What is The Matrix Awakens? Release date and stunning trailer unveiled
A digital Keanu Reeves looks uncannily real in The Matrix Awakens tech demo. Woah.
With the hotly-anticipated The Matrix Resurrections movie coming out soon, a special tie-in experience has also been created for your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S or PS5 console, entitled The Matrix Awakens.
However, if you were hoping The Matrix Awakens would be a fully-fledged video game, you’ll be disappointed, given that it’s basically a promotion for The Matrix Resurrections and another tech demo for the Unreal Engine 5.
A new trailer for The Matrix Resurrections, as well as The Matrix Awakens, was revealed by Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Ann Moss, who are reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively, at the Game Awards 2021 on Thursday 9th December. But while the trailer shows a chase sequence full of action, it reveals little about the plot itself (read more on this below).
So what is The Matrix Awakens? Read on for all of the information we can find below including its release date.
What is The Matrix Awakens?
The Matrix Awakens is a tech demo that is launching today on all of the next-gen consoles, namely the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
The official description of The Matrix Awakens says it is a "free, boundary-pushing cinematic and real-time tech demo" that will offer "a glimpse into the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment".
Created in Unreal Engine 5 as a collaboration between Epic Games, Warner Bros, Lana Wachowski and other members of The Matrix moviemaking team, this promises to be a stunning example of just how realistic gaming graphics have become.
The Matrix Awakens cast includes Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, who are presumably reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity from The Matrix movies.
Is The Matrix Awakens a game?
No, The Matrix Awakens is not a game. At least not in the traditional sense. Rather, it is a demo that will showcase the power of next-gen consoles to produce near-photorealistic graphics.
While The Matrix Awakens isn’t a fully-fledged video game, the visuals of the tech demo are very impressive.
An official trailer released on 6th December 2021 revealed that the demo shows what a future Matrix video game could look like, offering “a glimpse into the future of interactive storytelling and entertainment with UE5 in this free, boundary-pushing cinematic and real-time tech demo".
When you actually load up The Matrix Awakens, you'll first see a stunningly realistic cut-scene, followed by a brief playable car chase sequence. After that, you'll be able to freely roam around an open-world.
If you're wondering what to do in The Matrix Awakens during this open-world segment, there are a few options open to you: in the pause menu, you can tinker with the world's settings and see what impacts they have on your surroundings; by following green pointers on the map, you can discover facts about how The Matrix Awakens works; and you can also just wander around, fly through the world or go for a joyride in a car. There are no quests, but there should be plenty to intrigue you.
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When is The Matrix Awakens release date?
The Matrix Awakens is now available now for Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
The demo's release date was 9th December 2021, with the official description inviting players to tune into The Game Awards on that date, "when the experience will be revealed".
If you're wondering how to watch The Game Awards 2021, which kick off at 1am tonight from the UK point of view, click the link in this sentence.
The Matrix Awakens trailer
An official teaser trailer for The Matrix Awakens has been shared, showing a digital Keanu Reeves looking utterly lifelike.
Reeves as Neo asks the viewer, "How do we know what is real?" And that's quite a scary thought when you consider that the premise of The Matrix is that we're all living unknowingly in a computer simulation.
If you can bare to have your reality questioned, take a look here:
New footage, which debuted at The Game Awards 2021, revealed The Matrix Awakens is an open-world interactive experience that lets the players explore the Matrix. Watch below:
The story players will try out in the game was written by original The Matrix co-creator Lana Wachowski, blurring the lines between the film and gaming world.
And for a look at the demo's gameplay, the official Unreal Engine YouTube channel recently uploaded a deep dive into the demo.
How to download The Matrix Awakens
If you want to check out The Matrix Awakens, it is available to download now from the Xbox Store or the PlayStation Store. But remember, it will only be playable on the next-gen consoles.
Bad luck if you were hoping to check out The Matrix Awakens on an older console or a computer. As far as we know, there won't be any way to try The Matrix Awakens on PC, PS4 or Xbox One. For those of us that are lucky enough to own a PS5, Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S, though, tonight should be a fun night!
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Authors
Rob Leane is the Gaming Editor at Radio Times, overseeing our coverage of the biggest games on PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, mobile and VR. Rob works across our website, social media accounts and video channels, as well as producing our weekly gaming newsletter. He has previously worked at Den of Geek, Stealth Optional and Dennis Publishing.
