Stride’s newest 9.0 update brings parity to the Quest and PC VR version of the game, while adding some brand new features to both.
The development team has also outlined future plans for in-development content, including the game’s story and multiplayer modes.
The 9.0 update’s biggest changes include a new tutorial, more options for Endless Mode, power-ups, new interactive elements, reworked graphics and new enemy types. Arena mode also has new modifiers and enemies can throw grenades at the player, which can be thrown back.
Improvements and additions have also been made to enemy voiceovers, gun models and effects, and the general enemy AI. For the PC VR version specifically, a whole bunch of new additions and changes have been made that bring features to PC VR that were previously only available on Quest.
This is just scratching the surface — it seems like a huge update that adds lots of new features, bug fixes and improvements. You can see footage and details of the additions in the video from JoyWoy embedded above.
In the video, Joy Way also discuss their plans for future content, including an update on the previously announced but unreleased story and multiplayer modes for Stride.
The bad news is that Story Mode is unlikely to arrive this year. However, the video gives a first-look at new environments designed for story modes, including new urban slum areas (pictured above) and more affluent skyscraper environments.
Joy Woy says the team are considering releasing the campaign split across several releases, in an episodic format, to get it out faster. The other option is to receive the whole campaign at once, but with a longer wait. Joy Way will take player feedback into consideration when making this decision.
With regards to multiplayer, Joy Woy thanked everyone who took part in testing and noted that the servers are being taken down temporarily to make improvements based on player feedback. There are also “several brand new online modes” in development, which will feature different modes to what was previously available in the Alpha test. More multiplayer tests will be available in the future, with no word on a full launch date yet.
The 9.0 update for Stride is available on PC VR and Quest now.
