Joy Way celebrates the one-year anniversary of its high-octane VR platformer with a handful of major updates.
STRIDE is a fast-paced VR game that has you navigating a futuristic city by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, sliding down ledges, crashing through windows, and swinging on hooks; all the while battling hordes of faceless enemies determined to kill your flow. To help celebrate the one-year anniversary of this high-octane VR parkour game, developer Jow Way has launched its major Global 9.0 update, introducing new locations, cosmetics, and a variety of major gameplaying improvements!
There was even a multiplayer mode you could play with friends or random players around the globe. That feature has since been disabled so that Joy Way can apply some additional polish and deliver the STRIDE multiplayer experience you deserve. The company is also working on a dedicated story mode that will have you going toe-to-toe with a dangerous criminal organization.
STRIDE currently features a variety of game modes:
- Arena Mode – Explore an open world environment while completing a variety of objective-based missions. Before each round you can customize your experience using a handful of game modifiers. The latest update allows you to remove enemies and objectives all-together, turning the nerve-wracking action game into a laidback parkour experience.
- Time Run – Race against the clock as you navigate various obstacle courses composed of rootops, abandoned offices, and more. This game mode is all about precision and speed.
- Endless Mode – Struggle to stay ahead of an encroaching black hole by successfully navigating a variety of obstacles in a “never-ending” game mode that tests your shooting, hand-to-hand combat, and parkour skills.
This latest update comes in two forms: one for the Oculus Quest headsets and one for PC VR. Both are nearly identical in terms of content. That said there are a few differences between the two.
Oculus Quest (as provided by Joy Way):
- New in-door locations for Arena Mode.
- New achievements and cosmetic items that include completely new gun models for you to choose from.
- Brand new voiceovers from your enemies will have them shouting at you using different phrases based on your actions.
- An improved enemy AI.
- When enemies throw a grenade at you, you can catch them and throw them back. Just be quick!
- Your weapons will flash when fired for more realism.
- Arena mode will now let you freerun to practice or just enjoy the awesome city landscape view.
- Some smaller bug fixes.
Steam and Viveport (PC VR):
- Every improvement on the Quest version.
- A completely reworked tutorial to make it more VR newbie-friendly.
- Completely redesigned game modes.
- An updated rating system.
- Reworked graphics.
- Improved gunplay.
- New interactive elements such as openable doors and breakable windows.
- Melee combat!
- An achievement system.
- Skins for your guns, gloves and your hookshot that are unlocked by completing certain achievements and from participating in future events.
- Improved player hands.
- 2 new difficulty levels for Endless Mode: Harmless and Expert. This will make it easy for first-times and will challenge any Stride veteran!
- New sections for the Endless Mode generation pool.
- New enemies for Endless Mode that include a battle drone that will drop three different types of mines to stop you.
- New power-ups!
Both versions of the update will also deliver new modifiers so you can customize gameplay even further.
The creators of STRIDE did want to mention one thing. Recently, Joy Way transitioned the game to Unreal Engine v4.27, which, unfortunately, broke the game code. The team has since managed to repair most of the game, though some lighting and contrast issues in Endless and Time Run mode still exist. That said, if you prefer graphics over gameplay, the previous version of the game is still available through their beta branch on Steam.
The company is working hard to resolve the smaller issues and will have them fixed as soon as possible.
Joy Way says there are even bigger things coming down the pipeline, including the return of multiplayer as well as the aforementioned Story mode.
STRIDE is available now for $14.99 on Steam, Oculus Quest, Viveport, and soon for Playstation VR.
If you’d like to stay up-to-date on STRIDE and Joy Way, you can check out their website here. You can also follow the team on Twitter, Discord, Facebook, and Reddit to be part of the discussion.
Feature Image Credit: Joy Way
