Stride: Fates is no longer a free update for the VR parkour game and will now launch as a standalone sequel on Quest and PC VR.
Initially announced as an hour-long solo campaign, Stride: Fates was also delayed a day before its planned release date last December. We got another look during June's UploadVR Summer Showcase and now publisher Joy Way confirms Fates will release separately later this year.
Promising a 5-8 hour campaign length with side quests and open-world locations, here's the official description:
Step into the shoes of a parkour spec-ops officer. Traverse and shoot your way through the rooftops and basements of dystopian Airon City - from slums to affluent skyscrapers. Deal with power shifts in gangs, dirty family feuds, corporate secrets, forbidden tech and other obstacles to understand your past.
Commenting on the change of plans, Joy Way says they "decided to go all-in" on development. It cites "technological advancement" since Stride was initially released in 2019, saying Fates' new content required "significant changes to the game engine and other technical aspects."
"With all the years of updates and introduction of multiplayer, the code base of the project has been growing larger and more convoluted. Despite several restructurings, some technical debt and restrictions are still present in the project," says the publisher.
Stride: Fates is now scheduled to arrive during the Holiday season this year on the Meta Quest platform, followed by SteamVR in 2024. While exact pricing remains unconfirmed, Joy Way states anyone who owns the original Stride on Steam will receive "an exclusive major discount" at launch.
