UPDATE (09/11): Even though I have not tried the suggestions that the devs have given regarding performance issues, seeing how much effort the devs are giving into listening to the feedback and updating the game, I'm willing to change my review from Not Recommended to Recommended. Hopefully the game eventually becomes polished.

============================================================

TL;DR Play this if you really really love the Metro Series like I do. If technical issues/bugs really irk you, maybe avoid it for now.

Story-wise, slightly weaker than the original trilogy, but beautiful nonetheless.

I would've preferred more exploration and locations, but I get how they can't do that with the story line they chose for this game. Hopefully, if they make another VR, it'll be much more open. Preferably something like Exodus (or as some discussions have stated, just VR versions of the OG trilogy would've been fantastic.

Music and sound design is beautiful as always. I can never fault Metro for always setting the mood right with the music.


Now for the meat and potatoes of the review:

For reference, I play with a Meta Quest 3 on Virtual Desktop (I also encountered the issue with Quest Air Link) with AV1 10-bit, 200MBPS on an ROG Zephyrus G14 2024 GA403 (R9 8945HS, RTX4070. 32GB RAM, 8GB VRAM, Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD). I played my first playthrough on Hardcore Difficulty.

THIS ENTIRE GAME CAN TECHNICALLY FIT IN MY RAM BUT HOLY GUACAMOLE THE GAME KEEPS BUFFERING/LOADING EVERY FEW MINUTES. It loads at the most inconvenient of times (during combat/stealth) and sometimes it loads for a long while. I have not felt genuine rage while playing a game like this in a really long time. I literally scream at the game every now and then as it loads at the worst times possible. This is the most annoying issue i have with the game that would've definitely made me refund the game if I didn't really really REALLY love the Metro series. Such a massive disappointment from the devs considering Arizona Sunshine 1, Remastered, and 2 all run beautifully. YMMV but for me, the issues were such a massive headache to deal with. With my setup and specs, I shouldn't be experiencing loading issues. Maybe framerates but definitely not loading issues.


Aside from the major issue I have above, here's some more feedback/gripes I have with the game in no particular order:

1) When I have the Shadows settings on anything but lowest, character heads have this weird shimmering, almost blinding, like effect that makes it super difficult to aim for heads. I don't know if they fixed this in the last update as I already had the setting at the lowest so I wasn't able to reproduce it anymore.

2) It's a Metro game. Let us shoot out/put out lights, candles, lanterns, campfires, etc. Give us Night Vision too.

3) When I'm doing a tactical reload, I pull out my partial mag, put it on my chest, and when I try to pull out a fresh full mag, the first thing it pulls out is always the med syringe. I have to grab twice to get a fresh mag.

4) The spiders mechanics is weird. I'm assuming they're supposed to be spiderbugs (maybe not?), and they're supposed to be afraid of light. In this game, they seem to just be regular spiders which is boring af and are just ammo sponges. Also, them crawling on your face is fine, but holy hell when I have a gas mask on, the game is not sure whether to prioritize removing the gas mask or removing the spider. PRIORITIZE THE SPIDER. I DON'T EVER NEED TO REMOVE MY GAS MASK IN A FIGHT AS YOU REMOVED THE MECHANIC OF THE GAS MASK BREAKING WHEN GETTING DAMAGED. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GRAB AND REMOVE THE SPIDER FROM ANYWHERE ON MY BODY.

5) The game is too dark on the brightest brightness setting. It's okay in most parts but when I'm trying to navigate around souls and you're also messing with my flashlight at the same time (ALSO THE LIGHTER DOES NOT EMIT LIGHT?), that's just annoying af without really making for meaningful gameplay.

6) Add the calibration that you do at the start of Arizona Sunshine games in this game. Allow us to calibrate the size and position of the ammo pack and the sidearm holster. Also, please let us tweak the angles of the weapons. The guns are pointed too high for the Quest 3 controllers and are so unintuitive to hip fire (annoying mostly when one-handing the Helsing).

7) Artyom has always had a journal with him. I know this isn't Artyom but can you maybe give us a journal too, separate from the bag, that we can use to navigate, check objectives, and maybe also doodle a little bit.


That's all I can think of for now since my work is about to start. Given Vertigo Games' reputation with their other titles, hopefully they are able to polish this game soon. For now, unless you really really REALLY love the Metro series, it's better to wait for game fixes/improvements.

UPDATE (09/11): Even though I have not tried the suggestions that the devs have given regarding performance issues, seeing how much effort the devs are giving into listening to the feedback and updating the game, I'm willing to change my review from Not Recommended to Recommended. Hopefully the game eventually becomes polished. ============================================================ TL;DR Play this if you really really love the Metro Series like I do. If technical issues/bugs really irk you, maybe avoid it for now. Story-wise, slightly weaker than the original trilogy, but beautiful nonetheless. I would've preferred more exploration and locations, but I get how they can't do that with the story line they chose for this game. Hopefully, if they make another VR, it'll be much more open. Preferably something like Exodus (or as some discussions have stated, just VR versions of the OG trilogy would've been fantastic. Music and sound design is beautiful as always. I can never fault Metro for always setting the mood right with the music. Now for the meat and potatoes of the review: For reference, I play with a Meta Quest 3 on Virtual Desktop (I also encountered the issue with Quest Air Link) with AV1 10-bit, 200MBPS on an ROG Zephyrus G14 2024 GA403 (R9 8945HS, RTX4070. 32GB RAM, 8GB VRAM, Samsung 990 Pro 4TB SSD). I played my first playthrough on Hardcore Difficulty. THIS ENTIRE GAME CAN TECHNICALLY FIT IN MY RAM BUT HOLY GUACAMOLE THE GAME KEEPS BUFFERING/LOADING EVERY FEW MINUTES. It loads at the most inconvenient of times (during combat/stealth) and sometimes it loads for a long while. I have not felt genuine rage while playing a game like this in a really long time. I literally scream at the game every now and then as it loads at the worst times possible. This is the most annoying issue i have with the game that would've definitely made me refund the game if I didn't really really REALLY love the Metro series. Such a massive disappointment from the devs considering Arizona Sunshine 1, Remastered, and 2 all run beautifully. YMMV but for me, the issues were such a massive headache to deal with. With my setup and specs, I shouldn't be experiencing loading issues. Maybe framerates but definitely not loading issues. Aside from the major issue I have above, here's some more feedback/gripes I have with the game in no particular order: 1) When I have the Shadows settings on anything but lowest, character heads have this weird shimmering, almost blinding, like effect that makes it super difficult to aim for heads. I don't know if they fixed this in the last update as I already had the setting at the lowest so I wasn't able to reproduce it anymore. 2) It's a Metro game. Let us shoot out/put out lights, candles, lanterns, campfires, etc. Give us Night Vision too. 3) When I'm doing a tactical reload, I pull out my partial mag, put it on my chest, and when I try to pull out a fresh full mag, the first thing it pulls out is always the med syringe. I have to grab twice to get a fresh mag. 4) The spiders mechanics is weird. I'm assuming they're supposed to be spiderbugs (maybe not?), and they're supposed to be afraid of light. In this game, they seem to just be regular spiders which is boring af and are just ammo sponges. Also, them crawling on your face is fine, but holy hell when I have a gas mask on, the game is not sure whether to prioritize removing the gas mask or removing the spider. PRIORITIZE THE SPIDER. I DON'T EVER NEED TO REMOVE MY GAS MASK IN A FIGHT AS YOU REMOVED THE MECHANIC OF THE GAS MASK BREAKING WHEN GETTING DAMAGED. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO GRAB AND REMOVE THE SPIDER FROM ANYWHERE ON MY BODY. 5) The game is too dark on the brightest brightness setting. It's okay in most parts but when I'm trying to navigate around souls and you're also messing with my flashlight at the same time (ALSO THE LIGHTER DOES NOT EMIT LIGHT?), that's just annoying af without really making for meaningful gameplay. 6) Add the calibration that you do at the start of Arizona Sunshine games in this game. Allow us to calibrate the size and position of the ammo pack and the sidearm holster. Also, please let us tweak the angles of the weapons. The guns are pointed too high for the Quest 3 controllers and are so unintuitive to hip fire (annoying mostly when one-handing the Helsing). 7) Artyom has always had a journal with him. I know this isn't Artyom but can you maybe give us a journal too, separate from the bag, that we can use to navigate, check objectives, and maybe also doodle a little bit. That's all I can think of for now since my work is about to start. Given Vertigo Games' reputation with their other titles, hopefully they are able to polish this game soon. For now, unless you really really REALLY love the Metro series, it's better to wait for game fixes/improvements.