Samar Louwe, game director of Metro Awakening, was good enough to sit down with me and discuss the ins and outs of adapting the world’s scariest post-apocalyptic world into a VR hellscape of enjoyment!
Metro Awakening is More Than Just Another VR Game
Firstly, thank you so much for your time and for answering these questions! For those unaware, would you mind telling us who you are and what you do?
My name is Samar Louwe, and I am the Game Director of Metro Awakening.
And a brief overview of Metro Awakening?
Metro Awakening is the first VR installment in the Metro franchise. At its core, it’s a story about a fan-favorite character, Khan, and how he became the enigmatic spiritual tunnel dweller that we know him to be from the mainline games.
What ‘design pillars’ did you want to include, or omit, and also what did you want to add your own VR spin on for the game?
We wanted this game to be remembered for three things: its surreal, emotional story; a tense atmosphere that crawls under your skin; and the tactility of gameplay interactions. Each of these points focuses on different areas, like acting performances, tension building and gunplay, but together they form the essence of the experience we want players to take away from Metro Awakening.
How does this title being VR-specific force you as the developer (of many great VR titles) to approach it differently to that of a ‘standard’ experience?
In VR your body becomes part of the world. This is of course about the need to physically move around to interact with the world, but it’s also about more than that. You can feel the world in your stomach. When an NPC steps into your personal space, it feels as intimate as that does in real life.
So, for a player to put on a headset and become a physical part of our game world is quite a big ask. It takes a lot of energy and can be overwhelming at times. This means that we have to be careful with our players. We must take care not to scare them away, yet we do need to give them an experience that’s worth all this effort.
That’s a delicate balance and one we push the boundaries of in Metro Awakening. In the end, it’s all about giving the player a unique experience. Gameplay is a big part of this, but, even more so than in traditional games, the atmosphere of the world you step into plays a massive role. That’s why this has been a big point of focus for us from the start.
What prompted the choice of it being a prequel?
We are the first studio other than 4A, the original creators of the Metro games, that had the privilege to work on this franchise. They have done such an amazing job, and are still continuing to do so, that we knew we had a big challenge ahead of us to do it justice and please the fans.
We wanted this game to be a part of the canon and a worthy entry to the series, without interfering with the work that 4A is doing on the future Metro games. That’s why Dmitry Glukhovsky and we decided to pick a different main character and set it at a time where we could freely explore how Khan became the person as we know him from the mainline games.
You’ve been very vocal about immediately approaching Dmitry Glukhovsky to help create the story. How did having him on board change things for you?
Our team at Vertigo was of course very excited when we broke the news that we would work on a Metro VR game. Most of us had already played the games before, some had read the books and others were massive fans! Still, we had no prior experience crafting anything in this world.
So, when Dmitry agreed to work with us, this was a big deal. He had all the knowledge about the lore, but more importantly, he could tell us what inspired him to create this world and the characters that inhabit it.
We pitched the idea of making this an origin story about Khan and he was on board with it immediately. He started writing and quickly came back with an outline that, obviously, was very clearly a story from the Metro universe. That’s when we knew that even though this would be our first stab at a Metro game, it would feel authentic at its core.
Metro Awakening VR Nailed the Atmosphere
Having played the game at Gamescom, I found the whole experience to have nailed the Metro feel and atmosphere. How did you accomplish this in a VR setting?
That’s great to hear, thank you. To be honest, a lot of this can be attributed to the setting itself and the fantastic foundation that was created by Dmitry and 4A. They’ve crafted a world that is so atmospheric and unique that it makes a very good fit for VR. The closed spaces in the tunnels, the pockets of light to navigate between, the palpable darkness in the distance, and the sounds of howling creatures all around you all trigger the imagination. It’s a very fun palette to play around with, and I’m happy to see players like it.
What does the interactivity of VR offer that a standard version wouldn’t? How are you pushing the boundaries of VR with this title?
It’s the physicality of it that makes VR so special. You can feel that your body becomes a part of the game world. When you’re sneaking past some slavers, and you make a sound that triggers them to look for you, it’s so exciting to be hiding behind a crate, spying on them as their flashlight wizzes over your head. You can feel the tension in your body.
But once you do get spotted and you have no choice to pull out your guns, that experience feels so real because you literally have to operate and aim your rifle to fire your shot. You can’t “press R” to reload, you have to knock the magazine out of your rifle and slam in a new one, cock the bolt to chamber a round, and aim to fire. It’s a complicated set of actions, but so satisfying when your muscle memory kicks in and you land that headshot.
In terms of pushing the boundaries, I believe we are taking it to another level at times as we throw the player around, or get really up close and personal in some of the more intense and immersive moments. It’s not for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure.
During the development of any game, there are always challenges. What would you say you’ve had to overcome specifically to ensure the game gets made?
Game development is never easy. There are so many challenges that come with making a game of this scale, be it conceptual, technical, or planning-wise. There’s always something. Especially in VR. But perhaps the biggest challenge was to make a game that feels like a proper entry in the series. Metro has a thriving community that we want to serve to the best of our abilities. Now that we’re here, I’m confident that our players will enjoy it.
How do you plan on supporting Metro Awakening post-launch?
With the great support of Deep Silver we are actively listening to how the game is received by our audience and what problems they might be running into. This will inform any support that may be necessary.
And what does a sequel or DLC look like?
We are very excited to see the feedback and reception by the Metro community and the wider VR players, so currently there are no plans yet for new games.
Is there anything you’d do differently given the opportunity, be it development, design, or finished product?
Of course. As said, game development is never easy and you grow a lot over the course of a three-year development cycle. For now, though, I just want to enjoy the moment of release 🙂
