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.
Late last month the Dev Blog hinted at these changes, but it didn’t sound as dramatic then as it looks 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!
