New Onward VR Game Mode Promises Fantastic new PvE Content - Mercenary Mode

It's been so long since Onward had a truly meaningful update or addition of any notable amount of content. The Fire Fight game mode was cool, but it didn’t feel very different. It’s also very hard to depend on revives from a Corpsman who is twelve years old.

So imagine my surprise when I heard about the new Mercenary mode in Onward. You might have seen my old article and video on the Singleplayer options available in Onward, and while good for practice and warming up, they didn't amount to much.

Really the game got kind of stale overall with no significant content added in such a long time, and newer shinier VR shooters came along that made me forget about it for a while. Though if you're wondering if Onward is dead just look at the server list. It's not, this game is still great.

The Onward server browser is still popping

So what's Mercenaries? Well, it's a PvE game mode that can be played alone or with others, and it's actually got an interesting twist on Onward's equipment and adds some progression to the Singleplayer.

You start with a few pistols, pea shooters really, and to get more weapons, attachments, grenades, and gear you'll have to complete missions.

These missions are randomly chosen from a few types and take place across Onward's collection of maps.

There are a few missions types spread across all of Onward’s maps

This gives me very very light Tarkov vibes. Getting a really good loadout feels earned, and being forced to use weapons you normally wouldn't touch adds a new level of freshness to the game. Shotguns are absolutely amazing by the way.

Though losing that hard won loadout as things get harder also stings in a good way. Onward's Mercenaries mode is pretty hard even on normal difficulty. Pulling out all of the anti AI tricks is a must because they will outnumber you and outgun you all the time.

Firing in one place and ambushing the enemies that come looking for the source of the gunshots is a classic. You're also incentivized to complete the level as quickly as possible to get more points... if you care about points that is.

You’ll always have night vision, so night maps are still very fun

Still, the need to complete the levels fast makes you take risks, and risks means more intense situations and gameplay. The AI are a little dumb and slow, but underestimate them once and it's back to the first mission. They’re also much smarter than they used to be and will group up, defend objectives, and generally not just run into your gun barrel anymore.

You can go from feeling like a badass operator taking down enemies in droves to feeling like a complete fool when you repeek the same corner twice and get gunned down.

Sure some of this might be nostalgia. It has been years since I exhausted the possibilities found in Onward's Singleplayer modes, as you can see by long ago I wrote the article about it, but I've been having a lot of fun with the Mercenary game mode.

A close quarters fight in Onward VR’s Mercenary Game Mode

Just adding a little progression and randomization goes a long way in reinjecting some life into an old favorite. This game is still one of the best VR tactical shooters around and still feels and sounds snappy and great to play.

Hopefully, this signifies a new era of new content for Onward after years of stagnation.

11 Best VR Shooting Games for the Oculus Quest 2 | VR Shooter Games for the Quest 2

If you’re a fan of shooters or shooting games and have an Oculus/Meta Quest, you’re probably thinking that shooting games would be pretty awesome in Virtual Reality. Well they are! VR shooting games are one of the most consistently fun genres that takes full advantage of what VR has to offer.

Actually handling a gun and its parts directly to reload and aim makes VR shooting games instantly more tactile and immersive. The feeling of crouching physically while listening for an enemy coming around the corner with your gun trembling in your hands isn’t quite the same outside of Virtual Reality Shooters.

Many of the varieties of VR shooters which can be found in flat screen games are making their way over to VR, and this list includes many different genres of shooting games. There’s multiplayer as well as singleplayer VR shooting games for the Quest in here. These are the best VR shooting games on the Oculus Quest 2.

Oh, and honorable mention to The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners Chapters 1 and 2. While absolutely fantastic survival games, they didn’t have enough of an emphasis on VR shooting to be considered as VR shooter games, but they are fantastic games.

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Onward - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Onward Logo

Chances are you’ve probably heard about Onward. It’s a well known VR shooter because it has been around for a very long time, and was originally released for PCVR years ago. Since then it has seen many improvements and additions, while also being ported to the Quest 2.

In case you aren’t familiar, Onward is a Multiplayer focused VR shooter (though it does have some Singleplayer features) that takes place during a fictional worldwide conflict in the modern day. Whichever team you are on determines what weapons you can choose for your loadouts, and teams are limited to five players each, similar to the Counter Strike franchise. Movement speeds are low and so is the time to kill. One or two shots can easily down a player. Even being wounded means you need to use a medical syringe on yourself.

An intense shootout in Onward

If you want a slow and tactical multiplayer VR shooting experience, then Onward is a game you should definitely try. For more about Onward check out our article comparing it to Contractors.

Lies Beneath - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Lies Beneath Logo

Now for a game you probably haven’t heard about. Lies Beneath is not a Multiplayer game, instead it is a linear, story based horror VR shooter. You are one woman with nothing but a magical lighter and a few old guns and blades against hordes of horrifying, otherworldly monsters.

Lies Beneath has a story that is genuinely thrilling and a number of disquieting and beautiful settings to match it. It remains consistently creepy where it isn’t outright scary, and varies the gameplay constantly so that you never know what you’ll find or shoot at next. Whether you’re defending a cabin against a horde of zombies with a shotgun or blasting your way through a village of possessed fishermen with a revolver, Lies Beneath is a VR shooting game that never gets dull.

Ghosts of Tabor - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Ghosts Of Tabor Logo

Every wanted to play VR Tarkov? Want to have the tension of an extraction/raid VR shooter in VR? Well Ghosts of Tabor finally delivers on that. Set in a future where Russia has collapsed to Extreme Nationalists, you are a Special Forces soldier on Tabor, which has been hit by a nuclear missile.

Gather your gear in your bunker Safe House and venture out into the many locations of Tabor to acquire loot and bring it home, while also completing missions given by the many traders. Watch out though, the NPC FENIX rebels (basically Scavs from Tarkov) will shoot you on sight. Other players also might, but they might also end up being your friends. Still… you can never really trust anyone in Tabor.

Ghosts of Tabor is shaping up to be the premier multiplayer VR shooter game on the Quest 2 and PCVR. For more on Ghosts of Tabor and how it compares to Escape From Tarkov check out our article on it here.

Into The Radius - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Into The Radius Logo

Into the Radius is hands down the best survival VR shooter available on any platform, not just the Quest 2. It is often compared to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series of games, but takes much more inspiration from the book that inspired S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Roadside Picnic.

An anomaly in Into The Radius

In Into the Radius you explore the Pechorsk Radius, fighting strange creatures made of dark matter and avoiding deadly anomalies while completing missions and gathering artifacts to sell. There are a huge number of weapons and pieces of equipment to buy to keep you alive in the Zone, which has dangers that only become greater the further in you go. Though the further in you go, the closer you get to revealing the mysteries of what exactly happened to Pechorsk.

Firing a PPSH in Into The Radius. This is one of the greatest VR shooting games

If you want a tense singleplayer VR survival shooter, then Into the Radius is a must play. As far as Virtual Reality Shooting Games in general, it is one of the best out there and should be at the top of your list if you want a great singleplayer VR shooter on the Quest 2.

Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister Logo

Finally, a Warhammer 40K VR shooting game in Virtual Reality. If you don’t know what Warhammer 40K is, basically it’s a far future galaxy in which the Imperium, which has incorporated most of humanity, is fighting basically everyone who isn’t them. In Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister you are a Sister of Battle, an elite woman supersoldier armed and armored to the teeth.

You fight (mostly) the forces of chaos, who represent the entropic forces of the galaxy that want to destroy the Imperium. From cultists to huge Chaos Space Marines to demons of several kinds, there is great enemy variety in Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister, as well as weapon variety. Though the combat can feel a little repetitive after a while, many encounters play out in very similar fashion, which can make you lose interest over time in this VR shooting game.

Warhammer 40000: Battle Sister is mostly a linear Singleplayer experience, though there is some Multiplayer available in it’s endless horde survival mode. The one downside is that sometimes this VR shooter forces you into long and boring talking sequences that you can’t skip, and the dialog isn’t the most well written. Occasionally it is somewhat cringy, with a little overcommitment to character.

If you want to have some shootouts with large industrial weapons in an interesting grimdark sci-fi setting, or are already a Warhammer 40K fan, give Warhammer 40,000: Battle Sister a look.

Contractors - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Contractors Logo

Contractors is another Multiplayer online VR shooter for the Quest 2 that is often called the “Call of Duty of VR.” This is because the gameplay of Contractors, despite being in VR, shares many similarities with the Call of Duty franchise. Movement is fast and so is the gunplay.

If you want fast paced action, then Contractors is probably going to be your go to game. While there are a variety of game modes, most of them play out similarly. Spawn, run for a few seconds, see an enemy, fight, see another enemy, fight, die, rinse and repeat. It’s a great game to get some fast VR shooting action in.

There is constant action and very little waiting. You will die and be in another gunfight in less than thirty seconds. The action never stops. As for the gunplay, it plays out quickly, but gives you a chance to react. Jumping while shooting and sliding towards your enemy while shooting are totally viable tactics here.

Contractors is the most moddable of all multiplayer VR shooting games

Though the pace of gameplay can vary when playing any of Contractor’s many mods. That is the greatest strength of this game, how moddable it is. As far as multiplayer VR shooters on the Quest 2, there are none with anywhere near the amount of moddability and available mods as Contractors. There’s a Halo mod, Star Wars mod, and even some attempts at recreating Call of Duty’s zombies mode, and DayZ.

For more on Contractors check out our article comparing it to Onward.

Oh, and if you want an excellent VR Battle Royale, one of the best out there, based on the gameplay of Contractors, then check out Contractors: Showdown.

Sniper Elite VR - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Sniper Elite VR Logo

Sniper Elite VR is currently the best World War 2 VR shooter available on the Quest 2. You might think that Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond would hold that title, but a badly paced single player campaign combined with poorly thought out Multiplayer means that Sniper Elite VR gets the title.

Sniper Elite VR takes place in Italy during World War 2. You are a partisan fighting the Nazi occupiers, and Nazi shooting never gets old, especially in this game. There are many different and varied combat encounters to fight through, though as the name implies sniping is the core focus of the game. The Virtual Reality shooting is very fun, and all weapons have impressive kickback, with slow motion x-ray vision sometimes turning on and showing you just how devastating your bullet is as it goes through an enemy soldier’s body.

Firing an STG in a graveyard

If you want the World War 2 VR shooter experience in VR then Sniper Elite VR is the place to look. There are a ton of weapons and missions to enjoy. The downside is that Sniper Elite VR is an entirely Singleplayer experience, though it’s recent cousin on the flat screen has shown that it would make an excellent Multiplayer game.

For more on Sniper Elite: VR check out our review.

Resident Evil 4 VR - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 4 VR - A fantastic single player VR shooter

Here’s another Singleplayer game, but it is a legendary one. The original Resident Evil 4 was a huge hit that created a whole new genre of shooters, and now it’s a VR shooter. Resident Evil 4 VR is a very faithful and very well made adaptation of the original to the Virtual Reality format, and it is just as much of a hit.

Shooting in Resident Evil 4 VR

Fill the shoes of Leon Kennedy as you fight the Ganados Cult in rural Spain to save the President’s daughter. There’ll be plenty of homicidal villagers and mutants on the way, as Resident Evil 4 VR brings the immersive manual reloading and aiming that can only be done in Virtual Reality to the story and gameplay of Resident Evil 4. This is a phenomenal combination that will leave you starved for more and happy to strap on your headset one more time to play this VR shooting game.

A quick time event in Resident Evil 4 VR

If you have ever played and enjoyed a Resident Evil game, or games from similar franchises like Uncharted or the newer Tomb Raider games… Actually if you’ve ever enjoyed a singleplayer VR shooter in your life, then get Resident Evil 4 VR. Oh, and if you ever get stuck check out our article with tips and tricks (or the video).

Breachers - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Breachers Logo

Often called the Rainbow Six: Siege of VR, Breachers definitely contains a lot of elements from Rainbow Six: Siege, but also pulls inspiration from other well known shooter titles like Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

In the VR shooter Breachers you are either on the attacking or defending team, with access to all of the same weapons, but different items and tools depending which side you are on. The defending team has traps and defensive items, while the attacking team gets flashbangs, cloaks, drones, and breaching equipment. The attacking team needs to plant an EMP to disable bombs on one of two adjacent bomb sites, and the defending team needs to prevent this.

Oh, and if all team members on one of the teams dies, then the other team wins. The stakes always feel high in this VR shooter.

Leaning to cover a hallway in Breachers - A great tactical VR shooter game

Breachers combines quick gameplay with short rounds lasting three minutes so you will rarely be idle for a long time. It’s a ton of fun, and is quickly becoming one of, if not the, best multiplayer competitive VR shooter on the Oculus Quest 2. Maybe even the best competitive VR shooter in all of Virtual Reality.

The gunplay is satisfying and the time to kill with all weapons is very finely tuned for an enjoyable experience. The attackers vs defenders gameplay loop means that how the game plays varies greatly depending on what team you’re playing on. This keeps the gameplay fresh and entertaining. The wide variety of gadgets, guns, and tools also means that you have a ton of options to change your playstyle and strategize depending on what the enemy team is doing.

Scoring a headshot in Breachers

Breachers combines smooth design with great gunplay into a complete VR PvP shooter experience that takes inspiration from the flat screen, but is a fantastic game all on its own. If you love competitive team vs team shooters that require communication and strategy in a tight package, then Breachers is definitely for you.

POPULATION: ONE - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Population: One Logo

Do you like Battle Royales? Want to see what a VR Battle Royale might look like? Well then you’ll like Population: One, as it’s the only VR Battle Royale available on the Quest 2. It’s a pretty great one though, and also is a good VR shooter in general. While each match doesn’t support as many people as a flat screen Battle Royale, there are still a lot of players for a VR game. More than enough to make the game tense, and Population: One keeps the repositioning and equipment gathering between firefights fast paced.

Movement is quick and fun, with the ability to glide by stretching your arms out or climb up buildings with your bare hands. You have health as well as shields, meaning combat can be a protracted and very fun affair. There’s also building, but it’s not as widespread or as quick to do as in other games like Fortnite.

Population: One does have a bot mode for Singleplayer, but the heart of the game is playing with a squad of other people and trying to be the last ones to survive. If you love Battle Royales and want to see what one would be like in Virtual Reality then get your hands on Population: One. Oh, and now it’s free!

Bonelab - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games

The Bonelab Logo

Bonelab is another VR shooter you’ve probably heard about, and for very good reason. Where Contractors is the king of Multiplayer modding in Virtual Reality, Bonelab is the king of Singleplayer modding in Virtual Reality (except maybe for Blade and Sorcery, but we’re talking about VR shooters here).

Bonelab is a Singleplayer only game that has a satisfyingly long campaign that has you fight all sorts of strange enemies with a multitude of guns and even melee weapons (though the guns are clearly the best part). If you like puzzles then Bonelab offers just about as many physics puzzles as it does VR shooting.

The real gem of Bonelab is what is outside of the campaign, and that is the multitude of mods for weapons, enemies, maps, and so much more. Bonelab also has a unique feature that now allows you to download different skins for your character and switch between them, and each skin has a variety of stats. So you can be a strong and slow guy, or a tiny gremlin that can fit into tight spaces, or anything in between. There’s modded skins for popular characters like Batman, Deadpool, and so much more.

If you want a more sandbox like experience, or want to get into making your own mods for a VR shooter, then Bonelab is a great game to play. Oh, and if you want to install mods for Bonelab without a computer, check out this article on how to install Bonelab mods without a PC.

VAIL VR - VR Shooting Games and VR Shooter Games - BONUS

The VAIL VR Logo.

VAIL VR is another Multiplayer Shooter now available on the Meta Quest platform. It has recently, since it’s release on PCVR, gotten huge updates adding new maps, game modes, and a progression system that has you unlocking weapons and skins as you level up in the game and complete other various challenges like getting headshots.

VAIL VR is fast paced and has small teams going head to head to complete classic objectives like wiping out the enemy team, or planing a bomb objective. You know, like Counter Strike.

VAIL VR also has an extremely polished feel to it, and generally looks and feel fantastic. While it might not have the most sophisticated game modes or team play, this VR Shooter is absolutely fantastic for the responsiveness of its shooting and smoothness to its controls and movements. There’s even a system in the game that dynamically estimates where your legs should be, making it a much better idea to take cover.

While VAIL isn’t the most tactical of shooters, there is a fair bit of running and gunning involved. It’s low time to kill makes it very reaction based and fast paced. It’s a fantastic new player in the VR Shooting Game scene that has been the favorite of many.

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Onward VS Contractors - Multiplayer Shooters on the Oculus Quest 2

There are a few multiplayer shooters on the Oculus Quest 2, but none as popular as Onward and Contractors, the two giants of Multiplayer Shooting in standalone Virtual Reality. So anyone with a new Quest 2, or that wants to get into VR Shooters might be asking, which one is better? Well that might depend on your own taste. Here you’ll see, category by category, how the two games compare. So here’s a breakdown of Onward Versus Contractors on the Oculus Quest 2.

Gameplay

Gameplay can mean a lot of things, so let’s get a little more specific. How does the game feel to play? What is the moment to moment action like? Fun can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so what kind of fun are you looking for?

Well if you want fast paced action, then Contractors is probably going to be your go to game. Often called the “Call of Duty of Virtual Reality”, Contractors emphasizes movement, quick reflexes, and constant gunplay. While there are a variety of game modes (more on that later) most of them play out similarly. Spawn, run for a few seconds, see an enemy, fight, see another enemy, fight, die, rinse and repeat.

There is constant action and very little waiting. You will die and be in another gunfight in less than thirty seconds. The action never stops. As for the gunplay, it plays out quickly, but gives you a chance to react. It takes quite a few bullets to take someone down, depending on the weapon, though generally at least five or six, and headshots are instant kills. All weapons are very accurate and most have low recoil. It is easy to fire fully automatic and hit your target almost every time. Health regenerates automatically, which means that tactics like jumping out of cover or sliding past your enemies are completely viable without risking instant death.

So if you want a fast paced rush where you can jump and power slide across the ground while spraying with an AK, Contractors delivers on that. Otherwise if you just don’t like waiting around and don’t have a whole lot of time to get into a game before you have to take your Quest off, Contractors offers some quick action.

So what about Onward? Well if Contractors sounds too arcadey and fast paced for you, then chances are you will love this alternative. Most Onward games play out like Search and Destroy matches, a team of five against a team of five, one life only per round, no respawns. There is a respawn option, but you will see that less often in public lobbies, and respawns take about ten to fifteen seconds just to get back into the game with them enabled.

All of this means is that your life is more precious in Onward, because once you die you’ll be waiting for a new round to play again, which usually means another couple of minutes before more action at the very least. Couple this with the VERY low Time to Kill (a single bullet can kill easily, no way you can live through three) makes for a very slow paced and cautious game. You might call it “realistic”.

Whatever you call it, Onward offers less action but more tension. Running into the open where an enemy can see you means almost certain death, and while reflexes will definitely matter in some situations, especially in close quarters combat, careful thinking and outsmarting your opponents will give you victory. The fun in Onward isn’t in run jumping into a room spraying bullets, but crouch walking behind a wall, peeking into windows and waiting for an enemy head to appear.

Onward is for those that like mil-sims or just more slowly paced shooters, where quick reflexes and movement aren’t everything. Still, for both games that isn’t all there is, there’s more features to consider.

Game Modes

There’s no use beating around the bush here. Contractors blows Onward out of the water when it comes to Game Modes, and more are being added all of the time. Contractors has been a consistently improved and expanded game through constant updates, while Onward has remained largely the same for the past year or so.

That being said, not all of Contractor’s game modes are very good, but you will probably find something that you enjoy. Base Game Modes include your typical capture the flag style gameplay with sixteen players in a single match (Ground War), Team Deathmatch, escort the VIP, the usual hits and more. With a good variety of maps included in the game, there are also World War 2 and Ninja game modes, where the weapons are all replaced with WW2 variants, or everyone gets a bow, Katana, and smoke bombs. They’re all great fun, though preferences and opinions may vary.

There are quite a few single player missions. While the AI is pretty incompetent, fighting a lot of them can be very fun. There’s some escorting missions, enemy leader assassination missions (the leaders are just super buffed AI enemies), and more. While the Singleplayer is not enough alone to justify buying the game, it’s not a bad way to warm up from time to time, and can be experienced in Co-Op Multiplayer.

What’s more interesting is the Co-Op survival mode, where a team of four players faces off against waves of enemies. The later waves get very intense, and there is decent variety in the enemies that you face, from guys with SMGs to explosive laden attack dogs. It’s a challenge and it’s good fun. There is also a lackluster zombie survival mode, that feels like it needs more effort put into it, though hopefully that will be fixed one day with updates.

The thing that really makes Contractors stand out is its support of custom game modes and maps. Want to experience classics from the old Call of Duty games in VR? Maps from every classic installment of the series, such as the Modern Warfares and Black Opses, can be found in Contractors to fight over again in Virtual Reality. These maps are the most popular and the most fun. Arenas from other games are present as well, like Halo 3.

Custom game modes like Gun Game are also present in Contractors, so when you get tired of Capturing flags there’s a lot more to do. Really there’s far too many choices to list here, and more are added all of the time.

Custom Loadouts are a more recent addition to the Contractors modding scene, and they really round out custom experiences. Want Halo guns for your Halo map? Now that is possible, and you’ll even be wearing Master Chief’s armor while you use them. Want Star Wars droids fighting clone troopers on Call of Duty’s terminal map? That’s possible now too. These mods are now even capable of affecting the pace of gameplay, with guns that are less accurate, and more shots required for a kill.

Unfortunately Onward does not have modding support outside of some custom maps. Still, the game modes are pretty good. There are two main game modes in Multiplayer, Send the Uplink (type some numbers in front of a dish the other team is defending), and Escort the VIP (make sure one player with only a pistol makes it to one of two points on the map, if that player dies you lose). There’s also Gun Game, which is pretty fun, though it fits better in a faster paced game like Contractors, and a bizarre game mode called Spec Ops.

Spec Ops is kind of a misgnomer, something like “zombie” or “infection” would be a better name. In this mode one team moves really quickly and is armed with knives, while the other team moves normally and has pistols with a single magazine of ammunition. Whichever team is wiped out first loses. Oh, and the map looks foggy so it’s hard to see far. Spec Ops is… well it’s a bit weird and doesn’t really fit into the rest of Onward’s lineup, but is a decent distraction for a few rounds.

While these are good game modes that take familiar archetypes and do interesting things with them, there isn’t nearly as much variety here. On the other hand the built in maps that Onward comes with are fantastic, and come with a variety of spawn points and objective locations to keep them fresh. While the custom maps might show some promise over time, so far what the community has created so far has not surpassed Onward’s original maps.

Onward does have a better Singleplayer experience than Contractors does, with two game modes. Hunt, where you must defeat all AI enemies on the map, or Evac, where you must fight off or evade waves of enemies and escape in a Helicopter. All in all Onward has a better single player, mostly through the virtue of slightly better AI opponents, who aren’t terribly lifelike, but at least take cover sometimes and shoot straight. Still, the Singleplayer is not enough on its own, except as a nice warm up and a decent couple of hours of AI stomping.

Weapons and Loadouts

What is a shooter without a ton of weapons to shoot and customize? Well in this category Onward outshines Contractors.

There are more possibilities for customization in Onward, where in Contractors you get some choices like what weapon to take and whether or not to use a foregrip or silencer. Contractors also has a few optics to choose from depending on the weapon, though the options to choose from are very limited.

Contractors does also offer a choice between light, medium and heavy armors. The thinking being that more armor means slower movement, and less armor means faster movement. Not to mention the grenades and melee weapons there are to choose from. Meanwhile Onward offers more viable variations of loadouts depending on the situation, or player preference.

In Onward there is a greater variety of options to play around with. You can choose between AP and FMJ ammunition, whether to take extra body armor, or extra healing items. Night vision is an option for night maps, and so are lasers and flashlights on your weapon. Bipods are an option in addition to foregrips. There are riot shields and RPGs available, or even an underbarrel grenade launcher on a couple of weapons. You can take a flying drone for scouting, and put C4 on it for the classic exploding drone technique.

The options you have to customize your loadouts in Onward are far beyond what Contractors offers, and the slower pace of gameplay makes optimizing your loadout and playing with all of the options very rewarding. There are four roles to be taken in Onward, Rifleman, Specialist, Support, and Sniper. Some weapons and gear are shared between them, and some are role exclusive. Each role gets two loadout slots for a total of eight loadouts.

Contractors only gives you five loadouts (though there are another 5 for the World War 2 Game Mode) and each can use any weapon. As for those weapons, while there seems to be a wide variety, you will quickly find that some are just not as good as others.

What the current meta is becomes apparent quickly when you see what weapons you get killed by in public lobbies. Some weapons are just much better at killing opponents faster than others, so the worse weapons just never get used once you realize they are terrible. In Contractors you will find that only one or two weapons in each category are actually useful, which means there is less variety than there seems to be.

Not only that, but the sound and feeling of firearms is different between the two games, and once more Onward outshines Contractors. The weapons in Contractors really need better sounds, suppressed or unsuppressed they sound like Airsoft guns.

In Onward each weapon has a respectable report that sounds much closer to an actual gunshot, and bullets will snap as they pass near your head, while in Contractors you only notice you’re being shot when your screen goes red.

While the weapons in Contractors have a variety of spray patterns and recoil, you will generally be firing them at close range and fully automatic to try and spray down your opponent as quickly as possible. Onward has many maps with wide open spaces (such as Downfall) that require careful aiming and encourage sniping. Sniper rifles are rarely very good in Contractors. The recoil of weapons in Onward makes firing full auto at anything other than close ranges more difficult, and overall feels more like firing an actual gun than an airsoft gun.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the breakdown of Onward VS Contractors on the Oculus Quest 2. Each outshines the other in some areas, so whichever sounds better is totally up to you, though you definitely might enjoy both of them.

One final thing to note is that Contractors more consistently receives large updates that adds more modification options, gameplay improvements, and gameplay modes than Onward does. While these updates are not all super stellar and vary in quality and scope, they have been consistently making Contractors a better game and a greater contender.

Onward has not been receiving the same frequency of updates, and for the past year or so has been pretty stagnant in terms of new features and content. Maybe Downpour Interactive is just working on something big using Onward assets, but if they don’t start updating their game soon they threaten being left in the dust by Contractors. Only time will tell.

Whichever you pick, have fun in VR, and enjoy yourself.

You can get Onward on the Oculus Quest store for 24.99$. Contractors can be found there for 19.99$.

7 Best VR Games for Sniping on the Meta Quest 2

Sniping has long been a sacred art among those who enjoy first person shooters. Sniping well takes skill, speed, patience, and great map knowledge to do well. Being a sniper also requires precision in singleplayer and multiplayer games. For an enthusiast of Virtual Reality gaming or the Meta Quest 2, you may be wondering, what games give you a great sniping experience? Well here they are, broken down from not so good, to the best on the platform for an aspiring sharpshooter. Staring with number 7.

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7. Resident Evil 4 VR

You may not think of Resident Evil 4 VR as a sniping game, and you’d largely be right. It is full of tight corridors, twisting hallways, and a bunch of Ganados very intent on getting in close and eating your face. On the other hand a bolt action, and later semi automatic, sniper rifle is available in this game. They are very powerful, and very satisfying to get headshots with. As a Ganados’s head will explode when it takes such massive damage.

There are a few sections in Resident Evil 4 VR where the combat arena is large and the enemies are far enough away that you can use the sniper rifle effectively. These areas come often enough to give Resident Evil VR a slot on this list, since the Meta Quest 2 has a limited selection of games involving sniper rifles (for now). Mostly, however, the sniper rifles work great here as improvised one shot kill shotguns instead of long range weapons.

6. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners

Ah, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is such a great VR game that shows what Virtual Reality games can be. It has a large number of guns, but only one that seems like it could be considered a sniper rifle. That would be the Bolt Action Rifle, which can be unlocked a few levels into the game, or found in the ruins of New Orleans if you know where to look. Like in most games this rifle is hard hitting and difficult to load. Especially difficult in this case, as the bolt is extremely janky and not very well implemented, which is a thing not often said about The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners.

Overall there are not many sections that seem much like sniping sections, with the exception of one level in the Aftershocks free DLC that gives the player a view of a battlefield through a window, and a free rifle just sitting there. Hunting season for sure, and very satisfying for sniping. Otherwise there isn’t even a scope for the bolt action rifle, or for any other firearms in the game.

Still, we’ll count The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners as a sniping game, mostly because the AI, human or zombie, needs to get really close to actually notice you. This gives plenty of chances for hiding, shooting, and scooting even from close range. A scope isn’t really needed, and the gameplay can still scratch a sniper’s itch.

5. Population: One

Population: One is the Fortnite of VR, though it is smaller in scope and, luckily, nobody is capable of building an entire apartment complex in the span of 5 seconds. Just like Fortnite there are plenty of sniper rifles in Population: One.

Just like in Fortnite they are far from the best weapons in the game, and in fact aren’t used very often due to their lack of power when compared to other weapons. An assault rifle can hit a target from medium range and do damage much more quickly than a sniper rifle, because the sniper needs to have its bolt cycled after every shot. So assault rifles and SMGs tend to get a lot more love than sniper rifles do in Population: One.

That all being said sniper rifles are the only long range option, and their bullets can be accurate pretty far away. Still, unless an enemy player is already at dangerously low health, it’s not a one shot kill. Also, they are notoriously difficult to aim when compared to sniper rifles in other games. Looking down the scope of a sniper rifle in Population: One is particularly hard, and until you get a lot of practice it can feel like you are aiming at something properly and missing it for no reason.

4. Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond

Now we are getting into the territory of proper sniping games. Though in Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond only expect to find sniper rifles in the singleplayer. It would be a mystery why you would still be playing the multiplayer of this game at all, but if you do don’t expect to get any sniper kills. The singleplayer of Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond features a couple of different sniper rifles, and due to its World War 2 setting, all are bolt action.

Cycling the bolts on those weapons is pretty smooth, and so is looking down their scopes. The impact of the rifle doesn’t feel, with most enemies later on in the game just shrugging those rounds off and continuing to run around. Though sometimes you can still get a very satisfying looking headshot. Also, the sim-like faces of the enemies aren’t super fun to stare at through an optic.

Most combat in Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is done up close or at medium range. Though there are a few segments where sniping is practically the only option, or is heavily encouraged. These segments are great if you love sniping, like one memorable part where you defend a French village from atop a bombed out church. Still, if sniping is all you’re after then Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond will leave you wanting more.

The same can be said for just about every other category you could put on a World War 2 shooter. In all aspects Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond only delivers a little of what you desire.

3. Contractors

Contractors is a multiplayer shooter that is fast paced and encourages quick fights with fast respawn times and objectives. It is the Call of Duty of Virtual Reality. Just like in Call of Duty the sniping is pretty good, but not the best. The game is pretty fast paced, and so you’ll get enemy players sneaking up behind you a lot, so you need to move constantly just like they will. So you can’t really hold down one spot for long. That could be a good or bad thing depending on who you ask.

As for the weaponry there is a huge variety of guns you can attach long range scopes to. Even Assault rifles have optics that reach two or four times magnification. Weapons intended for sniping, like the M1A, pack a lot of punch and are very accurate. The scopes themselves are intuitive to use and don’t have that annoying quality of constantly floating in and out of your vision like those in Population: One.

That all being said the maps of Contractors do not have many areas that encourage sniping, because they tend to be closed in and favor short or medium range combat. There are a few spots on some maps that are great for sniping on, but those are not common.

2. Onward

If you’re looking for a multiplayer Virtual Reality game to become an expert sniper in, Onward is it. Where Contractors is the Call of Duty of Virtual Reality, Onward is the more thoughtful and slower cousin. It’s sort of like Ready or Not or Squad, or even Counter Strike: Global Offensive. Each team is small and each player is taken down very easily with only a few hits. With a sniper rifle even a single hit is easily fatal, and wow are the sniper rifles good.

They’re modern, and have a wide variety of addons and scopes to choose from. If you want to have a 4x optic for sniping, but a small collimator on the side for up close conflict, that’s possible. As with all weapons in Onward the sniper rifles have great detail, and feel responsive and intuitive to use. There’s even a bipod for some rifles.

Landing a shot gives immediate results. Sniper rifles are powerful, and landing a hit is very satisfying. Due to the slow pace of the game there are many opportunities to set up in a position, or change positions after firing off a few rounds. Communication with your teammates via your shoulder radio can also give you good opportunities to find out where your opponents are hiding.

On top of that most Onward maps feature multiple open areas, where a single sniper can easily take out enemy team members as they try to pass through. Unlike other games Onward gives a sniper many opportunities to take long shots and make full use of their chosen rifle.

With great weapon variety and choices, great weapon feel, and a great selection of maps to choose from, Onward is the best multiplayer experience for sniping.

1. Sniper Elite VR

Unlike all of these other games, Sniper Elite VR, like the name says, is focused on sniping. That is really what makes it a sniper’s paradise in Virtual Reality. The vast majority of weapons are sniper rifles, and the vast majority of areas are geared toward sniping. Enemies are far away and there are ample spots to shoot from. Areas are very often wide open and encourage the use of a scoped weapon.

Sure there are SMGs and Pistols to use as well in Sniper Elite VR, but here they are the weapons that are only used occasionally, as the sniper rifle is in all of these other games. Very often sniping will be the main objective of a map, and sniping is always the way to get the most points and to dispatch enemies the quickest. A soldier that might take an entire burst from an SMG to kill can easily be taken down with a single sniper bullet.

For more on the game in general, check out our review. Though if you like sniping you certainly won’t be disappointed in Sniper Elite VR. The only drawback is that sometimes the rifles feel a little floaty, and move too easily with a slight twitch of your hand. Otherwise they handle beautifully, and the scopes feel realistic and straightforward to look through and aim with.

For a singleplayer sniper experience, Sniper Elite VR cannot be beaten. For an experience focused on snipers, sniping, and sniper rifles in VR, there is nothing else like it.

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How Does Onward’s Singleplayer Hold Up?

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Onward is a slow paced tactical shooter by Downpour Interactive. Generally when you hear about Onward, you hear about the Multiplayer mode. Tense firefights where a single well placed shot can mean victory or demise. A great VOIP system done via local chat and an in game radio your entire team can hear. Small team combat where caution and quickness mean victory. Fun stuff for those so inclined, and if that is what you are looking for in a VR shooter then Onward is definitely your game. Especially on the Oculus Quest 2, with no cord to encumber the player, it is one hell of an experience when compared to shooters on more traditional platforms.

Onward does give you the ability to play against bot enemies on any of its Multiplayer maps. However, Onward’s Singleplayer mode is often overlooked. Why is that? Is Onward worthy of being considered a Singleplayer title as well as a Multiplayer one?

Oh, and in addition to the game modes listed here Onward recently added the Mercenary Game Mode!

Mode #1: Hunt

There are two Singleplayer modes in Onward, Hunt and Evac, which come in a range of difficulty modes. Hunt is straightforward. A certain amount of enemies, selected before the start button is pressed, are spawned on the map. Shoot them all to death to win.

Just as in a Multiplayer game of Onward you can select your loadout for the fight, but this time with a whopping 18 points to work with. Grab some night vision, body armor, all the attachments you could want. Go nuts. Singleplayer is a great place to have fun with equipment you might not try in Multiplayer, or to find out which weapons you like the most.

Hunt matches tend to follow a formula. Wander around for a little while until you encounter enemies, they always come in pairs of twos. Shoot them, and all of your AI opponents on the map are alerted to exactly what your position is, and will come straight for you. Here there are basically two options. Either hold your ground and try to shoot all of them before they overwhelm or flank you. Otherwise run away and try to ambush them while they close in on the last noise you made, rinse and repeat until either you lose a gunfight or all of the enemies are deceased.

Standing your ground is straightforward, and if all of the AI enemies come at you from one direction, can be awfully easy. Running and gunning is definitely more challenging, and it can be very fun to trick the AI by shooting from one position, scrambling to another, and shooting them in the back while they run to where they think you are.

All in all Hunt is straightforward. You can jack up the amount of enemies and put them on Rookie mode to have a fun time mowing them down in masses, or turn their difficulty to the maximum and see if you can outshoot them without dying instantly. Be careful if there are too few enemies on the map. You may end up wandering in circles trying to find where they spawned, and it is tedious.

Also be mindful of your ammunition. Onward doesn’t let you know how many bullets are left in a magazine, and when against a lot of enemies it is awfully easy to run out of rounds before they run out of bodies to throw at you. There are some stashes around the maps with spares, but not many.

Mode #2: Evac

Evac’s premise is much more interesting than Hunt. Where in Hunt you are meant to wipe out all of the enemies, in Evac they are infinite, and they are there to wipe out you. When starting an Evac game you will be placed in one of a few predetermined locations on the map, and after a brief minute pairs of enemies will spawn around you and immediately close in on your position.

Hold out for long enough and a Helicopter will fly in. Now enemies that spawn will run towards the Helicopter to cut you off. You need to change up your plan and run away from the defensible position you’ve been hiding in. Go too quickly and you might get shot down while in the open. Go too slowly and more enemies will spawn, making your trip that much harder.

Make it into the Helicopter to escape and win.

Evac definitely has more creativity to it than Hunt does. There are two distinct sections of the game, hold out, and then run to safety, with different ways of approaching them. Early on you can roam around as you might in Hunt, trying to hide more than fight, or hunker down in a good spot and let your opponents come at you. When running to the chopper you can try to make it there quickly, or carefully clear corners and methodically make your way there. Whether you are low on ammunition might also help this decision.

Either way it can all be over in an instant, so every move counts. In this way Onward’s Singleplayer is similar to its Multiplayer modes. The shooting is tense and over quickly, so quick shots and quick reflexes are King. The AI opponents, depending on their difficulty, can also not hit the broad side of a barn, or accurately give you a lobotomy at a thousand yards.

The AI

Speaking of that AI, they will see you extremely quickly, even when the whole map isn’t alerted after the first shots are fired. Onward’s Singleplayer is just as much as test of reflexes and shooting skill as in Multiplayer, the opponents are just much worse at taking cover and acting tactically. Generally they will just walk straight towards where they think you are, and stand still while firing once they see you. They’re not very clever, and often will just walk right to where you are clearly waiting in ambush.

Their strength is in their numbers and their ability to surprise you from behind, because you have nobody to watch your back. Their other strength is to occasionally shoot you with instant precision. It really depends, and sometimes feels a little cheap. All in all they show no tactics and coordination. Their weapons also vary, though any weapon can hit you reliably at any range. It comes down to the difficulty selection. Rookie is ridiculously easy, but even Experienced can cause instant death.

Maps

The experience of Singleplayer Onward can vary, just as in Multiplayer, on which map you pick. Some, like Downfall, will heavily emphasize long ranged fighting due to it being so large and with few sight obstacles.

Others, like Subway, Cargo, or Suburbia, are very claustrophobic and much more entertaining for quick and up close gunplay. Picking the right map for how you want to play the game is very important. Otherwise you might bring an MP5 to an SKS fight.

In Conclusion/TLDR

At the end of the day there’s some fun to be had in Onward’s Singleplayer modes, but that well dries up quickly. With only two modes to play and uninteresting AI opponents it has difficulty standing up on its own. On the other hand it is a great place to play with loadouts and possibly have a bit of Onward’s superb shooting when you don’t have the time or patience for Multiplayer. It’s also great practice for reflexes and shooting accurately.

Though at the end of the day it only really serves as practice for the core of the game, Multiplayer. Onward is a Multiplayer focused game and that is where it truly shines.

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Onward is available on Steam as well as the Oculus Store for 24.99. Updates are often added to the game including new Maps and other options. Maybe one day there will be more to Singleplayer, but not for now.