Competitive Military Shooter Onward Confirmed For Oculus Quest
Downpour Interactive’s tactical multiplayer experience is heading to standalone VR.
It appears as though the rumors were true. Onward, the popular military-sim tactical multiplayer shooter from Downpour Interactive is in development for the Oculus Quest standalone headset.
The companies founder, Dante Buckley, confirmed the news in an announcement made during the latest broadcast of VR League, an ongoing VR-based esports competition supported by both Oculus and the ESL. No additional information was provided in regards to an official release date or price (Onward is currently available as an early access title on SteamVR and Oculus for $24.99), although rumors have been circulating over the past few weeks that the hyper-realistic military-sim would be making it’s way to the Quest, which could suggest the port has already been in development for an unknown period of time.
Originally released on major PC VR platforms in 2016, the realistic squad-based shooter instantly made waves with audiences, offering users one of the first high-quality competitive multiplayer shooters on VR headsets. Onward has since developed a dedicated fan-base, becoming one of the most popular titles on the VR League circuit and VR gaming in general. Although it’s too early to say how the standalone release will be received, the ability to cut the chords of PC VR and move freely while in combat could very well make this the ideal version of the competitive multiplayer shooter.
Of course, Downpour Interactive isn’t the only developer looking to bring “mil-sim” combat to the Quest. David Villz, the developer behind the equally-popular VR multiplayer shooter Pavlov VR, is also developing a port for the Oculus Quest and has already released an open alpha of the experience, which users can side-load onto their headsets this very moment.
What’s most interesting about this announcement was the manner in which it was revealed. Rather than a simple blog update, Twitter post, or trailer upload to YouTube, Downpour instead chose to make their reveal alongside VR League; a decision that could hint at the Oculus Quest’s future in relation to esports.
Could the Oculus Quest develop into the preferred headset among hardcore VR esports athletes? Could we eventually see the arrival of Echo Arena, Echo Combat, Space Junkies, or various other official VR League titles on Quest? After all, none of these games feature any particularly strenuous visuals, making them perfectly viable candidates for Quest.
Then again, perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. For now, let’s all revel in the fact that we’ll soon be enjoying one of the most polished VR shooters available on the Oculus Quest. Dang, just saying that gives me goosebumps…
https://vrscout.com/news/onward-confirmed-for-oculus-quest/
