Let us paint a quick picture. Standing in the middle of your living room in your socks, you boot it up. Your eyes are completely blind to the real world. You fully believe you are the ultimate tactical operator. You load up Onward, puff your chest out, and expect to burst through doors like an absolute hero. Five seconds later, you drop your only magazine on the virtual floor. You desperately try to remember how to pull a charging handle. Then, a bloke who hates actual daylight snipes you from half a mile away. Welcome to Onward VR.
This is not your standard arcade shooter. Do not expect to sprint around corners at fifty miles an hour. Hip firing a submachine gun like an invincible action star will just get you killed. You will have a miserable time. Onward is a punishing military simulator. It demands your attention, your patience, and your actual physical movement. This game will humble you immediately. Anyone watching you frantically wave your arms around the living room will think you look like a complete dafty. When it works, it offers a brilliant virtual reality experience. When it fails, you will want to launch your expensive headset out the window.
The Panic of the Pull
The core gunplay in Onward is elite. Traditional shooters make reloading easy. You just press a button and watch an animation. Onward completely strips that luxury away. An enemy pins you down behind a concrete barrier. Bullets fly past your ears. Suddenly, reloading becomes a genuine test of your physical coordination. You must physically reach down to your chest rig. Grab a fresh magazine and drop the empty one. Slot the new one in perfectly, then manually pull back the bolt.
It sounds simple in a calm room. But an enemy squad pushes your position and adrenaline shakes your hands. You will fumble the reload. Missing the charging handle comes next. Then, you pull your sidearm in a sheer panic and empty it into the wall. A television screen simply cannot replicate that level of physical tension. The recoil is fierce. It requires you to pull down and brace your virtual weapon physically. The time to kill is brutally fast. One or two well placed shots send you to the spectate screen. This forces strict discipline. You have to check your corners. Communication is vital. You must actually value your virtual life.
Concrete and Paranoia
Paranoia and tactical positioning drive the map design. Take a map like Downfall. It is a massive desert environment with long sightlines and exposed valleys. Crossing a street feels like a monumental risk. You physically crouch in your living room. Peering around a digital rock, you try to spot a moving pixel. The environments force you to move deliberately. You cannot just hold the thumbstick forward and hope for the best.
Then you have maps like Suburbia. These levels completely flip the pacing on its head. Instead of long range fights, you sweep through tight, claustrophobic houses. Every single doorway is a fatal funnel. A simple staircase becomes a deadly trap. Stack up on a wooden door with your squad. Count down from three, and breach the room. The tension feels incredible. The maps act as puzzles. You solve them using geometry, cover, and communication. A visual overhaul made these maps look far more atmospheric. Better lighting and detailed textures make the world feel grounded.
The Nursery Ward
We need to talk about the absolute state of the community. This is where the game falls flat on its face. The creators designed Onward from the ground up as a serious simulator. It requires maturity and teamwork. So naturally, ten year old kids completely overrun the public lobbies. They treat the game like a virtual daycare center.
Loading into a public matchmaking server is a massive gamble. The game heavily stacks the odds against you. You try to plan a smart flank. Instead, a screaming child blasts your ears. These kids shoot their own teammates in the back and drop flashbangs at their feet. It completely shatters the immersion. You dress as a highly trained operative in a warzone. The guy next to you sings a TikTok song and asks to play hide and seek. Public spaces lack moderation. You spend half your time muting people or leaving lobbies out of pure frustration. You need a dedicated group of friends for private servers. Sticking to competitive leagues also works. Otherwise, the community will drain your patience fast.
Brain Dead Bots
Maybe you get sick of the chaotic public lobbies. You jump into the PvE co-op modes instead. Another massive disappointment slaps you in the face. You would expect intelligent enemy AI in a realistic game. You would be completely wrong.
The bots in Onward have the tactical awareness of a wet sponge. They fail to use cover effectively. Flanking your position never crosses their minds. They do not coordinate their attacks. Instead, they lock onto your location and march in a straight line. They completely ignore the fact that you keep mowing them down. It turns a tense mission into a mindless shooting gallery. Playing against the AI feels like fighting heavily armed zombies. It works for warming up your aim or practicing reloads. But it offers zero genuine tactical challenge.
The Ghost Ship
The squeakers and clunky bots are annoying. However, the overwhelming feeling of abandonment is the worst part. The developers clearly abandoned the game. A few years ago, the team delivered a massive update. It overhauled the graphics and rebuilt the weapon models. This injected much needed life into the servers. The guns looked crisp and authentic. The game finally reached its true potential.
And then, the momentum just stopped. A bigger company bought the studio and shuffled the development team. They effectively left Onward to gather dust. We no longer wait for new maps or massive feature updates. The game sits frozen in time. What you see right now is exactly what you get forever. It is a massive shame. The foundation of the game is incredibly strong. It just feels like a drifting ship with no captain at the wheel.
Final Verdict
Onward provides extreme highs and miserable lows. You move in absolute silence with a coordinated squad. You execute a perfect breach and survive a chaotic firefight. In those moments, it is unmatched. The weapon handling remains raw, physical, and satisfying. But you must wade through toxic public lobbies and brain dead AI. The dead development cycle is depressing. You suffer through all this just to find those brilliant moments. It is a fantastic simulator trapped in a very frustrating package.
Final verdict: 7/10
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