Is Onward worth the sale ?

[OG Jobby Bobbson]

Im checking steamcharts and it says 43 players is the avg 30 day playerbase. I like the screenshots and earlier media (youtube commentaries on the game). I'm curious, is the game now in Late 2023 worth buying ? I have a quest 3 coming soon and a 4060 ti installed recently, wanting to try some new vr shooter titles w/ friends.

[HamBunger]

no if your mainly pcvr stay a way the graphics are not what they promote trust me and the gameplay is not improved it was worth buying when the game first released but now its a ugly mess

[36 bald fat lives with parents]

That's a little bit of an exaggeration. At $15 almost any game is worth trying. That's about what a basic level meal at McDonalds costs these days.

The game was reduced quite a bit by the Quest when Facebook acquired this title and started bullying everyone around. So no matter what GPU you have, 4060 or not, you are going to be suffocated down to the Quest 2 capabilities for "fairness" or something like that. But the gameplay is what boosts Onward up even if the graphics and polygon counts are dramatically reduced from the videos you can find online.

It is slowly coming back to what it was pre-quest. But it has a long way to go before it can compete with itself from some 4 years ago. It will take the Quest 2 being dropped from support before it can truly shine again.

I would pick it up on Steam for $15. You can try it out and shelf it till Q2 is dead and buried and then re-launch then and see where it's at. The average player count - ignore those stats. I don't think I have ever seen Onward at a point where there were no open and populated lobbies. We're talking about a game that has a max 5v5 player count per game. So long as the team you join up with isn't 5 year old children, then it kind of doesn't matter if there are thousands of people online at once.

[Kondiq]

For me it's even less than $15 - around $10, as I already own Superhot VR and Arizona Sunshine, so the price is the only reason I'm considering buying it, but will talk later with my friends to decide:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/18169/ONWARD_into_SUPERHOT_SUNSHINE/

[Roger Longkoch]

Originally posted by Rusty Shackleford:

Im checking steamcharts and it says 43 players is the avg 30 day playerbase. I like the screenshots and earlier media (youtube commentaries on the game). I'm curious, is the game now in Late 2023 worth buying ? I have a quest 3 coming soon and a 4060 ti installed recently, wanting to try some new vr shooter titles w/ friends.

Looks great on my Quest 3 in PCVR using Quest Link. It should rock on your new GPU.

[Kondiq]

So from what I see in this video (from a guy who loves the game), Onward used to be a pretty realistic military simulation game, which got downgraded to mobile Quest version and changed into a casual shooter (because Quest playerbase is more casual and younger) and the company got bought by Meta, so they got the money. And then the updates slowed down a lot after Meta layed off a lot of the developers of the game. Doesn't sound good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M9Mm7kxnGU

[Tenko]

Most players are on the quest. and its pretty good compared to Pavlov. More realistic. Peopl cry about graphics cause they were downgraded. big woop.

[Kondiq]

Originally posted by Tenko:

Most players are on the quest. and its pretty good compared to Pavlov. More realistic. Peopl cry about graphics cause they were downgraded. big woop.

I don't like Pavlov, I prefer Contractors with all the mods people made. I'll wait a bit more to see how Onward develops and will think about buying on another sale if the price will be the same or lower. I already bought Vail (over 3x cheaper than Onward on sale when it was -90% off) and I was disappointed - the game also focused on Quest users and crossplay multiplayer. I'll see how people react to next Onward updates, we'll see.

[Mattios]

game is currently unplayable for me with a quest 3. It crashes on startup since a recent patch. It's been nearly a month

[Gator]

Quest 2 player here. It's fun, worth the money imo. Buying it on sale is a really good idea, buying it at normal price like I did is worth it in general. People play it like it's call of duty, so if you take it slow and play it like it's Arma 3 or Rainbow Six Vegas you get a nice one up on them.

[BobLazar]

Originally posted by Mattios:

game is currently unplayable for me with a quest 3. It crashes on startup since a recent patch. It's been nearly a month

Sounds like a you problem, quest3 user with 0 issues

[CitizenKing]

Originally posted by Mattios:

game is currently unplayable for me with a quest 3. It crashes on startup since a recent patch. It's been nearly a month

Make sure you're on the correct OpenXR. I use Virtual Desktop and it'll change my active OpenXR to its own which causes a number of Steam games to crash on launch. Swapping it back to Steam's OXR fixes it.

[KenDoll]

you're best bet is to just buy it on the headset itself

[36 bald fat lives with parents]

Originally posted by KenDoll:

you're best bet is to just buy it on the headset itself

I wouldn't. I've learned from the greed and a**holery of the whole Oculus history to keep everything on Steam. I already lost a library of 20 some games from random Oculus / FB / Meta policy changes. Steam, however, has always been consistent. I would keep nothing on the headset itself. At least that way when Meta decides to abandon Oculus you can still use your library on any HMD that works with Steam.

[KenDoll]

i've never had an issue with losing games on my headset, ever..

[36 bald fat lives with parents]

Originally posted by KenDoll:

i've never had an issue with losing games on my headset, ever..

Neither have most Oculus users. But here's one who has. It's possible there are many who have lost their Steam libraries, but I have never heard of that yet.

Steam is a reputable company that yet remains outside the public trading sphere. They have been alive since the beginning of online multiplayer games, about 20 years to be fair. I'm sure their history isn't all stars and rainbows, but their policies and stability lend plenty to be confident in.

Meta, on the other hand, is ... well, the rebranding of Facebook. That alone is a "nuff said." This very game right here is all the proof you need to never put your confidence in anything they touch. They tore it to pieces for the Quest 1. Maybe for a better future for the game, maybe not. But they could have done that far more gracefully than what they did, and as such, have burned what shoddy bridges they ever had with me. What happened to this game was not the only insult that has been added to injury. Since they own the Oculus Home, and treat the purchased game libraries as their own property to do whatever they wish, then I will continue to refuse to use it.

It's ultimately just an opinion the OP can choose to ignore if they want. People tend to not specifically vilify companies until they have been burned by them. I'm glad you so far haven't. Following my advise, the OP wouldn't have to worry about that either. But now they have heard it from a couple users in this small crevice of the internet. Hopefully they benefit from both sides.