The Metro series has long raised the bar for the survival horror genre, peaking with 2019’s incredible Metro Exodus on PlayStation and Xbox. Since then, we’ve been eagerly waiting to see what 4A Games’ next project would be. Well, according to a new State of Play 2024 leak, fans should prepare to board the terrifying train once more for a brand-new game called Metro Awakening – though it could be a big departure from its predecessors, and favor PS5 over Xbox.
Metro Awakening was first leaked by ‘Shpeshal_Nick’, who posted a cryptic message on the tantalizing potential contents of the PS5 State of Play January 2024 showcase, stating “you’ll need to catch the metro”. This has since been expanded upon by leaker ‘Kurakasis’, revealing the full game title – Metro Awakening – and claiming that it will have VR support.
Kurakasis notes in a follow-up post that they can’t confirm whether Metro Awakening is a VR-only title. If so, it suggests that it might not arrive on Xbox at all as Microsoft has yet to release its Xbox VR system to rival the PlayStation VR2. However, it could also be similar to the approach with Gran Turismo 7, Resident Evil 7, and various other titles which are full console games with optional added VR support. With Xbox lacking VR support though, even this would compromise the experience for Xbox players compared to their PS5 counterparts.
Nevertheless, with how intense and meticulously crafted the post-apocalyptic world of Metro is, a VR experience would certainly be thrilling, even if it’s not what fans were expecting.
Furthermore, Kurakasis also can’t clarify whether it’s a single-player, multiplayer game, or potentially even both. Given the series’ pedigree for immersive, single-player action, we’d expect Metro Awakening to follow suit to deliver another horrifying, isolating experience.
However, as 4A Games teased in the official Metro 10th Anniversary blog, publisher Saber Interactive’s acquisition of the studio “will allow [it] to explore something that has always been an ambition” for the studio: “a multiplayer experience in the Metro universe”.
“It’s no secret that [4A has] already started work on the next Metro game”, taking everything it’s learned from the previous entry to “set [its] sights even higher”, the blog reads. Therefore, it’s entirely possible that Metro Awakening is this teased Metro multiplayer experience. However, the developers noted when revealing this project that “it’s not to the detriment of its single-player ambitions”. In other words, the leaked Metro Awakening could include a multiplayer mode, or even be a multiplayer spin-off for the iconic series.
Whatever the rumored Metro Awakening ends up being, it will no doubt be one of the most anticipated new PS5 games and new Xbox games after the success of Metro Exodus on console. Other games expected to appear at the State of Play include Death Stranding 2, which recently had its intriguing full title leaked.