Near the release of the first virtual reality title in the Assassin’s Creed series, Nexus, the developers have shared an eight-minute gameplay breakdown video showing off the features.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR launches in November on Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3, and Meta Quest Pro.
Described by Ubisoft as an “all-new full-length Assassin’s Creed action-adventure game”, players are cast as a hacker working undercover on behalf of the Brotherhood for Abstergo, the modern-day front of the Templars.
From here, players will be able to experience the memories of series protagonists from time past, including Ezio Auditore, Connor, and Kassandra, in an effort to locate several artifacts they encountered in their lives.
Parkour
The gameplay overview trailer starts with a look at the classic parkour movement that made the Assassin’s Creed series famous. Creative Director David Votpyka claims the parkour, which has been featured as a core gameplay element of every entry and spin-off to date, is “so fundamental to the brand I didn’t feel like we could compromise on it.”
- Read more: How Long To Beat Assassin’s Creed Mirage?
Nexus VR provides gamers with 360 degrees of freedom, allowing them to parkour and climb their way across virtually any obstacle they encounter in first-person view.
Players can use their hands to grasp onto rooftops and other handhelds, pulling themselves up the side of structures. They can also throw themselves backward or upward. You’ve also got feet-to-feet jumps, feet-to-grab jumps, and bars to grip in order to swing across gaps; all with gestures intended to simulate real physical movement.
Stealth-First Approach
Unlike other titles in the series that make stealth an optional approach to handling enemies, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR prioritizes stealth and demands sneakiness as part of the gameplay. Players will have to peek around corners and above walls by leaning their head, or even throwing dynamic objects to cause distractions that let you slip around enemies.
Melee & Ranged Combat
The combat is mainly built around the Hidden Blade, which is dual-wielded by Connor and Ezio. This weapon is unsheathed by hitting a trigger and flicking one’s wrist, which will then let you jab it to bring enemies down.
Combat includes tomahawk fighting and sword combat, using physical gestures like blocking, dodging, and slashing to create opportunities for more damage.
Each assassin has a ranged weapon, including bows, crossbows, smoke bombs, and throwing knives. This provides room to be crafty when approaching large groups.
Comfort Features
Because of the heavy movement and fast-paced action, using full locomotion, Ubisoft concluded the presentation by showcasing some of the comfort features being added to Nexus VR.
These include a vignette system, a teleport locomotion system, tunnel vision, auto-parkour (where players simply look where they want to go and the game will do the rest), and a fear of heights feature, placing a permanent grid at your feet to remind you of the surface in the real world.