For today’s livestream we’re playing multiplayer in Star Wars: Squadrons, a AAA immersive space combat game from EA Motive! If you’re curious about how we livestream the way we do then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup.
In case you missed it yesterday, our review-in-progress published for Star Wars: Squadrons, including impressions on the story mode, gameplay, and VR support. We’ll update it with a finalized score once we finish the story and spend time with the multiplayer modes this weekend. Speaking of, now that the game’s out, we can dive in for some multiplayer right now! We may be joined by some other Upload staff on the stream as well.
Our Star Wars: Squadrons livestream is planned to start at about 10:30 AM PT today and will last for around an hour or two so, give or take. We’ll be hitting just our YouTubeand I’ll be streaming from an Oculus Quest via Link using a T.16000M flight stick. I’m flying mostly solo on this one and will pin chat inside my cockpit to keep an eye on things.
Star Wars: Squadrons VR Multiplayer Livestream
Check out the Star Wars: Squadrons stream embedded right here and down below once live:
You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist or even all livestreams here on UploadVR and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, live talk shows, interviews, and more original content!
And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely. Let’s get ready to go!
For today’s livestream we’re playing Star Wars: Squadrons, a AAA immersive space combat game from EA Motive! If you’re curious about how we livestream the way we do then look no further than this handy guide for general tips and this guide specific to our Oculus Quest setup.
In case you missed it earlier this morning, our review-in-progress published for Star Wars: Squadrons, including impressions on the story mode, gameplay, and VR support. We’ll update it with a finalized score once we finish the story and spend time with the multiplayer modes this weekend. Let’s just say I kind of love it so far.
Our Star Wars: Squadrons livestream is planned to start at about 10:45 AM PT today and will last for around an hour or two so, give or take. We’ll be hitting just our YouTubeand I’ll be streaming from an Oculus Quest via Link using a T.16000M flight stick. I’m flying solo on this one and will pin chat inside my cockpit to keep an eye on things.
Star Wars: Squadrons VR Livestream
Check out the Star Wars: Squadrons stream embedded right here and down below once live:
You can see lots of our past archived streams over in our YouTube playlist or even all livestreams here on UploadVR and various other gameplay highlights. There’s lots of good stuff there so make sure and subscribe to us on YouTube to stay up-to-date on gameplay videos, video reviews, live talk shows, interviews, and more original content!
And please let us know which games or discussions you want us to livestream next! We have lots of VR games in the queue that we would love to show off more completely. Let’s get ready to go!
Star Wars: Squadrons is finally here and it absolutely delivers. From the incredible set piece moments, excellent new characters, and fantastic VR space combat, this is an adrenaline-fueled blast in the galaxy far, far away that you won’t want to miss. Here’s our Star Wars: Squadrons VR review with all the details!
I don’t typically play space combat games, space sims, flight sims, or any of that sort of stuff. Furthermore, I’ve never played a game with a flight stick for more than just an hour or two to test things out. All of that changed with Star Wars: Squadrons.
From the very first moment I booted it up I played the entire game with a VR headset and flight stick, specifically the Thrustmaster T.16000M HOTAS, and it was so good — so authentic even — I don’t really want to play it any other way. I’ve tried keyboard and mouse and gamepad too, both get the job done and it really feels great with a gamepad for my tastes, but I surprisingly prefer the flight stick or full HOTAS instead. For a game that’s designed for VR and non-VR across PC and consoles with cross-play on everything, this is perhaps the best compliment I can give: it feels madefor VR. And from what we’ve heard, it basically was from the very start.
Star Wars: Squadrons Story Mode
In Star Wars: Squadrons the story shows both perspectives and bounces back and forth between the Galactic Empire and New Republic. The Prologue is split into two parts, introducing both sides, immediately after Alderaan is destroyed during the events of A New Hope. Then it fast-forwards a few years and the rest of the game takes place after Return of the Jedi in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor.
Right at the start of the game you get to customize each of your pilots down to their face, voice, and name. I wasn’t expecting this considering you don’t really see them much, but these are the same avatars you’ll use in multiplayer so getting ownership of your identity across the game for both the Republic and Empire is a great touch.
The entirety of Squadrons takes place from a first-person perspective whether you’re talking to crewmates in the hangar or flying your starfighter during a mission; it’s a big reason why the VR support feels so natural. The only times the camera is not inside of your face are during the cutscenes that take place before and after missions.
For these moments, when the camera is sweeping across your squadron or zooming in on characters while they fly, you see a rectangular letterbox floating in front of you, sort of like the Cinematic Mode on PSVR. It’s absolutely immersion breaking, no doubts about that, and a bit of a bummer, but cutscenes like this are expected in non-VR games so this is a price to pay in order to get VR support out of a AAA project like this. Sacrifices needed to be made and I’d rather have a VR hanger and briefing room than 30 second cutscenes in VR.
The other sticking point about Squadrons’ VR support is that there is zero motion controller functionality here. You have no hand presence in the cockpit at all — it’s just a head tracking only game. Some die hard VR purists will likely be upset about this, but honestly, give me a great flight stick over inaccurate motion controllers that lack realistic resistance and tension any day. You’re sitting still when you play a game like this so all you need is head tracking. It works great, looks great, and most importantly, feels great.
Even if Squadrons was just its Story Mode and practice/training map and that’s it, this would feel like a complete game. My playthrough came in around the 10 hour mark, but it could probably go higher if you played on a high difficulty setting or replayed missions to get more medals. There are four difficulty modes to pick from so there is some replayability, but I imagine most people will spend the majority of their time in multiplayer..
Surprisingly, the cast of new characters is memorable and full of personality for both the Republic and Empire. Between missions there are opportunities to chat with all of them to learn more about their backstories and motivations that helps add a lot of context to how they act. One of the Republic pilots used to race previously and your squad mates poke fun at her for being a show off. Eventually, she teaches you how to drift in an X-Wing and it’s an exhilarating moment reminiscent of scenes with Poe from the new trilogy.
Most of the missions can be boiled down to taking out squadrons of enemy fighters, defending larger ships, eliminating big ships, and escaping or escorting. I’d be lying if I didn’t say this gets repetitive, but the way EA Motive mixes things up, shuffles these pieces around, and introduces one-off set pieces here and there keeps you on your toes. By the time you reach this midpoint of the story in Mission 6 things get pretty interesting with bombing runs in a Y-Wing and a big, bombastic finale that rivals the spectacle of the films themselves. Chase sequences were also some of the best moments and it made me wish for more time trials or flight trials to put my pilot skills to the test.
Star Wars: Squadrons Gameplay And Ships
In a lot of ways this feels like a dream game for Star Wars fans. We’ve gotten dozens of games focused on the Jedi vs Sith with lightsabers and force powers and there have even been a heavy share of ground combat games that require you to know your way around a blaster. But not since the 90s and early 2000s have we gotten a game that was really focused on space combat in the Star Wars universe. Until now.
The industry has made huge strides with technology in recent years and visually it’s hard to find any faults at all with Star Wars: Squadrons. The overall presentation quality is on par with DICE’s Star Wars Battlefront II. Each map has a similar layout — they’re all in space after all — but the planet backdrops are gorgeous to behold and various bits of debris add enough variety here and there.
In VR there have been some performance concerns. For me personally VR mode only worked if the game was windowed, but after a patch it works from Borderless mode as well. I notice some very occasional stuttering on Ultra with an RTX 2060 Super, i5-9600K, and 32GB RAM but it’s not enough to really impact the experience. I’ve heard of others having far more issues with crashes and freeze ups in VR but haven’t experienced that personally.
The hangar is the unexpected highlight of the package due to how immersive it is to chat with crew members and just watch people working in the background. You really get a sense for what the inside of a hangar might truly feel like, almost like waiting in line at a big Disneyland Star Wars ride. And Squadrons features an excellent score that swells in combat appropriately and punctuates every moment with just the right emphasis. And yes, it’s all functional in VR — including the hangar and briefing room, complete with NPC conversations.
Squadrons is a special kind of wish fulfillment in that regard. Every cockpit is painstakingly recreated here with insane attention to detail so that instruments and indicators are all in different places depending on which ship you’re flying. From the wide, open canopy of the X-Wing and A-Wing to the closed tunnel vision of the TIE Fighter, each ship feels and plays dramatically different.
As far as I can tell equipment loadout options are the same or on par across factions, for balance, but the choices you make will change based on the ship. Since the X-Wing has shields maybe you sacrifice a bit of its hull capacity for better acceleration or speed? Perhaps you want to beef up the TIE’s maneuverability even more to go all-in on a zippy ship that’s hard to hit? You can get really creative there.
Star Wars: Squadrons VR Review – Comfort
Since Star Wars: Squadrons is an always first-person VR space combat game, it’s impossible to eliminate all artificial motion. By nature you’re flying a ship in space, banking, turning, and rotating during combat. For some people it’s going to be uncomfortable no matter what, but some ships may be better than others. For example, the TIE Fighter has a very enclosed cockpit so the field of view outside of the cockpit is more limited than the more open X-Wing and A-Wing. Playing with a flight stick also helps to ground you and aid immersion which can combat sickness.
When you’re out of the cockpit you can turn on snap turning instead of smooth turning if you’d like for hangar exploration, or you can just turn your head around instead. Compared to other space combat games I’ve played, it seems quite smooth and comfortable but I don’t typically get sick so it’s hard to say. As long as performance is good, framerate is consistent, and you’re not seeing any major issues it should be okay for most people. No one on staff has been affected by playing. it.
The first three missions of the story after the prologue have you flying X-Wings and A-Wings, so switching back to a TIE Fighter in the next mission after that is a huge shock to the system. Not only do these fast and nimble fighters not have any shields, but they’re far more agile as well. Drifting in a TIE Fighter feels like you’re doing a donut in a street racer and watching the stars swim by as you flip around is extremely exciting.
Even though Squadrons isn’t a space combat simulator game, it’s more of an arcade-style experience, there is still a lot of depth here. For starters, you’ve got to manage your system’s power flow. For Republic, that means engine, lasers, and shields. By flicking the switch on the top of my joystick I can reroute power on the fly to whatever I’m doing at that moment. On top of that, you can designate shields for the front, back, or balanced during combat, boost, drift, and more.
At first it’s a lot to take in; there is a steep learning curve when using a stick essentially for the first time and being in VR, you can’t exactly see the buttons easily, but you eventually get the hang of things. I tried playing with a gamepad a little bit and the learning curve is far less steep. It feels really, really good with a controller in your hands and you don’t lose out on any functionality playing that way. I also tried out keyboard and mouse, but for me, that felt like a huge step backwards in terms of immersion.
After I got a feel for where each button was it all started to feel like second nature. Keyboard and mouse, as well as gamepad, have the same sort of muscle memory that kicks in after a while to a lesser extent, but after trying all three formats the HOTAS is absolutely my favorite way to play, followed by gamepad.
Star Wars: Squadrons Multiplayer
There are two main multiplayer modes: Dogfight and Fleet Battles. You can do a solo Fleet Battle with everyone else filled by AI allies and enemies, or invite friends in for a co-op affair against the AI as well. As far as I’ve seen there is no way to do a solo Dogfight match against AI or to have a co-op Practice flight, but you can spawn squadrons during Practice to sharpen your dogfighting skills.
You don’t even unlock Fleet Battles until your online rank is at least 5, so Dogfight is all you can do at first. There is a ton of map variety ranging from destroyed docking yards, massive relay stations with trenches and debris, or even huge asteroid fields that resemble obstacle courses. Not crashing becomes just as difficult as avoiding enemy fire. There’s even a giant, empty map that’s just a void of space. Keeping up with speedy TIE Fighters there is extremely difficult.
In Fleet Battles though, that’s where Squadrons really comes alive. In this game mode there are two armies with massive flagships anchoring their spot in space. First, the fighters battle it out in a game of tug of war to try and earn enough “morale” to wage an assault. From there, whoever wins the tug of war, takes the fight to the enemy’s two medium-sized capital ships. Once those are down you can attack the opponent’s massive flagship to win the match — but it’s not that simple.
At any time during a Fleet Battle the enemy can win back the morale tug of war and flip to the offensive, forcing you to go on the defensive. Once you’re attacking a flagship, like a Star Destroyer, you can take out its subsystems such as the shields, its power supplies, its turrets, and so on to slowly chip away until it’s destroyed in an epic ball of fire.
There is an in-game tutorial that takes you through all of this against AI, as well as the aforementioned AI enemies only mode you can play solo or with friends.
The biggest problem facing Star Wars: Squadrons though is a question of longevity. Once you finish the campaign all you can do is Dogfighting (Team Deathmatch) and Fleet Battle, that’s it. There are no plans for DLC, no plans for new maps, new ships, or anything like that. The developers have been very clear that Squadrons is sold as-is and will not be a live service game. It’s a great game already, but it could offer so much more had EA been willing to fund an ongoing support cycle. Instead, it’ll never grow beyond what it is right now. Hopefully there is enough interest to generate plans for a sequel that does get ongoing support.
Squadrons also contains a seasonal ranking structure, similar to most AAA online games, complete with ranks, rewards, daily missions, and so on. There are plenty of carrots to keep you moving along and coming back to earn juicy cosmetics since EA has stated there will be no microtransactions at all this time.
Star Wars: Squadrons Review Final Impressions
While I would say that Star Wars: Squadrons has exceeded my already lofty expectations overall, it’s not without its faults. It still manages to out-perform every other VR space combat game I’ve tried across the board for my tastes and offers a ton of nuance in its gameplay and immense entertainment with its full campaign. If you got a chance to try the brief, but magical, X-Wing VR Mission in the first DICE Battlefront game on PS4 with PSVR and wished it could have been made into a full game, then this is exactly that and so much more. Multiplayer is thrilling and extremely fun, but is lacking in options and variety a bit. There were some tiny performance issues and a lack of VR motion controller support, but all that is forgivable.
Minor gripes aside, for fans of Star Wars, fans of arcade-style space combat, and fans of just flat-out immersive VR, it doesn’t get a whole lot better than Star Wars: Squadrons.
For more on how we arrive at our scores, check out our review guidelines. This review was originally published on October 1st as a review-in-progress and has since been updated and finalized throughout.
Star Wars: Squadrons is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One for $39.99. VR support is included with PSVR on PS4 and any PC VR headset on PC through Origin, Steam, and the Epic Store. This review was conducted primarily via Link cable on PC with an Origin copy of the game using an Oculus Quest and Quest 2 via Link cable and Virtual Desktop. It was also tested on a Rift S.
Star Wars: Squadrons releases October 2nd (check out our info roundup for more details) and is fully playable not only in VR, but with a flight stick or full HOTAS (Hands-On Throttle And Stick) setup on both PC VR and PSVR. This is our list of the best options!
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One note worth mentioning is that Star Wars: Squadrons is not a space flight sim. This is an arcade-style space combat game. While you will need to manage power systems and fly well during dogfights, it’s relatively pick up and play compared to more complex games. As a result, it’s totally playable on just a controller, keyboard and mouse, or even a single flight stick without a full HOTAS if you wanted.
Since this very well may be the first real game many people have played with a flight stick or HOTAS, we’ve got a list of the best controllers to get for that game — or any compatible VR game.
Best Flight Sticks And HOTAS Controllers For Flight Sims and Star Wars: Squadrons
This is the HOTAS I have at home that I have continued to use personally after reviewing it back in 2017. while I haven’t too spend much time with it since I don’t play a lot of flight sims, it’s still been a great experience every time I have used it. The stick itself is extremely sturdy and feels fantastic in my hand. There is a throttle as well, but I personally usually just use the stick because it has a built-in slider at the bottom that acts like a throttle. So I rest my left hand on the left side and move the throttle slider with my thumb.
One feature I love is that you can twist the stick (in addition to pushing it forward, back, left, and right obviously) which is great in flight games for yaw control, or rotation of your ship. You can get just the stick for around $100 instead, which is what I prefer on PC as explained.
I have not personally used this one but it’s recommended often across message boards and Reddit, plus it has great reviews coming in at 4.5 stars after over 5,000 ratings. That’s quite solid. It’s more affordable than the previous option with similar functionality here — although the stick and throttle do seem to be connected. I love the ergonomic design and easily accessible buttons on both sides of the device though.
I have not used this stick, but plenty of people recommend it (4.5 stars on nearly 4,000 ratings) as an extremely affordable entry-level stick-only device. There’s no throttle included at all, but for this price it’s hard to beat. You get 12 buttons and enough stick movement to play most VR games that function with a stick only.
If you’re planning to play Squadrons on PSVR (or other games like Ace Combat 7 or EVE Valkyrie Warzone) then this is a great HOTAS to get. Jamie played Ace Combat 7 in PSVR with this and loved using it. I haven’t used it recently, but I did use it at an event once and really enjoyed the feel and design. It’s similar to the HOTAS X from above, but a little cheaper, and with PS4 support. There are only 440 reviews on Amazon as of the time of this writing, but it seems to be a good all-around choice if you want a decent HOTAS setup without breaking the bank.
This setup is a little pricier, but you get the benefit of a device that is tailor-made for the PS4. This even has a built-in PS4 touchpad so you don’t need to take off the headset or grab a controller at all. Additionally, like the T.16000 for PC and most other premium HOTAS setups, you can separate the throttle and stick for a more comfortable arrangement.
Good luck finding one, but this is one of the most premium HOTAS setups you can get for PC. As a premium offering, this setup is more than just a game controller — it’s an actual replica from the U.S. Air Force A 10C aircraft. All the buttons, switches, and physical components look just like they do in that aircraft’s cockpit. That’s pretty wild and it features over 19 buttons with fantastic precision.
That’s our list of flight stick and HOTAS recommendations for VR space combat and flight sim games. Are you excited for Star Wars: Squadrons? Do you have other recommendations? Let us know down in the comments below!
Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused article series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we are focused on Star Wars: Squadrons Starfighters. We want to know what your preference is between the Empire (TIE Fighters, etc) and Republic (like the X-Wing) when it comes to Star Wars: Squadrons Starfighters. Which will you choose?
We’ve finally reached Star Wars: Squadrons launch week! There are only a few days left before we can strap on our VR headsets and be transported to the cockpit of iconic starfigthers like the X-Wing, TIE Fighter, A-Wing, TIE Interceptor, and more. Needless to say I, personally, am quite excited.
There is a lot to take in here. You’ve got lots of ships to choose from, all of which have their pros and cons, so it can be overwhelming. We haven’t had a chance to check the game out just yet, but we’ll have a full review as soon as we can.
What do you think based on what you’ve seen so far? Do you think you’ll lean towards flying for the Republic or the Empire? Let us know down in the comments below!
Good news for console players — Star Wars: Squadrons will add HOTAS support in a day one patch for PS4 and Xbox One.
A few months ago, EA clarified that HOTAS support was only confirmed for PC versions of Squadrons. They had “nothing to share” regarding HOTAS support on console platforms, meaning that PlayStation players would have to use a DualShock 4 while playing. This was disappointing, especially for prospective PSVR players, as using a DualShock 4 would be much less immersive compared to a proper throttle and joystick setup.
However Ian Frazier, Creative Director on Squadrons at Motive Montreal, confirmed that the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game will now launch with HOTAS support, thanks to a day one patch on release that will add the feature.
Good news, pilots!
As you may know, Squadrons supports HOTAS (throttle and joystick) controls on PC.
I'm happy to announce that we're adding HOTAS support to both PS4 and Xbox One as well, in a patch that will be available the moment the game goes live! 🙂 #StarWarsSquadronspic.twitter.com/cVbojAUknL
A follow-up tweet implies that this wasn’t planned to be available at launch, which lines up with previous comments from EA. Frazier thanked a staff member who went “above and beyond with a bunch of extra hours and problem-solving to make this happen for launch, for the fans!”
Frazier also confirmed that only HOTAS hardware “developed specifically for the console” will be supported on PS4 and Xbox One. So you can’t just use any old HOTAS gear — it needs to be compatible with your console. Frazier said this isn’t a limitation of Squadrons but of the consoles themselves, and gave the example of a T-Flight HOTAS working on Xbox One but not a Thurstmaster T16000m, which is designed for PC.
Of course, PC players aren’t restricted — they will be able to use any PC-compatible HOTAS setup with Squadrons.
The first-person, space-combat shooter will support a variety of different single-player and multiplayer modes, with VR support on PC and PS4. The game went gold last week and is slated for release on October 2nd. For those keeping a close eye on the game, an accompanying CGI short will also debut in a matter of hours at 8am Pacific.
Hamburg-based indie developer ROCKFISH Games has today released an update for EVERSPACE. Adding a Hardcore Mode, TrackIR, and customisable HOTAS (joystick) support to their fast-paced roguelike space shooter, this major update sees the ROCKFISH Games deliver on the last remaining promises of their wildly successful Kickstarter from 2015.
The Hardcore Mode offers a whole new level of challenge for veteran pilots. Players are no longer allowed to improve their starting conditions, so each new run starts out with the same fixed set of pilot perks and without any ship perks upgraded. Players can upgrade ship perks only at the end of each sector, provided they have collected enough credits. Hardcore Mode also introduces another surprise: before entering a new sector, players must select from different “handicap” modifiers which have adverse effects on the overall gameplay, letting them choose between the frying pan or the fire.
In spite of the fact that the HOTAS support stretch goal was not unlocked, ROCKFISH Games also added fully customisable joystick support due to strong demand from the community. Enthusiasts can now fully configure the controls layout including button and axis mapping, and even tweak settings for sensitivity and dead zones to their liking.
“EVERSPACE is still as fast-paced and twitchy as ever, so we still think that using the mouse and keyboard is the best way to fly. But, some of our fans have been pretty vocal about it, and we heard them loud and clear: they are finally able to use their HOTAS to pilot their space ship on their dangerous journey,” said Michael Schade, CEO and co-founder of ROCKFISH Games.
With this major patch, there are coming further features requested by the community, like options to toggle Motion Blur, Chromatic Aberration, different kinds of anti-aliasing, changing the screen percentage in non-VR Mode, Colorblind Mode, as well as mouse/keyboard controls and further improvements in VR. The complete changelog is available on the official EVERSPACE forum (requires registration), and VRFocus will keep you updated with all the latest VR news from ROCKFISH Games.
The Hardcore Mode offers a whole new level of challenge for veteran pilots. Players are no longer allowed to improve their starting conditions, so each new run starts out with the same fixed set of pilot perks and without any ship perks upgraded. Players can upgrade ship perks only at the end of each sector, provided they have collected enough credits. Hardcore Mode also introduces another surprise: before entering a new sector, players must select from different “handicap” modifiers which have adverse effects on the overall gameplay, letting them choose between the frying pan or the fire.
With this major patch, there are coming further features requested by the community, like options to toggle Motion Blur, Chromatic Aberration, different kinds of anti-aliasing, changing the screen percentage in non-VR Mode, Colorblind Mode, as well as mouse/keyboard controls and further improvements in VR. The complete changelog is available on the