Onward

This game is hands down one of the most immersive VR games I've ever played. I can't describe to you how much fun it is. You have to grab a few friends and play the hunting game mode. It's amazing.

Before 2.0, Onward was literally the best hardcore realism shooter available in VR. Unfortunately, with the recent 2.0 update, they downgraded the entire game, especially the weapons, graphically and audio-wise. In its current state I don't recommend buying it.

This new "Update" has downgraded the graphics to an extreme.
and the character customization characters look like stock assets that you get from the unity asset store..
Years of development and this is the result? so disappointing.

im having server connection issues and it wont do anything if i click reconnect and it was a waste bc i cant do anything else then offline mode

Feels janky and dated. Graphics looks dated. Body IK is ridiculous. I am really struggling to understand how this game has even people who still play it. Use your money for something else. I refunded it.

It actually baffles me on how good this game used to be and compared to it now. Don't buy this game, its just complete garbage now even with the 2.0 update. The good old days of version 1.7. ;(

basically dead, since the frequency of the updates is way too low and the content of the updates are just minor.

I have around 1k hours on quest, bought it on Pc after 2.0

Shooting children in shooting range has never been this fun

2.0 update is pretty nice, feels good to come back to the PVE experience

just bring back update 1.7 tf is this operator shit

The latest update ruined the game for me: now it feels like a cheap arcade, including graphics and sounds. Haptics are now better though, but they alone can't save the game. Previously art-direction and sound design was so good that I had to take brakes just to calm down my pulse - it was so immersive I believed I was on the battlefield. It was the most immersive game for me, but now it's just a mediocre indie shooter.

After +1500 h i'm done. The latest update has so many bugs that the game is unplayable for me. Simple stuff is broken. Performance is not optimized.

This changing and bait and switch of games that you paid for should be against the law.

There has always been downgrading of games, for a variety of reasons, either to make it somewhat compatible with older generations of consoles, or examples where what was shown off at E3 was what they were aiming for, but they realized that the budget didn't allow for that level of ambition and so the final product that gets in your hands is not as good as what was shown off, (Watch Dogs being a famous example).

The difference? The changes were made before you bought the game.

This unique scenario that keeps happening to VR games specifically in the pursuit to be made quest compatible is unprecedented in gaming and because VR is niche, it's not coming to the attention of lawyers the way that EA Battlefront 2's gambling controversy made it's way into the public and legal eyes.

This is the equivalent of a scenario where you buy the PS3 version of Call of Duty: World at War, and you play it for years, and then, one day, the game gets changed to the PS2 version in every way, graphics, sound, etc so that there's crossplay between PS2 online and PS3 online.

That is not the game you paid for.

If it happened with something as big as Call of Duty, there would be lawsuits filed, you can be assured of that.

Yet it happens in PCVR games time and time again for the sake of the Quest.

Typically, if someone ports something to a weaker console, they leave the more powerful console version alone as it's own thing. If, in the year 2009, someone doesn't want to buy a PS3, and they want to stick to the PS2 version of World at War, then that's just fine, their game doesn't impact the PS3 owners and the PS3 owners don't impact the PS2 owners.

Here they're changing games that you paid money for, and it's happened to Zero Caliber, Pavlov (not graphically but in player count, modding, and other key ways that made that game great for a time) and many others.

Again, if it were done before money exchanged hands, or there were two seperate versions of games, there wouldn't be an issue.

This Quest-ification of PCVR games is unique to VR and is putting that philosophy experiment of "The Ship of Theseus" into practice and not offering refunds. When is Onward no longer Onward? The developers answer: Who cares, we got your money already, plus the Meta money as well.

Just so you know where I'm coming from, I hardly played the 1.7 and earlier versions of this game, though I owned it from pretty close to the beginning.

By the time I came to this game and played it on a fairly regular basis, it had been so long since I had booted the game up that I didn't notice the downgrades. I came to this game, though I had owned it forever, after Pavlov drove me away with everything they did to cater to PSVR crossplay abandoning the PCVR players.

With Onward, I really enjoyed it though I understand it was already a downgrade from 1.7.

But with 2.0, it's even more of a downgrade. Audio, visuals, everything and I'm making this review not just for this game in particular, but pointing out that doing this to games you pay for would not fly in any way if VR wasn't niche. They're abusing the fact that VR doesn't have the player base of something like Battlefront 2 (2018) that would attract the attention of lawyers, and I think that should change.

Now the counter-argument will be "the terms of service say anything can change and you agreed to it", to which I say, every game that has been hit with a successful lawsuit also had terms of services justifying itself. Terms of service aren't get out of jail free cards. If in courts, it can be proven that higher laws were violated such as false advertising or other laws that are there to protect paying customers, terms of service have a limit to their protective power.

Update 2.0 is really amazing!
Crisp graphics, much better AI, more maps and weapons, what's not to like?

the new update adds alot of new and nice features however my game lags like hell now and the guns no longe sound loud and punchy more sounding like airsoft guns if you have a nasa pc this games a blast but i unfortunately cant play it anymore due to lagging and moving at a max 10-30 fps

Probably one of the biggest downfalls in vr histroy
what a disappointment

so many memories of a great vr game, and now it is completely ruined, congrats

8/10 Not sure why these wimpy people are whining and complaining on here. This game is great!
(I thankfully have friends to play this with, so maybe get friends instead of crying about this game :3)

Main movement and gameplay is super fun and addicting. I love how many weapons you can choose from as well as the equipment.

I personally think the AI isn't the best, but still good. They have enough challenge and different engagements that make it completely unexpected. I dislike that they can see me in pitch darkness though, I wish it had a different system.

People say that this game looks terrible- I don't really understand where they're coming from. Most of the time it feels pretty realistic, obviously not like ray traced and maxed out- but still good nonetheless. The only thing I've noticed is that the NVG's look bland and generic. I wish they made it more realistic looking.
(As an example the game looks like VTOL VR)

The weapon attachment system is great, I like that you have to manage your points in order to have a reasonable set.

If you got some VR friendos, this game is a great addition to the collection!

soooooooo if you're on pcvr and a adult the game just aint worth it. If you buy it now you are practically buying a butchered version of what version 1.7 was all because Downpour wanted to cash in on the quest kids and downgrade the game in order to make it run on the quest. They dont give a single s*it about us pcvr users because we arent the bulk of the community so go ahead and buy another pvp shooter game like Contractors. Im dissapointed in you downpour.

v2.0 TL;DR: New guns and attachments are nice, but the new sounds are an insult to your ears.



Man, the game was actually "okay" before 2.0 dropped. I gave the game a second chance after the downgrade from 1.7, especially with the new contents over the years like the new guns, Mercenary gamemode and weapon manipulation mechanics.

And now 2.0 came.

A whopping 13 new guns and new or revamped attachments? Nice, very nice. What did it cost? The G3A3 and M1911. What? Okay fine, you're doing it for the lore.

Umm okay, oh. New gamemode? Retrieval. Oh, you just took the Extract mission from Mercenary, but that's fine.
Okay, reworked Downfall? Hmm, why does it look so cold/blue? Isn't this supposed to be a desert? Well, whatever.

All right, let's shoot this AKM...Oh god...why do you sound like that? And racking your bolt sounds so plastic, what happened to your metallic sound.
OK fine, MK18. Let me click your bolt releas-...Ew, what is that sound? My mouse button sounds more convincing as a bolt release than that.

Oh right, the new operators. Uh, whatever I guess. Would have preferred proper outfit customisation. But maybe the implication is Story mode soon? Maybe?

Sadly, I don't think i'll be around to find out.

They just have to ruin the immersive experience with a horrible update. Guns sound like toys for children now.

So I haven't played the game recently but I did play the game before the meta quest updates. I can confirm that the game looked so much better before that update. Odly enough, The game ran poorly on my system after the downgrade on the graphics. Lots of stuttering and random freezes during game play. I can however still recommend this game for the simple fact that this is one of the cheapest and easy "mil vr sims" you can get into. It's still a fun experience assuming it runs well on your system. It's just sad to see the game not run as smooth as it used to before the meta update. I had a really good time with this game before that horrible update.

Played it before it got ported to Quest. Before that it was a great game but now it just sucks. Looks very bad compared to before and no one plays it like it used to be played... Dont recomand to buy.

2000 hours and best multiplayer shooter game meta has by far

Just keeps getting better and better!
Just tried the latest updated version, and its absolutely AWESOME!
Better than ever!!!

shooting kids is the best thing about this game

Please keep updati g it needs it

i love this game

Horrible devs

Fun simple to learn and fun to play with friends

fun with a group

very fun milsims and raiding are a big part of the game but also if you wanna go competitive like me join the vrml discord and make an acct at vrml.com to join a team

game is fun modes are fun the smooth game play and tactics you can use are so real its one of my favs def recommend this game

Its fun and easy to get use to the controls and its enjoyable with friends

my wife pegs me till the room stinks and im loose as a goose... whoops! this isnt r/feminization... oh what a silly mistake

Absolutely incredible game. I've also played a couple hundred hours on the Oculus version of the game. It's great. Yes, it is a little rough around the edges at times, a lot of VR games are. But it is being constantly updated and when you get a good group together, even if they're strangers, it's the most fun VR shooter experience I've ever had.

Also, since a lot of reviews complain about it, yes it was downgraded... However, I don't see that as a massive issue. It does look objectively worse. But it was never a visual masterpiece. It doesn't need to be. Functionally it's great, and I'm glad we have cross platform between ecosystems so the community can come together. It's never hard to get into a game.
Excited to see what future updates bring, happy to be along for the ride.

There is no VR FPS like this right now. You can instantly find games easily for PvP and PvE, there are always enough players online and the community didn't die out like in other VR multiplayer titles.

Yes, the switch of graphics might be a little sad, but choosing to make the game available for the whole VR market is definetly the right choice for a rather niche market, which VR is right now.

yes

Honestly the game has to have be the greatest PVP game on vr,

Fast TTK, Decently realistic weapons, One of the best VRML games to watch

Community isn't much to speak for.

yes

People are probably gonna say to go play Pavlov, well, the community is the exact same and it runs even worse. Sucks that most multiplayer VR games end up getting abandoned or turned to trash.

terrible performance, crashes frequently, and things dont load.

do not buy. play Pavlov or something instead.

fun with moders

Class FPS VR Game it’s very immersive and fun with friends along with various gamemodes (gameplay is way more fun with a soundboard)

Definitely reccomend checking this outmespecially if your just starting PCVR. great game for beginners if your new tryout FREE-ROAM, Shooting Range But I highly reccomend Escort And Uplink, but yeah check it out

I've held off on this review to see where this game would end up in a few years. Now I played all the way back when they added that huge grasslands with hills kind of map which was a Co-Op Map and haven't played since then, so Whats this game like in 2025, It still feels the same it did back in 2019/2020 However the Free Roam and Shootin/Killhouse lobbies are pretty much the same spawn and die, and the community still hasn't changed and the game still remains to play the same its just not fun at all this game has barely improved unlike Pavlov VR which honestly is far better and just feels better to play than onward.

only come to this game if you wanna play with cowards

graphics on standalone are much simpler and on pc vr it's pretty realistic. makes me lag but great game.

The game went from one of my favorite PCVR shooters with a good quality standard to a Quest port that I can't recognize from the original game I bought back in the day. Graphics, audio, map detail and a whole bunch of other stuff is massively downgraded from the game I once enjoyed.

get your slaves to go onward