The matrix awakens was announced a few days ago as the newest experience in the Matrix universe in games. With the same creative team as the next film in the franchise, Matrix Ressurections, the game is also a preview of the new graphics engine from Epic Games, which is called U. The result is an impressively realistic demo, but the icing on the cake is that The Matrix Awakens is actually an advertising piece that has everything to do with the universe created by the sisters. Wachowski.
The free download of the game was announced during TGA 2021, early this Friday (10). Owners of new generation consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X/S) were able to see the Unreal Engine 5 in action for the first time, while participating in a great publicity piece for both the film and the graphics engine.
metalanguage
The Matrix is one of the most relatable blockbusters to metalanguage in cinema, after all, the Matrix itself is a simulated reality. Knowing this, Lana Wachowski plays with what's real and what's not, from the prologue, played by Keanu Reeves. He starts a monologue questioning who the real Neo is, him, the 2021 version, what we know in the first 1999 film, the actor himself or the digital version of him in The Matrix Awakens, all while talking about the cultural revolution that franchise caused in cinema in the early 2000s.
After this prologue we go to a typical Matrix action scene, in which Neo, Trinity (Carrie Anne Moss) and a new character are in a car, running away from Agent Smith. Amidst the chase, Trinity tells Neo that, at the marketing's request, the demo should be sexier (contain action). Neo then, frustrated, complains about the lack of creative freedom and compares the marketing - of our world - with the Smith agents and leaves the scene.
Gameplay
From there we start to control the new character, who is going through a demonstration, something very similar to what we see in the first movie, the first few times that Neo is connected to the Matrix. During the chase, a kind of shooting tutorial begins, where the player must hit some targets to contain the agents. The transition from cinematic to gameplay is almost nil and graphically impressive.
After the action scene ended, we started to explore the city in an almost open world gameplay. In addition to walking around town and looking for easter eggs about the next movie, this is where Epic's new engine is best explored. With the new character we can enable or disable all graphics layers, change the light from day to night, drive and even fly.
The marketing agents
It's amazing how this demo of a graphics engine speaks to the Matrix universe. Sure, this is all a big hype, but the game knows this from the start, including breaking the fourth wall — when the character talks directly to the player — by making comments related to Epic and Warner marketers.
But the comments are much more than a wink for the audience to “understand the reference”. They're talking about what the Matrix is, the movie, simulated reality, and that this piece of advertising makes perfect sense to exist in exactly that way.
Just revisit the first movie and notice how similar this demo is to the first time Neo is connected to the Matrix. Morpheus' conversations with Neo in this first moment are very similar to a tutorial on how to act in that simulated reality, something that was incorporated years later in theaters. Realize that this similarity is not mere coincidence, after all Reaves had commented on it in the prologue of the game.
transmedia
The Matrix's importance to pop culture is such that the transmedia — convergence of a narrative across different media — became popular after the anime series animatix and the game Enter the Matrix expand the universe of films, in new narratives and media that were complementary to the universe we know in cinema. If today Marvel impresses a lot by connecting films, with live-action series and animations, it's because the Wachowski sisters had the courage to shake up pop culture at the beginning of the century.
Conclusion
It is common to complain about advertising pieces (trailers that tell too much; TV spots, excessive number of posters) about pop culture products that we like, even more so in 2021, where everything is connected and The matrix awakens is a very interesting case, not only for marketers on duty, but also for everyone who likes narratives, whether on TV, cinema or games. Download The matrix awakens free for your PS5 and your Xbox Series X/S.
See also other features
Check out all the details from the previous trailer and how to buy tickets for Matrix Ressurections:
