Immerse yourself in bygone eras: The latest »Assassin's Creed« is one of the best VR adventures

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A battle above the rooftops of Venice: The key is to parry enemy attacks and attack yourself at the right moment

Photograph:

Ubisoft

How was my week? Well, first I picked locks and jostled passers-by in ancient Greece, in 405 BC. Then, in 1509, in the Italian Renaissance, I jumped over the rooftops of Venice and illegally set off fireworks during the day. And after that, I kidnapped a British general during the American Revolution, in 1777. And okay, let's not kid ourselves: One or two contract killings were also on my to-do list. That's what it's like when you take on the role of three of the best assassins in video game history.

The new »Assassin's Creed Nexus VR« is the first virtual reality spin-off of the world-famous series. More than 200 million copies of »Assassin's Creed« have already been sold since 2007, sometimes they were action-adventures, sometimes more role-playing games. What connected the series parts was that they took the player to interesting historical places where there were all kinds of main and side missions to do - assassination attempts included.

Until now, you usually controlled your digital assassin via gamepad and looked over his shoulder from behind. »Nexus VR« is now available exclusively for Meta's Quest 2, Quest 3 and Quest Pro virtual reality glasses. You can now experience the game in a headset and from a first-person perspective. You probably haven't felt so much in the middle of it in any »Assassin's Creed« before.

Physically, the game is also more demanding than the usual series parts. I peer around the corner with a movement of my head, and bend down to pick up digital objects. For climbing, I hold up my quest controllers and pretend to pull myself up on the virtual ledges. To shoot an arrow, I use the controller to draw the bow. I can crouch at the touch of a button or by really crouching. And I must have hit furniture or the ceiling lamp five times while swinging my arm – in attacks with the sword or the tomahawk.

Retro charm, you might say

I tested »Nexus VR« on the Quest 3. But even though these are Meta's very latest VR glasses, I often felt like I had landed in the middle of a ten-year-old video game while playing – which is charmingly surreal and a shame at the same time.

In terms of graphics, the development team had to make compromises with »Nexus VR«, as the game runs directly on the VR glasses, without the extra power of a gaming PC or game console. With that in mind, I'd say that not all of the environments in the game are pretty to look at, but I enjoyed exploring most of the places because the atmosphere there was exciting. Of course, the game's graphics aren't up to par with the latest PC and console titles in the series, from the level of detail to individual textures.

Under the auspices of the Ubisoft Red Storm studio, not every detailseems to have been important to the creators: For example, figures float in the air when climbing stairs and the depictions of passers-by are sometimes so lacking in variation that figures walk next to each other with the same face. Most of the enemies, for example security guards, behave quite stupidly in the tradition of older computer games, both when guarding treasures and buildings, as well as in combat.

Almost no moments of frustration

However, it didn't ruin the fun of the game for me. In about ten hours – the credits are slowly coming into sight – I had a lot of fun traveling to visually varied locations such as Venice, Athens and Boston. There were almost no moments of frustration, which is also due to the fact that »Nexus VR« prefers to take the player by the hand more than too little, with target markers or tips for puzzles. In addition, there are fairly set save points and the option to adjust the difficulty level at any time if necessary.

The typical gameplay loop is quickly internalized: As an elite hacker, you are immersed in memories of the assassins Ezio Auditore, Kassandra and Connor, who are known from the series - which is framed by a not-so-interesting science fiction narrative typical of the series. Almost every one of the 16 story chapters leads to a new mini-open world that can be freely explored. In Italy, Greece or the United States, it is then necessary to get to know the new environment with scouting or theft tasks. And every now and then the whole thing boils down to an act of revenge or a special murder, sometimes in spectacular settings such as a well-filled Venetian church.

The trick is to act unnoticed

How you proceed with the missions is largely up to you: you can fight your way through streets, tunnels or temples with weapons. Often, however, you can sneak past enemies. Another option is to dodge upwards by climbing walls. An auxiliary system then makes it quite easy to jump from roof to roof like a course – or, as is a typical feature of the series, to plunge headfirst from a great height into a haystack.

Most of the game elements go well, from climbing to sword fighting. In the latter, you have to parry attacks with the right controller movements and then strike yourself at the right moment. This is not particularly exciting in the long run, as many opponents always reel off the same movement sequences. The bigger challenge in »Assassin's Creed«, however, is to overpower enemies from behind before they even suspect that danger is imminent.

For series connoisseurs, »Nexus VR« offers hardly anything new. The feeling of being in the middle of the action that comes with the VR experience still makes the game something special. For example, I found it more nerve-wracking to escape as quickly as possible after a knife attack in front of everyone in VR than on the TV screen.

However, it must be emphasized that how immersive the game is depends heavily on the individual settings. The developers have rightly put a lot of effort into giving players an adventure that won't make them sick right away. There are a total of four game variants, which differ, for example, in whether your own character moves by embroidery movement or by teleportation.

A variety of helpful options

As a VR-savvy gamer, I spent most of my time on Moderate, the second lowest of four comfort levels. My field of vision was slightly limited when I moved, and a small virtual nose was displayed. I never got sick, even though I was constantly walking around with a stick. I only had a sinking feeling in my stomach during the very first jumps down from rooftops. Commendable: There are several sub-options for such falls. Players with a fear of heights, for example, can have a grid displayed that makes it clear where in the room the real floor is.

In addition to such options, what I appreciated about »Nexus VR« is its clear focus on core gameplay. It doesn't try anything that it can't do to some extent. For example, the game has side quests such as obstacle course challenges and various collection options, but it didn't force them on me. And I could just skip scenes that bored me – the dialogues of this game don't tend to win any awards.

Even managing the inventory, which is almost always annoying in VR games, is not necessary in »Nexus VR«, because there is no classic inventory at all. This way, you won't be tempted to pack a lot of virtual items and carry them around senselessly, as in other games. Role-playing elements such as dialogue options, experience points or character development arcs are also nowhere to be found. Although you will gain new abilities as you progress through the game, this happens automatically.

A good game at a fair price

The bottom line is that »Nexus VR« is a rather simple »Assassin's Creed«, but its mechanics work well in VR. And I'd rather sneak and do gymnastics through nice little worlds for a dozen hours under a headset than torture myself through elongated epics like "Odyssey" or "Valhalla". In addition, the VR game is fairly priced at 40 euros.

For me, »Nexus VR« is one of the best VR adventure games ever, somewhere between the fantastic »Half-Life: Alyx« and other entertaining titles like the two »The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners« games. For me, it also outshines Sony's "Horizon Call of the Mountain", which may soon be able to call itself the "best VR game of the year". The prestige title of the Playstation VR 2 looks more chic, but »Nexus VR« offers more freedom and variety in terms of gameplay. It's a matter of honour for the Assassin that I'll also be able to complete the last open missions in it.