Assassin's Creed fans, who hasn't wondered when we'd get close to having technology that immerses you in another reality, just like the Animus? VR games may not "pull" you into a memory, but it's a small step that allows you to experience another world from another perspective. It's a different experience that I recommend to everyone! Anyway, let's get down to business.

Gameplay, immersion, and comfort

I'd like to start with the points I found most interesting in the game, beginning with the way Ubisoft managed to explore the possibilities of Meta Quest very well and bring very intuitive gameplay that fits like a glove for a game like Assassin's Creed.



I believe that one of the most crucial points for a VR game to be even remotely attractive and fun is to have intuitive and fluid controls, and this is present in AC Nexus VR in a solid way. Climbing objects, pulling out your sword, throwing knives or hidden blade, all the options are completely natural and spontaneous movements. Not to mention the combat, which, although it's not as dynamic and the AI pattern is very simple, it's a lot of fun to be able to block enemies with a sword in one hand and, with the other hand, draw the hidden blade - it's really fun to draw the blade just like the assassins in the game - and stick it in the air. Assassins in the game - and stick it in your opponent's head. Or perform an aerial assassination. Throwing knives is also fun, from pulling the blade out of your equipment to throwing it. It's all well put together and fun in VR.

Another aspect of AC that harmonizes with VR and the developers are taking it in a direction that I think is great is map exploration and collecting collectibles. It's certainly much more fun to look for objects and loots when you can interact with the scenery, opening drawers, chests, and cupboards - more than that, when the controller works, and you don't have to struggle to open the drawer, you just go and open it! It's satisfying to explore and poke around in things - etc.



I feel that some casual games, minigames, and puzzles fit perfectly well in virtual reality. An example of this, in AC Nexus VR, is the little hacks you have to do on the Animus to access certain memories. These were extremely common puzzles, but being able to visualize them in 3D, touch the points, and place them where they should be with "your own hands" made them very fun and satisfying to do.

Some of these trivial points that are not given much importance in conventional games (other than VR) should be explored more in virtual reality, in my opinion. They give a huge immersion and bring fun to points that if you were only looking at a screen and playing with a controller or keyboard might not be so much fun.



All this contributes to a better immersion. But what about comfort? Because whether you like it or not, when it comes to virtual reality, you have to pay attention to how the user feels being inside the other universe. There's not much point in having incredible graphics and super-fun gameplay if the player can't stay in the game for 30 minutes without getting sick. In this respect, finally, Ubisoft Red Storm is also very good and has not only brought the game with various comfort settings to suit users and their different needs and issues but has also managed to create a reality that is stable enough not to cause me motion sickness even in immersive mode. Of course, each person has their individualities, but I think Assassin's Creed Nexus VR is pretty solid on the comfort front, too.

Narrative and audiovisual art

Now to talk a little about the game's art and start with the graphics: if you compare it to the other releases in the Assassin's Creed franchise, Nexus will certainly look weak. However, we must remember that it's a mobile VR game, so we can consider that the visuals look pretty good. What enchanted me most of the time was when I had to fiddle with the Animus HUDs and everything seemed very technological - it made me feel like a child, all impressed, remembering when I saw Iron Man fiddling with his holographic menus and dying to see something like that in real life -.



As for the game's audio, I have no criticism whatsoever! The surroundings and ambiance were great, in harmony with the visuals and with very good spatial sound effects. The soundtracks are up to AC standard, without taking too many risks, but with no mistakes either. The dubbing, not to mention! Ubisoft's voice acting is always top-notch and this is no different - the original dubbing of Ezio Auditore da Firenze is always a hit.

Finally, when it comes to the narrative, I confess that it was the point that impressed me the least about the game. You relive the memories of the three legendary assassins Ezio Auditore, Connor, and Kassandra sometime after their adventures in the previous games. I feel that the story of Nexus has been created for players who are already familiar with the franchise. In this sense, I don't think it's a game that will win over new players. Even more so because, as I said earlier, the narrative was the thing that least captivated and won me over out of all the other points in the game - I was much more focused on throwing candelabras and bottles, pointing at NPCs' faces, opening drawers, climbing walls and murdering Templars -. Still, that's not to say that Nexus' storyline is bad, it's just the point that shines the least in the whole context.

For this review, Assassin's Creed Nexus VR was played on the Meta Quest 2 platform. We would also like to thank Ubisoft for making the game available to us and enabling this content to be created.

Reviewed and Translated by Diego Lourenço