“Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR” in the test: sneaked well, fought wildly

Now we are really Ezio: As the secret hero of the Renaissance, we shimmy along the eaves of his villa, swing ourselves up with heavy arms and overlook the entire village from above. Then we spread our arms and plunge into the depths. The plunge goes into the depths, into a saving haystack. Only in glasses, of course. We remain stuck in reality.

This isn’t entirely new: For over 15 years, the action-adventures of the “Assassin’s Creed” series have been sending historical heroes on a journey through time. The platform for this game has also been around for a long time. Modern virtual reality glasses have been on the market in one form or another for over ten years.

good job

But on the one hand, early VR games still revealed major problems. Many titles were about as tiring as a roller coaster ride. Dizziness and nausea were a common problem. And on the other hand, the market remained in a small niche for a long time. So there was little incentive to develop complex games for small audiences.

Slowly but surely times have changed. Glasses like the Meta Quest 2 have made VR a mass medium; The improved Quest 3 has just been released. And games like “Half-Life: Alyx” have demonstrated that big, expensive VR games work.

With “Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR” a title is now appearing that fulfills the potential. And which takes up many developments in recent years in the areas of technology and game design. “Nexus” is released today for the Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro glasses at a price of 40 euros. Especially on the 3, the game looks impressively sharp and has a level of detail that surprises us. From bread rolls to axes, the objects in the world look believable, and characters also move lifelike. But we played on the 2 for long stretches and can say: The game is less sharp here, but otherwise just as good. We didn’t notice any stuttering either; This is particularly important in VR because they can cause physical discomfort.

An “Assassin’s Creed” best-of

The story features a medley of favorites from the series. As always with “Assassin’s Creed,” there is a modern framework. We are a hacker and have to travel through different memories. As always, it’s about Templars and Assassins as two secret societies who fight each other throughout history. We infiltrate one side to help the other – if we want to.

In VR, the framework works better for us than in the games before. On the TV, the “Matrix”-like simulation rooms were rather boring. Sitting in a simulation in VR and being filled with text by realistically rendered people seems much more impressive.

But the most impressive thing in “Nexus” is the journey to historical locations. Featuring Renaissance Italy, Revolutionary USA and Ancient Greece, the game has chosen three fan-favorite scenarios. Large parts of the missions take place indoors, which look rich in detail, but at times are a bit lacking in variety and boring. “Nexus” shows its strengths in the fresh air. Here the game proves that, despite the limited processing power of Quest glasses, it can also display wide panoramas without stuttering.

Learned from the best

The Assassin’s Creed series often involves running through sprawling cityscapes, blending in with crowds, climbing over houses, striking quickly and deadly, and escaping acrobatically. Good VR games, on the other hand, often rely on slow movement and intentional interactions with the motion controllers. But “Nexus” has copied a lot from the best.

For example, climbing: The modern VR classic “Climb” has shown that simply climbing a rock face in VR can be really exciting. “Nexus” does a similar thing, but a little differently. There are more opportunities for acrobatic jumps and swings, but fewer opportunities to fall to your death. This is good because we often have several goals at the same time. We don’t just want to climb, we also want to escape, chase or eavesdrop on someone.

“Nexus” strings together slightly shorter linear missions, which fits well with the shorter gaming sessions in VR. In the end, however, the adventure is long by VR standards and we still haven’t finished it even after ten hours.

As the missions progress, many interactions are quickly introduced. At first we can mostly sneak and climb, but soon it’s all about timing when blocking enemy attacks, gadgets, throwing knives and axes, hidden blade attacks and breakneck climbing maneuvers.

Strong but stressful

The implementation is technically clean. But if you find yourself breaking out in a sweat with so many interactions under time pressure, you should think carefully about whether this game suits your interests. With its full range of action options, “Nexus” is a game for people who already have VR experience. For newbies, the learning curve is steep. However, the adventure can be credited with the fact that it implements high standards for accessibility. Not only levels of difficulty, but also visual aids against fear of heights, different methods of transportation and assistants can be used.

But at its core, “Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR” remains a stressful game. Precisely because it convincingly implements the immersive feeling of VR, it offers an intense physical experience. Anyone who plays “Nexus” rows their arms, holds on to virtual ledges, throws virtual knives and swings virtual blades. Even on the easiest difficulty and while sitting, this is more strenuous than a conventional “Assassin’s Creed” from a safe distance from the sofa. But for fans of excitement and action in VR, “Nexus” is a hit.