal at $39.99 for the Standard Edition. However, you can buy the Deluxe Edition for $44.99 until November 7, 2024, at which point the price will jump back up to $49.99. 

Moreover, pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition will give you 48-hour Early Access to the game, in addition to the following exclusive bonuses:

• Memories of Polyanka:
  • Nosalis Hide Backpack
  • Nosalis Skeletal Gloves
  • The fallen Patch
  • Nosalis Toy Charm
• Concept Art Gallery
• Field Medic Item Pack:
  • Field Medic Backpack Skin
  • Healing Hands Glove Skin
  • Bear Keepsake Weapon Charm
  • Medic Patch

Keep in mind that both editions are for VR only, with only the PC (via Steam) VR, PSVR2, and Meta Quest 2 and 3 platform owners gaining access to the game. For more updates on Metro Awakening, feel free to follow the official social handle here. We’ll keep our eyes peeled, too, for more information and let you know as soon as it comes up.

So, what’s your take? Will you be grabbing a copy of Metro Awakening when it drops? Let us know over on our socials here.