Info about Onward:

Official game description:
**The most immersive tactical first person VR shooter game**
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Join your squad for a wide variety of competitive PvP, co-op PvE, and solo game modes, including intense multiplayer battles or 4-player co-op missions. Realistic weaponry and combat mechanics will push your survival and combat skills to their limit as you engage in gritty infantry combat across a large variety of maps and combat situations, with platform cross-play fully supported. The only way is Onward.
Onward is the hardcore multiplayer VR game you’ve been looking for. To succeed on the battlefield, you must communicate, coordinate, and strike with your squad. Defeat may be swift, but victory is sweet. Challenge yourself and your friends with the most realistic infantry combat game.

Release date: Mar 25, 2025

Categories: First-Person Shooter, Tactical Shooter, Cooperative Multiplayer, Competitive Multiplayer, VR Gameplay, Character Progression, Weapon Customization, Team Management


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Exceptional VR gunplay realism (weight 0.43): The game is praised for its highly realistic weapon handling, mechanical operations, and immersive gunplay, setting it apart from other VR shooters. Players highlight detailed reloading, sound design, and tactical depth.
- Fun and engaging solo or with friends (weight 0.41): The game is enjoyable both solo and in groups, with mechanics that are easy to pick up but offer depth for long-term engagement. Cooperative PvE modes are a highlight.
- Extensive weapon variety and customization (weight 0.36): Players appreciate the wide range of weapons, faction-specific loadouts, and deep customization options. The class system and attachment mechanics add strategic depth to gameplay.
- Highly immersive and intense (weight 0.31): The game delivers a deeply immersive atmosphere, with realistic interactions, adrenaline-inducing moments, and a strong focus on teamwork and tactical gameplay. This enhances the overall VR experience.
- Motion sickness solutions (weight 0.1): The game offers innovative movement systems and strategies to mitigate motion sickness, making it more accessible to players sensitive to VR discomfort.
- Purist-friendly immersion features (weight 0.07): The game caters to purists by omitting HUDs, crosshairs, and kill cams, enhancing realism and immersion for players seeking a true-to-life experience.
- Realistic night vision and optics (weight 0.06): Night vision and laser mechanics are praised for their realism, adding to the tactical depth and immersion of the game, especially in low-light scenarios.

Common complaints:
- Severe graphics downgrade (weight 0.96): Players report a significant reduction in graphical fidelity, comparing the current state to Quest 1 or N64-era quality. The downgrade affects models, textures, lighting, and overall visual clarity, often requiring full resets to resolve issues.
- Deteriorated sound design (weight 0.89): Sound quality, spatialization, and weapon audio have been heavily downgraded, described as flat, muffled, or resembling airsoft guns. This degrades immersion and realism.
- Performance and stability issues (weight 0.86): Frequent crashes, lag, low FPS (10-30), and optimization problems plague the game post-update. Players cite unstable frame rates, bugs, and poor performance even on high-end PC VR systems.
- Quest compatibility downgrades (weight 0.85): The game was downgraded to accommodate Quest compatibility, affecting graphics, sound, and performance for all players. This forced downgrade is widely criticized for prioritizing accessibility over quality.
- Declining player base (weight 0.49): The game has lost a significant portion of its player base, with reports of only 16 players at peak times. Toxicity, younger audiences, and degraded gameplay are cited as contributing factors.
- Poor AI behavior (weight 0.45): AI enemies exhibit immersion-breaking behaviors, such as ignoring gunfire, spawning in waves, or acting inconsistently (e.g., seeing players in pitch darkness). Coop and hunt modes are particularly affected.
- Limited and confusing game modes (weight 0.45): Game modes are either too simplistic (e.g., wave spawns in coop) or confusing, with PVP modes criticized for resembling a COD rip-off. Online modes struggle due to low player counts.
- Developer disengagement (weight 0.39): Players perceive the developers as prioritizing Quest profits over PC VR quality, with updates described as arrogant or degrading. The game is seen as abandoned or mismanaged.
- Toxic and immature community (weight 0.37): The player base has shifted to include younger, less mature players, with reports of toxicity, team killing, and offensive behavior (e.g., racial slurs). This degrades the multiplayer experience.
- Loss of realism and immersion (weight 0.33): Features that added realism (e.g., lighting, textures, animations) have been removed or downgraded, reducing immersion. The game is compared to mobile or PS2-era experiences.
- Unrealistic and awkward gunplay (weight 0.32): Gunplay feels floaty, unrealistic, or overly complicated, with poor reloading mechanics and weapon sounds. Players compare it unfavorably to other VR shooters like H3VR.
- Repetitive and low-quality maps (weight 0.15): Maps are criticized for being repetitive, low-poly, or poorly designed, with some removed entirely. Modded maps are outdated, and larger maps lack detail, breaking immersion.
- Poor UI and menu design (weight 0.09): Menus are unintuitive, overly complicated, or buggy, making navigation difficult. Equipment and settings menus are particularly criticized for their poor design.

Gameplay feedback:
- Realistic gunplay mechanics (weight 0.43): Players consistently highlight the detailed and realistic weapon handling, including reloading, chambering, and magazine management. Features like manual bolt actions and fire mode switching enhance immersion.
- Military simulation focus (weight 0.31): The game is praised as a realistic military simulator, with comparisons to *Arma* and *Tactical Assault VR*. Features like realistic AI, movement, and weapon physics reinforce this identity.
- Tactical team-based objectives (weight 0.29): Objective-driven gameplay emphasizes teamwork, communication, and strategy. Modes require coordination, with mechanics like reviving teammates and no respawns adding depth.
- AI behavior and difficulty (weight 0.19): Enemy AI exhibits realistic tactics (e.g., suppressing fire, armor use) but faces criticism for AFK bots and inconsistent difficulty. Wave spawn mechanics in co-op are also mentioned.
- Realistic movement mechanics (weight 0.12): Physical movement (crouching, proning) and manual actions (e.g., kneeling) are required, enhancing immersion. Players appreciate the attention to detail in movement systems.
- Steep learning curve (weight 0.06): Players describe the game as 'easy to learn, hard to master,' with mechanics like realistic reloading and tactical combat requiring practice to master.
- Team killing and lobby issues (weight 0.06): Multiplayer lobbies suffer from team killing problems, particularly in modes like Team Deathmatch. This detracts from the cooperative experience.

Performance notes:
- Severe performance and stability issues (weight 0.32): The game frequently crashes, fails to launch, and suffers from significant lag, low FPS, and visual glitches, making it unplayable for many users. These issues persist across updates and hardware configurations.
- Hardware and optimization inconsistencies (weight 0.15): Performance varies widely across hardware, with some high-end PCs struggling while low-end systems run smoothly. RAM usage is unusually high, and updates have both improved and degraded performance.
- Performance improves with lower settings (weight 0.12): Adjusting graphics settings, such as reducing quality or disabling certain features, mitigates stuttering, frame rate issues, and overall performance problems for some players.
- VR-specific rendering and performance issues (weight 0.11): VR gameplay suffers from frame duplication (left/right eye), image tearing, and performance disparities between Steam VR and native headset play, particularly on PC VR setups.
- Network and connectivity issues (weight 0.08): Occasional network-based stuttering, ping-related disadvantages, and connectivity problems (e.g., Airlink) affect gameplay, particularly in multiplayer or VR environments.
- Platform-specific limitations (weight 0.06): The game does not run on Quest 3 and faces challenges on Linux (Proton) or when emulating mobile devices, highlighting compatibility gaps across platforms.
- Motion sickness and comfort challenges (weight 0.05): Players report motion sickness, which can be mitigated through techniques like squinting or remaining still, but remains a barrier for some users.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended for tactical VR fans (weight 0.32): The game is frequently recommended for fans of tactical shooters, military simulations, and VR enthusiasts, particularly those who enjoy immersive solo or team-based experiences. Its affordability and accessibility further boost its appeal.
- Alternatives recommended (weight 0.19): Several reviews suggest other VR tactical shooters (e.g., Pavlov, Tactical Assault VR, Contractors) as better alternatives, either due to superior multiplayer, accessibility, or overall quality.
- Best played with friends (weight 0.12): Players consistently highlight that the game is more enjoyable when played with friends, despite the lack of local multiplayer. Team-based modes are particularly praised for enhancing the experience.
- Good value at discounted price (weight 0.11): While some players feel the game is overpriced in its current state, others argue it’s worth the cost during sales or at lower price points (e.g., $10–$25, 450 rubles).
- Mixed mil-sim authenticity (weight 0.08): The game is praised for its military feel and realism by some (e.g., veterans, airsoft players), but others argue it falls short of a true military simulation, recommending it only for casual mil-sim elements.
- Community and accessibility notes (weight 0.04): Some reviews mention the game’s welcoming Japanese community (OJC) for beginners or recommend accessories like gunstocks for serious players, adding niche value.
- Specific modes recommended (weight 0.03): Players highlight certain game modes (e.g., FREE-ROAM, Shooting Range, Escort, Uplink) as particularly enjoyable or worth trying, suggesting they enhance replayability.
- Gunplay improvements needed (weight 0.02): Feedback indicates that gunplay engagement feels lacking or requires refinement to meet player expectations for a tactical VR shooter.

Other player notes:
- Crossplay quality comparisons (weight 0.09): The game is frequently compared to other VR shooters like Vail, Pavlov, and Contractors in terms of crossplay functionality and overall experience. Players highlight its cross-platform capabilities between ecosystems as a key feature.
- Oculus-favoring business decisions (weight 0.05): Criticism is directed at business decisions that prioritize Oculus compatibility, including downgrades for Quest support, which some players see as compromising quality.
- Mature competitive community (weight 0.05): The game is praised for fostering a mature and competitive player base, with historical livestreamed competitions adding to its esports appeal.
- Version 1.7 as peak quality (weight 0.03): Players reference version 1.7 as the last 'good' update, implying a decline in quality or satisfaction with subsequent changes.
- Meta ownership concerns (weight 0.03): Players express dissatisfaction with Meta's acquisition of the game, fearing changes in direction or business priorities. This reflects broader concerns about corporate influence on indie titles.
- Lack of narrative content (weight 0.03): The game is criticized for having no story or campaign, which some players see as a missing element for deeper engagement.
- Solo developer origins (weight 0.03): The game's initial development by a single person is noted, reflecting admiration for its indie roots and the effort behind its creation.
- Compact game size (weight 0.03): Players describe the game's install size as 'workable,' suggesting it is lightweight and accessible without requiring excessive storage space.
- Target audience demographics (weight 0.03): The game is described as appealing to both teenagers and adults, indicating a broad but mature-leaning player base.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.28): Players experience frustration primarily due to technical issues like frequent crashes, connectivity problems with Airlink, and performance stutters on newer headsets like the Quest 3. Additionally, gameplay mechanics such as unintuitive menus, poor controls, and bugs (e.g., bipod sniping difficulties, broken tutorials) exacerbate the issue. Toxic player behavior, including trolls, cheaters, and disruptive children in lobbies, further degrades the multiplayer experience.
- Disappointment (weight 0.22): Disappointment stems from the perceived decline in game quality after major updates, particularly the 2.0 update, which introduced graphics downgrades, sound design issues, and removal of features like weapon customization. Players feel the developers abandoned the PC version in favor of Quest compatibility, leading to a loss of immersion, repetitive gameplay, and a shrinking player base. Many believe the game no longer lives up to its mil-sim promises or early potential.
- Anger (weight 0.07): Anger is directed at developer decisions, such as prioritizing Quest compatibility over PCVR, which led to graphics downgrades, broken mechanics, and a toxic player environment. Players feel betrayed by corporate influences (e.g., Meta's acquisition) and perceive the developers as incompetent or greedy for abandoning the original vision. Overpricing and false advertising further fuel this emotion.
- Excitement (weight 0.06): Excitement is driven by the game's immersive and realistic gameplay, particularly its weapon variety, customization, and competitive PVP modes. Players appreciate the high difficulty in Elite mode, unique mechanics (e.g., realistic weapon handling), and the growing VR esports scene. The 2.0 update's new features and maps also generated positive anticipation.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.05): Satisfaction arises from the game's realistic gunplay, detailed weapon behavior, and smooth performance, especially in PvE modes. Players enjoy the multiplayer experience, crossplay support, and consistent updates that enhance immersion. The overall value and accessibility of the game, despite initial hurdles, contribute to this positive emotion.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.04): Nostalgia is tied to the game's earlier versions, particularly pre-2.0 updates, which players remember as more immersive, polished, and community-driven. Many miss features like realistic AI, better graphics, and a more mature player base, contrasting the current state with the game's past potential and esports scene.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Enthusiasm is fueled by the game's tactical depth, realistic physics, and competitive gameplay. Players praise the weapon feel, creative reloading mechanics, and the potential for full missions or military training simulations. The game's ability to deliver a high-quality VR FPS experience generates strong positive reactions.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Enjoyment comes from the game's fun and engaging mechanics, such as realistic gunplay, tactical gameplay, and immersive features like night vision and lasers. Playing with friends, mil-sim modes, and the overall military feel of the game contribute to a highly enjoyable experience for many players.
- Betrayal (weight 0.02): Players feel betrayed by the developers' shift in focus from PCVR to Quest compatibility, which they perceive as a cash grab at the expense of the original fanbase. The removal of features, downgrades, and lack of support for the PC version amplify this sense of abandonment and disrespect.
- Admiration (weight 0.02): Admiration is directed at the game's attention to detail, weapon realism, and tactical gameplay. Players appreciate the variety of weapons and roles, as well as the historical quality of the game on PC. The effort put into creating a polished VR shooter is widely recognized.
- Sadness (weight 0.02): Sadness stems from the game's decline in quality and performance over time, with players mourning the loss of updates, features, and the enjoyable experience it once provided. Many feel the game no longer meets their expectations or justifies their investment of time and money.
- Disgust (weight 0.02): Disgust is triggered by the game's current state, including poor graphics, player models, and sound design. Players criticize the lack of effort to support PC players and the trend of dumbing down games for all-in-one (AIO) headsets, which they view as a step backward for VR gaming.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope persists among players who believe the game could be improved with future updates, such as fixing the fire selector, ammo visibility, or addressing performance issues. Some find temporary relief in the 1.7 beta branch, while others advocate for developer intervention to restore the game's former glory.}