17 October 2023 , 16:00
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Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR has been a long time coming but mostly looks to be worth the wait.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise is so all-encompassing by this point, that it’s surprising to see Ubisoft take this long to give its most recognisable video game franchise the virtual reality treatment. Heck, in the time since VR headsets like the original PSVR and Meta Quest have been released, we’ve been subject to not one, but two (pretty good) versions of Resident Evil 4. Slaying zombies in VR is a relatively common occurrence, however, and it’s only Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR that promises to let players live out the fantasy of thrusting a hidden blade in the back of an unsuspecting enemy’s neck.
After spending just over an hour with Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR at a recent preview event, I feel confident in saying that this VR spin-off is about as perfect as any long-time series fan could expect. Much of this is down to the number of problems the team at Ubisoft Red Storm Entertainment has been able to smartly solve when translating the typical acts of an assassin from a third to first-person view. Prior to starting my demo, for instance, I was slightly dreading performing the iconic Leap of Faith in VR, but by its end, I couldn’t wait to tumble into the next hay bale.
When Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR launches on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 on November 16, 2023, players will be able to jump into the threads of three familiar protagonists: Cassandra, Connor and Ezio. For my preview demo, I was only able to try out playing as the latter, which meant I had a good chunk of Venice that I was free to explore alongside a fairly standard snatch-and-grab mission, swiftly after finishing the tutorial.
By the creed
The first thing to mention is that roleplaying as an assassin in VR feels great. After just a short 10 minutes or so getting the basics down, I was crouching and sneaking around a fancy Italian manor house, picking up items and then tossing them to clear myself a safe route. When open conflict does occur, battling enemies is a simple case of waiting for them to attack and then blocking to stagger them before following up with a slash or stab. Far more interesting, though, is staying hidden long enough to get behind an enemy before flicking the wrist to unleash the classic hidden blade attack.
PSVR 2 is already losing to the Meta Quest 2 in the VR headset battle
Drawing Ezio’s sword is a simple case of grabbing down to your right-side hip, while other hallmark tools such as the crossbow, smoke bombs and throwing knives are easily accessible from different places on Ezio’s person, too. Most of these function as you’d expect, with the exception of the throwing knives which I was able to deploy always with pinpoint accuracy thanks to the degree of heroic fantasy Ubisoft is hoping to instil.
Obviously, free roaming is a major part of the Assassin’s Creed experience. And while climbing walls and buildings still boils down to looking for hand grabs (an act sped up by being able to fling yourself upwards one hand flick at a time) Ubisoft has even found a workaround to ensure that leaping over rooftops is a flow that isn’t broken in VR. All I had to do to traverse swiftly was look where I wanted to go, holding down A and the sprint button while Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR took care of the rest. Is this the most in-depth approach to climbing? No. But it sure is satisfying.
My demo culminated in a typical Assassin’s Creed tailing mission, where I had to put all the skills I’d learned to the test. Hiding in bushes, social blending amongst large groups of NPCs… all this and more worked alongside the usual roof climbing to let me keep a clear view of my target. My ultimate goal was to follow him to the location of a mask that would gain me access to a future party I’d need to infiltrate. And when I got to the chest I could either pickpocket the necessary key from a guard or lockpick it. I chose the latter to avoid detection, but it was nice to have multiple options in which to resolve the outcome.
There’s still a lot about Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR I’m curious to learn, such as how missions being segmented by chapter will impact the otherwise open-world locations, the wider story at large, but most importantly how Connor and Cassandra’s chapters will change the player move set. After all, I’m sure tomahawks and spears will handle very differently to Ezio’s sword and crossbow. How well Ubisoft has adapted the move sets of each assassin will determine how the game feels as an overall package.
For now, however, I came away impressed with how well Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR was able to translate the core assassin experience. Because, while I’m sure it would have been easy to not let players climb wherever they wanted and scale back the ambition compared to a traditional mainline entry, what I’ve been able to play so far is very much not that. My only hope is that Ubisoft eventually sees sense and eventually adds a chapter based on Assassin’s Creed Origins’ Bayek, as I can pretty much guarantee I’ll never get to clamber or slide down Egypt’s pyramids in real life.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR is scheduled to release on Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro this November 16, 2023.