Earlier this week as part of PlayStation’s State of Play event we saw the first tantalising footage of Metro Awakening. The next instalment in the Metro franchise, the game is being developed by Vertigo Games. A AAA project for VR platforms it has all the hallmarks of a high-quality title. So much so it could finally be the next Half-Life: Alyx we’ve all been craving for.
Valve’s epic adventure arrived on Steam in 2020 and has sat atop the VR pile ever since. But it’s not multiplatform, with hopes that a PSVR/PSVR 2 version would happen all but gone. You could play it on Meta Quest via PC link but a native experience wasn’t going to happen. Metro Awakening, on the other hand, is multiplatform, coming to PSVR 2, Quest and PCVR in 2024.
Watch the trailer for Metro Awakening VR a few times (and we did), and it gives off that Alyx vibe. Dark, gritty visuals, detailed floating hands and plenty of gun-toting action. Most importantly, it’s part of a beloved franchise, known for its rich lore, gripping atmosphere and immersive gameplay.
Metro Awakening is What VR Needs
When Valve announced Half-Life: Alyx the die-hard fans were in uproar that after years of waiting the next Half-Life installment was a VR game. For the rest of us, the news was exactly what we wanted to hear, a huge franchise coming to VR. This gave the technology more legitimacy, building upon the likes of Resident Evil 7. More mainstream news outlets would cover the news and therefore spark more interest in traditional gamers.
The world of VR has moved on greatly since then. New headsets and more IPs have come to market – Ghostbusters, Resident Evil, Assassin’s Creed and Angry Birds come to mind – with the likes of Stranger Things VR, Attack on Titan VR and Taskmaster VR still to come. But the fact remains that out of those latter games set to arrive in 2024, Metro has the gaming pedigree to drive VR sales. Plus, 4A Games – the original developer of Metro 2033 – is rumoured to be working on the next instalment. So could two Metro games arrive in 2024?
Metro Awakening is in good hands at Vertigo Games, the team behind Arizona Sunshine 2, The 7th Guest VR, and After the Fall. The studio knows the type of interactive elements VR gamers want, as well as the kind of tense atmosphere the game requires. With original author and creator Dmitry Glukhovsky on board, the same narrative quality level is assured. Furthermore, the process hasn’t been rushed, thankfully. Valve had no intentions of rushing Half-Life: Alyx and that seems to be the same here. Vertigo has already spent two and a half years on it, possibly rising to three by the time of release.
This leads us back to the same giddy feeling that Metro Awakening could be VR’s next Half-Life: Alyx. Whose with us? Let us know in the comments below.