This year has been particularly big for virtual reality titles, with Valve's Half-Life: Alyx winning Best VR/AR at The Game Awards 2020 as a stand-out even among titles such as Media Molecule's Dreams and Motive Studios' Star Wars: Squadrons. Another highly anticipated VR game coming into December was Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, though its reception has been middling due to some issues the development team is planning to address.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was announced in September 2019 as a collaborative project between Oculus and Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment, promising an "epic AAA experience" to revive a franchise which had been dormant since 2012. The game includes a single-player campaign taking users through Europe during World War 2, multiplayer modes, as well as "powerful interviews with survivors and veterans of the Second World War."
Though this promises a good amount of content for the historically-focused $60 VR game, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond currently has a "Mixed" reception with 437 reviews on Steam, as players cite performance issues, a lack of features such as smooth turning, and more. Luckily for fans, Oculus Studios executive producer Mike Doran took to the r/oculus subreddit on December 11 to announce a first patch expected to hit the game and address some of these issues "early next week."
Based on community feedback, Doran said the first patch will add smooth turning, make it so a victory screen does not appear between every level, unlock Gallery content for all players immediately, and fix "weapon grabbing issues" in Quartermaster mode. There will also be an unannounced set of bug fixes and quality of life improvements, though it is currently unclear if any further additions will expand Above and Beyond's 170GB storage requirement.
After the first patch goes live, Doran said the team will be working on another patch, though he does not want to share any specific details until the plan is "more concrete." However, the developer does discuss potential future fixes in the post and its comments, such as adding additional visual scaling options or possibly including an option to remove the player's chest model when looking down.
When Reddit user Derekd23 asked whether optimization patches will come alongside graphical options, Doran said those have the biggest potential to break the game and cause instability. "We are trying to focus the first few patches on lower risk things that we can safely deploy fast," Doran said. "Beyond that, we'll see." Hopefully, the game's imminent first patch will help fans enjoy features like Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond's multiplayer and its historical documentaries all the more.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is available now on PC.
Source: Steam