Metro: Awakening is the unfortunate victim of over optimising for Quest 2, as well as inexperience in what makes VR fun.

The game is still Metro, it has consistent themes, and the story is a solid 6/10, however the game feels like it was created by first time VR devs, there is so much missing from the experience, to name a few:

- There are essentially no interactable physics objects on any map besides the first room in the game, you will find the occasional mug, book or teddy, but that's about it.

- There is no feeling of scrounging through objects and shelves for loot. 95% of all objects are static, containers are static and there are only 4 kinds that can actually be opened, shelves full of low resolution ambiguous scrap metal, paper and boxes, non movable, and a bullet will probably be sitting somewhere on a table, obvious as it is much higher resolution than everything else.

- Complete lack of interactivity, enemies cannot be grabbed, you can't pick up rounds that are ejected manually from guns besides the shotgun (So you are leaving every gun with 1 bullet in the chamber), candles can't be lit with my lighter, smaller cobwebs can't be burnt. Such a missed opportunity to use the microphone to let me blow out candles. You can't even extinguish them normally, they are completely static. Light's can't be shot out to disable them, my hands make no sound on any material besides corpses so I can't attract enemies by making noise with my hands, nothing. The only saving graces are being able to fist fight, and wiping my mask of condensation.

- No physicality with the inventory system, while I like the backpack system, the fact that if I let go of my gun it just teleports back into my backpack is a tragedy. No need to holster, just let go. any item is the same thing. With essential items, I understand, but such a missed opportunity to let me lose things. Place those objects occasionally around the map or something and let me lose my lighter, place them in softlockable situations.

- No throwing knives or any knives at all, stealth is limited to bonking enemies over the head, the very hard to aim crossbow, or late game silenced pistol. Pretty basic.

- Weapon handling is horrible, things feel sluggish and jittery. I'm pretty good at aiming in VR games, and I've never missed so many shots. Especially the crossbow, that thing is an abomination.
Even the AK, though, feels like its lagging behind my hands, it just doesn't feel right. The recoil is good, but the aiming feels very strange.

- Repetitive sections, as every other review mentions, this game has lots of reused levels and segments from other levels, it feels repetitive, it gets very boring quickly, and good god I never want to burn another spiderweb or pull another plank off a door again.

- Areas in the game are dark, way too dark, like almost 0 visibility. You spend the majority of the game looking through a peephole of flashlight, which gave me a headache. Dark areas needed to be brightened to be slightly visible without flashlight for stealth sections. This could probably be fixed with a reshade preset.

- Way to many on rail sections, there are at least 5 where you are literally just on a card with a gun, and you have to shoot the creatures running at you. sometimes there are explody things on the walls to shoot to kill them. One of the first ones are against 3 humans in front of you, and this was the only section I died more than once in as on hardcore they all just sprayed you and there is nowhere to take cover. These are, frustratingly, the only difficult parts in the game, and easily the least fun unfortunately.

- Lastly, Hardcore Difficulty. This was by far the easiest Metro Game I have ever played.
For context, I have a tradition of playing every single Metro game on Ranger Veteran Hardcore, or whatever the hardest difficulty is, first time, deep dive. No HUD, no tips, no flashing interactables, and hopefully barely any ammo/health by the skin of my teeth. I spent the majority of this game with full ammo on at least half of my guns, as well as full meds. Why? First, credit where credit is due, I take my time in these games, I clear every corner and scavenge anything I can possibly find. Secondly, the game gives you way too much ammo. They load you up before a fight assuming you've brought none. At one point I challanged myself to only clear a level with weapons I found without reloading, and I left the level with 2 full mags.
Thirdly, meds are everywhere, and I rarely ever used them. Why? YOUR HEALTH REGENERATES. That's right, in Metro Awakenings hardest difficulty, not only can you be shot like 6 times before dying, but after a solid 5-10 seconds, your health will regenerate back to only mildly injured. This is a massive oversight. I should be dying in 3 hits, and I definitely shouldn't be regenerating health. As a result, most combat sections I blasted through with my AK and a pistol as it was just too easy. No point in stealth at all besides achievements or novelty. The only challenging sections are the ones vs creatures, and a grenade sorts them out quick.

Overall this game was a massive disapointment, I am a huge fan of the Metro series and it's a shame to see a miss this big. Especially after cancelling a fan VR game to get it out, that looked better to boot. Fear of comparison I suppose, and rightfully so.

Unless you have a tradition of finishing these games, don't bother with this one, it feels like a mobile game strapped to your face.

3/10

The Rough Edges
Reloading is chaotic at times, and turret sections feel more like chores than challenges. Combat can feel sluggish, detracting from the immersion. Optimization is a glaring issue—running the game on a PC with an RTX 3090 paired with PSVR2 is surprisingly demanding. I had to halve the resolution and drop settings to low just to get a playable experience at 90fps. Low still looks nice, but you'll keep the feeling of a quest game.

The Highlights
Despite these technical shortcomings, the atmosphere is where Awakening truly shines. This is a true game to the series. The devs have crafted a Metro VR experience that pulls you in. Thus the UI is rly. intuitive, the story holds its own, and stealth mechanics—while simplistic—get the job done. Voice acting is solid, though having Russian voiceovers would have added a layer of authenticity, it's no dealbreaker.

The Verdict
It’s tempting to compare Vertigo games to Valves Half-Life: Alyx, but that’s unfair. Valve operates on a Rockstar-level tier of game development. Vertigo isn’t Valve, they offer experiences that stand on their own and make their game for multiple platforms. Imo they support VR a lot and don't forget about PC players. While not "the" best VR game, Metro Awakening is totally worth a shot on a sale.

You can run 3 seconds.
It's so fun to rip apart boards every 10 min.
It's so fun to do the same shjit over and over.
Half of the game you hallucinate and the devs thought backtracking exact same garbage would game would be fun.
Pacing issues, unskippable cringe dialogues.
It is mind-numbly boring, VR game of the year my a.s.s