For today’s livestream we’re playing realistic military sim VR shooter, Onward on Oculus Quest! 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.
Onward aims to be the ultimate VR FPS for those after an authentic-style military simulation. This is more like Ghost Recon or Rainbow Six than Call of Duty. Now that it’s been out for a full day we can verify the gameplay is just as fun as ever and we can’t wait to see how it evolves on Quest.
Our Onward on Oculus Quest VR livestream is planned to start at about 11:00 AM PT and will last for around an hour or two, give or take, depending partially on how well-behaved my small toddler child will be while left alone. We’ll be hitting just our YouTubeand I’ll be streaming from my Oculus Quest, which will be using a Chromecast Ultra wireless cast signal, plugged into a Capture Card, to get the footage to my PC. I’ll do my best to keep up with chat by checking my phone when possible.
You can watch the stream embedded via YouTube right here. Set a reminder if you’re reading this early!
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.
Today Onward released for Oculus Quest with PC crossplay and the update resulted in some major Onward PC changes. Fans are not happy.
As a result of the port, the PC version of Onward has been patched to v1.8, which includes dramatic map changes to accommodate for alterations made to get the game running on Quest. Previously, Downpour Interactive had told us these changes would mostly be in the form of altering the layout, removing some features the Quest couldn’t have right now like extra foliage, and so on. But it seems more dramatic than that. The Onward Discord server is a steady stream of users unhappy with the update and posting reports of various new bugs.
After reading over Onward VR Reddit comments, new PC VR user reviews, Discord impressions, and trying the new 1.8 version of Onward PC for myself, the differences are quite clear. Every map now looks notably downgraded visually, suffers from similar texture pop-in issues that hinder the Quest version, and generally is lower quality now.
On the bright side, the update has resulted in significant stability and performance improvements on PC. Users that previously had issues maintaining framerate will likely now have a much smoother game to enjoy. Additionally, KasperVid, a Community Manager in the Onward Discord, claims the game’s new structure will allow for more robust and feature-rich updates in the future:
“We rewrote and rebuilt large parts of the game over the past months,” says KasperVid on Discord. “On the one hand we’ve created tons of headroom for future improvements and expansions to the game, on the other there is the temporary pain we’re experiencing right now. And I completely understand it’s frustrating. But we’ve been working on this game for many years, and we’re dedicated to it. That won’t change, so please give us that little bit of credit that we’ll make it right, soon.”
Furthermore, MrDeathpwn, an Onward Community Manager on Reddit, also explains, “me and the devs have been recording all your feedback and we’ll do our best to get these issues resolved asap. I’ll be sharing all the feedback with the team. Let’s make this a 2 steps forward and 1 step back situation.”
We’ve reached out to Downpour Interactive directly for additional comment and will update this post once we hear back. Let us know what you think of the 1.8 update on PC down in the comments below!
For today’s livestream we’re playing realistic military sim VR shooter, Onward on Oculus Quest! 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.
Onward aims to be the ultimate VR FPS for those after an authentic-style military simulation. The PC version excels in this regard and even though the Quest version is downgraded, it’s still a blast. It also features cross-play with PC for all game modes!
Our Onward on Oculus Quest VR livestream is planned to start at about 10:30 AM PT and will last for around an hour or two, give or take, depending partially on how well-behaved my small toddler child will be while left alone. We’ll be hitting just our YouTubeand I’ll be streaming from my Oculus Quest, which will be using a Chromecast Ultra wireless cast signal, plugged into a Capture Card, to get the footage to my PC while Jamie and Zeena join in via webcam to hang out and help out with chat.
You can watch the stream embedded via YouTube right here. Set a reminder if you’re reading this early!
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.
Onward is now available on Oculus Quest with full cross-play for the existing PC VR version. But developer Downpour Interactive is changing elements of the PC original to make this possible.
An update going live for PC VR players today will physically change the game’s maps to match the altered versions of them that appear on Quest. We’ve had access to Onward since July 27th, but cross-play support was not enabled during review testing. And there’s a good reason for that: some of the maps are actually pretty different. Not just in terms of visuals, but also geometry. As in, the maps physically differ on Quest.
Look at these two shots from one of the game’s most popular maps, Quarantine, for example. You can clearly see two vehicles in the PC version (pre-Quest release) and one in the Quest. The destroyed plane at the back of the map is also placed differently. Every map retains the same overall look and feel, but similar changes can be spotted across the game.
Downpour confirmed to us, however, that today’s PC update will change the layout of some maps to mirror the Quest tweaks. “Due to the Quest having some rendering limitations compared to PC, we had to slightly change some of the layouts of maps,” studio founder and Onward creator Dante Buckley told us. “These layout changes will be on both PC and Quest, to keep things fair.” Buckley also said that the developer will continue to address graphical inconsistencies post-launch.
Again, the map layouts aren’t dramatically different, though if you’re an Onward veteran any change is likely to have big implications to your playstyle. We’ve asked Downpour if the original versions of the map might be retained for non-crossplay maps.
What do you think about Onward’s map changes? Let us know in the comments below!
The moment a lot of you have been waiting for is finally here; Onward is now available on Oculus Quest. But how does it stack up next to the PC VR original. Find out in our Onward graphics comparison.
Best strap yourself in for this one.
Onward Graphics Comparison
For starters, let’s point out that getting Onward to run on Quest at all is a huge achievement, especially with a solid framerate. That alone, paired with the wireless freedom of the headset, will give lots of people lots of reasons to love this port. But there’s no escaping the heavy sacrifices made to get it here.
Functionally, all of Onward is here. Well, most of it is – certain maps have been tweaked from the PC VR versions to fit them onto Quest, but the original editions are also being edited to enable cross-play from PC to Quest, too. You can see just a few of those differences in this article, but we’re here specifically to talk about graphics and, truthfully, this is one of the rougher Quest ports out there.
In the video above we walk through three of the online shooter’s levels (take note, this is the pre-patch version on PC). They range in differences but we’ll start out with Suburbia, which is essentially Onward’s answer to Call of Duty’s Nuketown map. The conversion is perhaps the most striking in the entire port.
There’s a lot to go over here, and it’s best left to the video above. But even at a glance, the differences are night and day. Suburbia suffers from dramatically scaled-down foliage; there are no trees to speak of and the once colorful plants lining houses have been reduced to tiny green blobs. The surrounding border has been drawn right in, making the map resemble more of a laser tag course than a real-world location. In motion, you’ll notice some hefty texture pop-in, too, particularly as you approach the red car there.
Heading inside, it’s much the same story. You’ll notice a lot of missing items and changed objects, plus the map is missing a bunch of other details like smoke pluming in the distance and even fire effects from one of the houses are completely gone. This washing machine here offers a clear example of the texture pop-in we’re talking about.
Our other two maps are much the same. Pay close attention to Quarantine, for example, where even some building architecture is radically changed, and there’s a huge difference in lighting contrast, too. On the first floor of the construction site, the ceiling overhead covers a teammate in shadow when there are clearly lots of light sources coming in. We’ll leave you with this particularly damning enemy model which sort of speaks for itself.
Again, even with all these cutbacks, Onward is absolutely playable on Quest and for many hardcore fans these blemishes might not be of much concern. Plus there are incredibly impressive technical accomplishments like getting scopes to work. But you might need to ask yourself how important the presentation aspect of a game is before you pick up this port. If you value that aspect, you might want to hold off on Onward on Quest at this early stage.
What do you make of our Onward graphics comparison? Let us know in the comments below!
Technically, this is an Early Access release, as you’ll be informed when you first boot the game up. However, Facebook doesn’t officially allow Early Access content on Quest and the game’s store page doesn’t designate it as an early version; this means you don’t find out it’s Early Access until after buying it. With that in mind, we’re treating this like a full launch.
[This was originally an unscored review-in-progress but now that we’ve tested the full game, including online and cross-play, we’re ready to issue a score. Several areas of the text have been updated as well.]
Onward: The Definitive Military Sim FPS
Anyone that’s ever had a passing interest in VR shooters has probably heard of or seen videos of Onward. Nearly four years since it originally released on Steam for HTC Vive, then got ported to every other PC VR headset, it’s still often regarded as the gold standard for VR shooters. It was originally created by a solo developer, Dante Buckley, who dropped out of college to make his dream game a reality. Since then he’s built a studio around the game and hired a team of developers.
With its realistic setting, intricate gun mechanics, and focus on hardcore tactical teamplay rather than quick respawn-based game modes, Onward has made a strong name for itself.
With the release of Onward on Oculus Quest, it marks a big moment for Downpour Interactive. Not only is the Quest a fully wireless, roomscale headset that offers immense freedom in terms of positioning your body while playing and freely moving around your environment, but it’s a standalone mobile-powered device. It’s essentially smartphone hardware powering a VR shooter that allows up to 5v5 battles. That’s pretty impressive, no matter how you look at it. Getting Onward on the Quest at all is a huge technical achievement.
But overall, the end result is a bit mixed. On the one hand it absolutely feels like Onward on PC. Even with just four front-facing cameras, the tracking is impressive here and does a very good job of keeping up with your hands and letting you handle your equipment however you’d like. I was surprised by how good it feels after putting most of my hours into the game on Vive and Rift CV1 in years’ past. Although, in busy matches with lots going on I noticed some stuttering here and there — but it’s worth noting I was capturing footage during these moments and that could have contributed to performance issues.
The tutorial does a great job of demonstrating how to handle weapons and locate items on your body as well as getting your feet wet with a short match against some AI enemies. The amount of anxiety found in Onward when you’re pinned down behind cover, fumbling to reload your weapon, is honestly extraordinary. Even after you get your bearings it’s extremely intense still.
When you’re being shot at your vision forms a cone with the outer edges of your field of view darkening to simulate the feeling of suppressing fire. This vision tunneling lets you know you’re under attack and puts a slight artificial limit on your vision to help fuel the adrenaline. It’s distracting at first, but I can see what the intent was behind the design choice.
Kneeling behind cover or to prop up a bipod on a window frame feels fantastic. At one point when I was practicing my sniping at the shooting range, I leaned over the edge of my real life couch since it was the same height as the in-game sand bags and got an extremely immersive sensation.
I’d also like to specifically call out the Spectator Cam because it’s the best viewing mode in any multiplayer VR game I’ve seen yet. Back in the bunker you can either watch through the eyes of whoever is left alive on your team, view a third person version of the camera to see their character, or take control of a remote drone flying around the map to see aerial views of everyone left alive. It’s such a clever system that works super well, even if you never intend to play competitively.
Two other small things that Onward has that I don’t think get enough attention are the walkie talkie and tablet. On your left shoulder you can squeeze the walkie talkie to talk to your teammates across the map, complete with the appropriate audio filter and sound effects. Reaching up to click the button and saying things like, “Over and out,” never stops feeling authentic.
I also really love how the game uses your tablet. Behind your back you can grab it to pull it out and see a real-time overhead map of the level, objective locations, and during some game modes key information that you’ll need to upload data during matches. Rather than showing this stuff in a HUD, forcing you to grab the tablet as a physical object is just excellent.
Content Is King
All the content is the same (especially now following the dramatic map changes that are being pushed to PC as well for parity) including weapons, game modes, and mechanics during games. If you’re playing solo you can visit the shooting range to take shots at an assortment of stationary and moving targets, you can explore maps without enemies to learn the layouts, and you can queue up for solo game modes like Hunt and Evac. In Hunt games you pick a map, set a difficulty, and choose a number of enemies with the objective to track down and eliminate them all.
The same two game modes are also available in co-op, so you can bring friends along for either of those mission styles. During the pre-release review week I spent most of my time in solo and a bit in co-op, getting a feel for things again. Other than some wonky animations when my buddy would do things like go prone on the ground or move their arms rapidly, it was pretty great. Communicating and coordinating the best line of sight and good sniping positions while trying to defend a destroyed hotel room was a blast and the mad dash to the chopper at the end of an Evac game was exhilarating. ALthough it needs to be said that the AI is pretty atrocious. Regardless of difficulty level they basically just flood towards you. It’s certainly tough on hard settings, but that’s more a result of the fact it’s impossible to gun down a dozen laser-sighted soldiers than it is good programming or smart design.
Animations are quite poor for the AI enemies as well. They tend to walk far too stiffly to pass for anything close to realistic, the character models somehow seem lower resolution than human players, and the canned death animations feel ripped right out of GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64.
For competitive PvP game modes there are three to pick from in the Core playlist: Uplink, Escort, or Assault. In Uplink one team is trying to reach a satellite dish where they must input a code and transmit data, the defending team tries to stop them; escort tasks one team with getting a VIP safely to an evac point while the other tries to prevent it; and Assault is all about holding an area while trying to upload a code from the tablet — plus it has respawns.
The main issue with playing these modes is the fact that unless someone squints and reads the blurry text before loading into a lobby, it’s not very clear what the objective is for each mode. The loading screen has information but is very quick and once again has blurry text. Large text instructions plus a voiceover clearly stating the goal, such as, “Escort the VIP to safety!” or “Protect the Uplink satellite at all costs!” would help a ton.
These three Core game modes are the bread and butter of Onward. Even though Assault isn’t technically team deathmatch it’s the closest thing available since it has respawns. There’s a Social playlist for game modes like Gun Game, which cycles your weapons every time you get a kill and Spec Ops, which pits a team of fast running knife wielders against pistol wielders. There’s also One in the Chamber which gives you a knife and pistol with a single bullet. You earn extra bullets by getting kills.
However, those three “Social” modes are not available for public matchmaking. Downpour picks a mode and features it for a week once per month. Right now nothing is featured. In between featured weeks you can still play those modes, but they’re private lobbies only without the option to open them up. It’s an extremely annoying dichotomy. Generally, it could use some more game modes that offer more traditional FPS gameplay, even if they were just added into existing playlists. Something like the War mode from Call of Duty, or Battlefield-style objective-based modes.
There’s also a wide assortment of maps available created by Downpour that can be used in solo, co-op, or PvP games, including day/night variations for a handful of them. In total, if you count the day/night versions as their own maps, there are 11. My personal favorite is probably the Subway station because it reminds me of the Battlefield 3 Metro map. They’re all great though with a good mixture of large, open areas and more confined maps to encourage frequent firefights.
Custom workshop content like custom maps were not available at the time of this writing on Quest, but will be added in a future update. No timeframe is given.
Overall Onward has an excellent amount of co-op and competitive content and with the new influx of Quest players that can all connect and play with PC players there should be a large and active community. Lots of people still play Onward on PC so it bodes well. It’s missing a dedicated story campaign or mission-based levels like Zero Caliber, but it’s got more than enough going on to tide you over if you’re comfortable diving into online matches.
That being said, I wish the solo options were better. A few training courses with target dummies for time trials and a leaderboard would be good, I’d love to see more structured wave-based survival maps too, Horde style with a sense of progression. It also really needs a good party system so you can bring your friends with you into lobbies or at least invite them to lobbies. Right now the only workaround is making a private lobby, giving them the password, and then making the lobby public and waiting for people to funnel in by chance.
The selections of guns feels like an embarrassment of riches. Before rounds you can choose either Rifleman, Specialist, Support, and Marksman and they’ve all got their own set of primary weapons to pick from like the AUG, M16, M1014 P90, M249 light machine gun, AK274U, Makarov, and RPG launchers, to name a few. I’m not a gun expert, but Onward still has, to this day, the best weapon handling of any VR shooter I think. It feels incredibly realistic, but isn’t unforgivably rigid with hand placement and movements.
Left: Onward on Oculus Quest | Right: Onward on PC VR
Not The Onward You Recognize
So in terms of listing everything the Quest and PC VR versions include, they’re virtually identical versions. But that isn’t the case visually.
I’m not the kind of person that usually cares too much about graphics in games. I still regularly play retro games, I’m a Google Stadia apologist despite occasional streaming hiccups, and I’ve been known to lower resolution in games often to preserve framerate and performance. It takes a lot to put me off of your game visually.
With all that being said, it pains me to say that Onward on Quest just doesn’t look very good.
Perhaps the feeling is amplified by the fact that it looked so very excellent on PC before the 1.8 update and the bar was set astronomically high. After playing other Quest ports like Robo Recall, Espire.1, and Phantom: Covert Ops, I fully expected major visual differences. I was ready for that. But Onward still hit me by surprise.
I expected textures to be lower resolution, foliage to be less dense, and plenty of effects to be altered. Quest is just not very powerful compared to the likes of a top-tier gaming rig, I get that. But the texture pop-in here is just ridiculous. While walking down streets and alleyways suddenly walls, floors, buildings, vehicles, and everything else will morph and shift their designs to a slightly higher quality version the closer you got. The range on the LOD is just bonkers.
It’s common in video games to use a lower-quality texture at a distance, but the designs are fundamentally different in some cases. Like the waist high cover I was running to might suddenly morph so that the top row of bricks is destroyed, making it less useful as an example, or the car in the street will change shape once I approach it, revealing that I can just barely spot an enemy from a distance that maybe can’t see me because of which texture they are seeing.
In a game like Onward, visuals matter a lot in terms of not only map awareness and line of sight, but also in terms of locating cover, spotting enemies, and more. The less detail on the environment, the harder it is to spot enemies that are literally wearing camouflaged clothing 100-yards away.
We’re told the developers will continue working on the visuals to make them better, but the fact that the maps are literally getting patched on PC to alter their layouts and resemble the Quest versions more closely tells me more corners are needing to be cut than the team probably expected a year ago when this port was first announced.
Onward On Oculus Quest Review: Final Verdict
Onward on Oculus Quest is definitely going to make a lot of Quest users happy. While it lacks the visual fidelity of the pre-1.8 PC version, which is a major hindrance, and is missing community content and Social playlists as of now, the core of what makes Onward, well, Onward, is still here. Gun handling feels great, tracking seems solid, and there’s a wide assortment of maps and several game modes to pick from. No matter how you look at it this is still an immensely entertaining, challenging, and downright exciting VR shooter packed with content and is easily my new favorite multiplayer VR game for Quest. This should be in every Quest user’s library that enjoys shooters — hands down.
For more on how we arrived at our scores, read our review guidelines. Agree or disagree with our Onward for Oculus Quest review? Let us know in the comments below!
[This was originally published as a review-in-progress on July 30th but was updated to a full and finalized scored review on July 31st. Text has changed throughout, but the core opinion is still the same. We’ve also expanded some areas of the review and added a score.]
Onward has come a long way since it first launched into Early Access on Steam back in 2016. While we’re still waiting for a ‘full release’ of the game four years later, indie studio Downpour Interactive has managed to tighten up the team-based shooter to fit onto Oculus Quest, replete with PC VR cross-play. Although it notably suffers in the visual department, and could do with more polish, Onward offers the same intense gameplay, making it generally feel at home on the standalone headset.
Onward for Quest Details:
Developer: Downpour Interactive Publisher: Coatsink Available On: Oculus Quest Release Date: July 30th, 2020 Price: $25
Note: This game is in Early Access which means the developers have deemed it incomplete and likely to see changes over time. This review is an assessment of the game only at its current Early Access state and will not receive a numerical score.
Gameplay
Onward is the archetypal mil-sim VR shooter: no crosshairs, no mini maps—just you, your five-person fire team, and a limited amount of ammo to eliminate the opposing force, be it the NATO-style ‘MARSOC’, or the Soviet Bloc-style ‘Volk’.
In its time on PC VR headsets, Onward has attracted a hardcore player base—a noteworthy feat considering many multiplayer VR games seem to be easily abandoned by both studios and players alike. Not so with Onward. Downpour Interactive has been gradually growing the game to offer up a good array of real-world weaponry, accessories, and smartly designed maps of varying sizes, all of it framed around a game that rewards users for marksmanship, communication, and team-based tactics. It’s easy to see why this uncompromising penchant for realism has garnered it a solid userbase, as some VR users just want to play War. Now Quest users can jump in and experience it all, of course with a few caveats worth mentioning.
Image courtesy Downpour Interactive, Coatsink
Like the PC VR version, the Quest port offers both online multiplayer (co-op and team-based modes) and single-player mode play with variable AI number and difficulty. Not all maps are available on the Quest version at the time of this writing, so there seems to be some more work to be done in bringing the Quest version up to parity with the PC VR version. For example, there’s no Workshop on Quest just yet, which allows users to create their own maps.
There are a few other things to know about before jumping in, which distinctly separates it from its PC forbear.
The Quest version is notably lower res than its bigger brother on PC VR, and can leave you squinting more than if it were being driven by a full-sized gaming PC and not the Quest’s SoC.
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Onward on PC, Image captured by Road to VR
Onward on Quest, Image captured by Road to VR
Although it may have more to do with the Quest’s displays, far field objects appear pixelated and are hard to distinguish without a scope attached to your rifle. Of course, this really only effects large-size maps where you’d be at a disadvantage without a scope anyway. Outside of this, it seems many of the maps currently available have a muddiness about them that makes target acquisition somewhat difficult, something that may be due to a lack of color contrast. As opposed to the PC version, playing Onward on Quest feels like the brightness has been turned down significantly. What was once a more vibrant mix of whites, yellows and blacks seem to be morphed into blues, reds, and browns. Some levels also seem to be too large to render all at once, so far field objects pop in and out depending on where you’re looking, which can be annoying.
As cross-play servers go live, it will be interesting to see what effect the Quest port’s more humble visuals will have on gameplay, and whether PC VR players will have a leg up or not as a result. Since I was only able to play against fellow Questers, I can’t say for sure for now, although the decreased visual fidelity didn’t stop the core game from truly shining in its online mode for me personally. Much of that fits into the ‘Immersion’ section below, so read on to learn more.
All said, the single-player portion of the game has a few goodies to keep you coming back when you aren’t in the mood for people (or losing constantly). It has a dedicated shooting range, a ‘free roam’ mode so you can check out all of the available levels, and a few game modes, including PvE ‘hunts’ and an infinite wave-based ‘evac’ mode where you battle against AI of variable difficulty and number. The AI can be a overpowered at moments, and always seemed to spot me before I was even capable of seeing them coming, although that seems to be the case on the PC version as well.
Immersion
What the game lacks in environmental realism—structures have a blocky, low-poly aspect to them—it makes up for in core mechanics.
It’s worth noting that the Quest version (predictably) strips away a bunch of the visual effects that have come to the game over the years, including dynamic lighting and certain particle effects such as smoke. At the same time, it ramps up immersion by letting you go wild and free without cables, which truly feels like how the game was meant to be played in the first place. I won’t spend any more time on the visuals, as we all know visuals are only a piece of the larger Immersion Puzzle.
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Onward on PC, Image captured by Road to VR
Onward on Quest, Image captured by Road to VR
Getting into a prone firing position is liberating; the level of friction inherent to the PC VR version is just enough to make me want to either stand or slightly crouch, but on Quest I’m way more apt to make full use of body to get the best, most stable shooting position for the job. If it weren’t a blazing 38 degrees outside, I would love to play in a wide, open field with grass underneath my feet.
Another liberating aspect of Onward is the ability to toss a gun or ammo to a friend. If you and a buddy choose the same gun, say an AKM rifle, you can easily just hand them a new mag if they run out and you’re in a tight spot. It’s these moments when the world acts like you think it should, that you start to lose yourself in the action. And there’s plenty of action to be had when a well-trained group of hardcore Onward players are expertly zeroing in on your hiding spot.
Image courtesy Downpour Interactive, Coatsink
Personally the inventory system isn’t my cup of tea. Things are so densely packed on your body that you need to physically look down to differentiate between a mag, rifle, pistol, or otherwise. I get it: you need to carry everything with you and have easy access to it too, but I feel like new users will have a harder time developing that specific muscle memory over a more ‘gamey’ way of holding all your necessities.
There’s some things you may gloss over too, such as the game’s sound design. It’s actually super clever, and shows a keen ear for realism. Shooting from inside a house sounds very different to shooting outside. You’ll hear flies when you walk past a dumpster. A low level din of distant gunfire and alarms pervades nearly all levels, keeping the user on their toes as you listen for enemy chatter and the origin of gunshots.
Image courtesy Downpour Interactive, Coatsink
One thing I really love is the game’s radio, which is one of the smartest things I wish more FPS developers used. As soon as you’re out of direct vocal range, the radio becomes the only way you can communicate, and it requires you to physically hold down a button on your left shoulder, adding to the game’s realism. Once you’re out of vocal range you also lose the directional information of where your buddy is, making it necessary to call in where you are and keep the information flow tight and relevant to the task at hand.
Onward is, for an FPS, an extremely comfortable experience. Walking and running are generally at a slow pace, and variable snap-turning is available if you prefer to stay front-facing—otherwise you’ll physically face the direction you want to head in.
The game has been a staunch supporter of hand-relative locomotion. I much rather prefer head-relative, which unfortunately isn’t an option here. Keeping your leading hand on the foregrip of your rifle mostly assures you’ll be walking in your intended direction, although I really wish head-relative was an option so I could play how I’m most comfortable.
Onward expects you to get up out of your chair, as there’s no dedicated seated mode. The more physical movement you’re able to do, the better.
Conclusion
Onward on Quest seems to keep all of the most important bits from the base game on PC VR. Gameplay is intense, and largely unaffected by the necessary cuts the studio had to make in order to shove the game onto Quest’s modest Snapdragon 835.
Once cross-play servers are open we’re guaranteed to find out whether those visual changes have helped, hurt, or kept the game neutral across all supported platforms. Whatever the case, you should always rely on your teammates, and there’s sure to be no shortage of them as Onward sallies forth with a muddy, but confident foot forward onto Quest.
Note: This game is in Early Access which means the developers have deemed it incomplete and likely to see changes over time. This review is an assessment of the game only at its current Early Access state and will not receive a numerical score.
VR esports tournament organizers VRML (VR Master League) announced the prize pools for the next seasons of their Onward, Echo Arena and Pavlov leagues, with prizes valued up to $12,000 USD across the three titles. Plus, select matches will be broadcast live in Oculus Venues each weekend.
VRML has consistently organized tournament seasons for some of VR’s biggest competitive games, but this latest prize pool is the biggest cumulative pool yet. VRML says that the increase is thanks to more sponsors and partners, however it’s important to note that the pool is only valued at $12,000 — not all of that is cash prizes. However, VRML wants to ensure that opportunities for competitors to win cold hard cash remain available where possible, and so will be contributing to a cash pool themselves for Onward and Echo Arena.
The prize pool distribution is split as follows:
Onward: $5,520 USD (including $1500 USD in cash, contributed by VRML and Downpour Interactive)
Echo Arena: $3545 USD (including $1400 USD in cash contributed by VRML)
Pavlov: $3,060 USD (no cash prize included)
For Onward, this tournament season is the tenth organized by VRML. Pavlov, on the other hand, is in its seventh season with VRML, and Echo Arena its second, resuming after a hiatus.
Perhaps even more exciting is the announcement that select Onward and Echo Arena matches will be broadcast in Oculus Venues each weekend, allowing spectators to watch VR esports action in VR itself. The Echo Arena matches will continue to be broadcast in Venues each Saturday, having already begun on July 19. Onward matches will be viewable in Venues on Sunday, starting from a TBA date in August.
It’s an exciting development for the VR esports scene — will you be tuning in to catch any of the matches? Let us know in the comments. On the other hand, if you’re interested in competing instead, you can read more and sign up on the VRML website.
Ahead of launch tomorrow, developer Downpour Interactive just shared the first full footage for Onward on Oculus Quest.
Previously we’d seen a trailer for the game with plenty of gameplay snippets. This footage, however, gives us our first in-depth look at some co-op gameplay with a montage of longer clips. As you can see from the footage, Onward has seen a clear visual downgrade on Quest compared to the PC version but, really, everyone was expecting that. If anything, it reminds us a little of how the game originally looked when it launched in Early Access years ago.
Other than that, Downpour is promising the full Onward experience on Quest, made possible with the help of Shadow Point developer Coatsink. All of the game’s original maps are included and there will be crossplay multiplayer with the PC version too and you can still set up your own game types, play in single-player and get to grips with maps in the free roam mode.
Still, it’s important to remember this is all footage from the developer itself. We’ll be keen to dive into the real differences between the standalone version and the PC original when the game goes live tomorrow. You can expect our review-in-progress tomorrow for independent thoughts on how the port shapes up, with the full thing arriving once we’ve had the chance to play multiplayer with more people. For now, you can head over to the game’s product page.
Will you be diving into Onward at launch on Quest tomorrow? Let us know in the comments below!
Tomorrow will see Downpour Interactive and Coatsink Software launch first-person shooter (FPS) Onward for Oculus Quest. As VRFocuspreviously reported it’ll be an exact feature port of the PC VR version including its maps and mechanics. But these won’t all be available on launch day, such as the custom maps feature for community content.
When Onward arrives tomorrow it’ll feature 11 of Downpour Interactive’s maps as well as the shooting range to get players started. CEO Dante Buckler confirmed to VRFocus that: “More maps will be coming out from us. On day one we decided to release our core maps for the game, there will be four maps that won’t make it for launch but will come out soon after.”
When it comes to the custom maps Buckler acknowledged they were an important part of the PC VR version, however, Oculus Quest is a slightly trickier prospect. “In the future we’re going to be allowing custom map support for Quest soon after launch, I won’t put a timeline on it, we will have custom map support because we had it on PC and the framework is there we just have to rework a few things and provide help for map creators.
“Because to get their maps on Quest it’s not an easy thing, not like on PC, you have to really know what you’re doing with how you design your map, how you optimise it and other things you need to look for,” he explained. “When we get the tutorial written up for it we’ll let everybody know when they can start.”
Buckler also reconfirmed that the team was continuing to work on ranks and achievements and they’re not ‘completely done with game modes’. Also, any new future additions will come to both Oculus Quest and PC VR versions.
The Oculus Quest version of Onward will launch on 30th July 2020, retailing for $24.99 USD. There will solo, co-op and multiplayer game modes where up to 10 players can engage in cross-platform warfare utilising a mixture of realistic weaponry, from AUG’s and M16’s to rocket launchers and grenades. As further details are released, VRFocus will let you know.
