Onward’s latest big update is here, and it includes huge updates to the game’s audio quality.
Update 1.8.8 includes two major additions. The first is overhauled audio – developer Downpour Interactive has gone back to rebalance volumes and make sound from a distance more authentic. More importantly, though, it’s added a wide range of more convincing sound effects for things like explosions, gunfire and even footsteps. Have a listen over on the game’s official blog.
Not every effect sounds radically different, but each has at least a little more punch to it to make it more convincing.
Elsewhere 1.8.8 also introduces a new nighttime version of the game’s shooting range you can play either by yourself or with friends. This makes a lot of sense given that many of Onward’s normal multiplayer maps have nighttime variants that force you to play in a different way. With this update, you can now train for those maps properly.
Also interesting to note in the known issues section of the changelog is that Downpour has “temporarily removed support for bHaptics vests for Oculus Quest and Quest 2 users”. It didn’t offer any explanation for why the support had been removed, nor when it might be added back in.
Update 1.8.9 is also due to arrive “in the coming weeks”, but no word on exactly with it will bring at this point in time. In other Onward news, Mark Zuckerberg seemed to accidentally reveal the existence of Onward 2 in a message last month after Facebook acquired Downpour itself.
