The Metro Awakening developers from Vertigo Games attended an exclusive interview with PlayStation Blog where they shared many new details. The fourth game in the franchise was first announced in February when it was revealed that it would be a new VR-based title. While it is compatible with many VR headsets the Metro Awakening developers have put extra effort into taking advantage of the capabilities of the PS VR2.
PS VR2 Details:
From the ongoing task of keeping your gasmask clean to the design of the user interface, combined with using adaptive triggers and comfort settings, Game Director Samar Louwe and Creative Director Martin de Ronde want PS VR2 owners to know they’ve put thought into the game’s VR approach. Instead of simply having a UI pop up for tasks such as switching items or checking ammo players will have a more immersive experience using their backpack to retrieve items or look at actually checking a gun ammo clip to see how many bullets you have.
Per PlayStation Blog:
“For example, if you want to see how many bullets you have left in your gun, we could have put a counter on it. But we didn’t do that. Instead we opened up the clip, so that you can actually see how many bullets are in there. So if you want to know how many bullets are in your clip, you have to pull it out. It’s just a bit more immersive when you go into a combat encounter and you’re like “okay, let’s prepare, I’ll pull out my clip, check. That’s going to be enough for this one” then you snap it back in. If you want to put on your gas mask, we put it on a backpack. So you pull out your backpack by grabbing it from your shoulder. The gas mask is hanging from it. You just grab it from there and put it to your face, and then you stick it on. Those are the types of interactions that we were very keen on just making them as diegetic as possible.”
The adaptive triggers are utilized to simulate feedback when firing weapons. Each type of weapon will provide its custom feedback to the triggers. Haptic feedback has also been fine-tuned to add a more tactile sensation to make the game seem more “visceral” during more intense moments.
Keeping everything in line with the franchise
4A Games provided original assets from the Metro Games so that the Metro Awakening developers have everything they need to keep this fourth entry looking familiar to fans of the franchise. Vertigo Games said it was able to either directly use those assets or at least refer to them for other designs. Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky has created a brand new main character for the prequel that heavily focuses on story which pushed the creative team to emphasize character development for the first-person shooter.
Per PlayStation Blog:
“For us almost like, we were expecting him to come in and come up with another story for the game that was in line with the other Metro games. But instead, he came up with a very, very personal, emotional story for a new character. […] It also meant that our focus started to shift from taking a straightforward approach to a more story-heavy and story-driven approach in this particular game. And of course, the Metro series has always been known for the story that differentiates from other first-person shooters out there, but this time around, I think Dmitry really wanted to make sure that the story and the development of the characters was even more important.”
VR Comfort Settings
One last detail is the game’s VR comfort settings. There will be two presets, a default locomotion setting and Immersion. The Immersion setting will feature continuous stick movements along with snap rotation but is customizable. Players can also set their locomotion settings to Teleportation if they choose. Vertigo Games wants players to know that thought has been put into experiencing the visual feeling of the game’s character as he is knocked out, or around, or being thrown, during the more intense moments of the game.
“That said, we are not really shying away from pushing the boundaries of VR when it comes to creating a visceral experience. So in Immersion mode, you can also expect to be moved around a bed or knocked over to wake up unconscious on the floor or, or even be thrown off a rail car for example.”
Pre Orders and PC PS VR2 Adapter
No official release date for Metro Awakening has been announced yet, other than sometime in 2024 but some outlets have reported that pre-orders (1, 2) will be available in September. On a side note for PC users, the PS VR2 adapter launches next month on August 7 and will allow games for PS VR2 to be played on PC.