Back during the Meta Games Showcase, Ubisoft surprised a great many people by announcing a new Assassin’s Creed title and even more that it would be in VR. While the name might have you thinking about the Assassin’s Creed Infinity, Nexus is actually a full game, where for the first-time players will be able to see the world of the assassins, from the point of view of Kassandra, Connor Kenway and my favourite Ezio Auditore

As this is a VR title, the game will place you into the position of the selected assassin, which means a first-person view, a first for the series. It will also be the first time that players will be able to complete actions that they will have seen the characters do previously after a button was pressed. Perhaps the most important aspect of Nexus is that this is not a best of collection, where you relive some moments from the three characters, but rather these are all-new, untold stories and they are all connected. There is a reason for it and sadly it does connect back to Abstergo, the in-game company that lets ‘modern’ people relive the memories of their ancestors. This time the company is looking for a device that will let them know everything about a person, in order to influence them into undertaking certain actions or even shifting a point of view to align with their Templar beliefs.

That connects back to why these three Assassin’s, as during their adventures the three of them encountered the various pieces that make up this device and Abstergo wants them. Thankfully, you are not a willing pawn in the schemes of Abstergo, but rather someone who has gone undercover to sabotage the project from within, while still using the animus to locate the pieces. As for the settings, Ezio will still be set within the 15th century, Connor will find himself immersed in a world of espionage, intrigue and lies. Kassandra will have her story take place in Athens, during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants, a pro-spartan oligarchy that used their time in power to remove those who would oppose them, steal citizens property and kill over 5% of the cities population.

All that sounds great and as someone who loves a good story and history, I am all for it, but Assassin’s Creed has a few key tenants that make up its core, parkour being one of them. The team behind the game understand this and are bringing in the term ‘open-maps’, in where players will be able to scale all the buildings and locations that they want to. The locations are not linear, meaning if you want to go around the outside of a building, to see if you can find a new way in, you can do that. It also means if you want to run right at the front gate, you can try that as well, you are unlikely to succeed however. Open-maps means that you can get stuck in combat from almost any angle and the team have you covered there as well, specifically with the games use of controls.

Anyone who has played any game in the series 15-year history, even mobile or DS entries, will understand that every Assassin has a hidden blade. Here all you need to do is flick your wrist to deploy it, as the game makes full use of the VR controller. If you are in a position where the blade can’t help you, simply reach down your waste to grab the axe or sword and then using 1-to-1 actions, replicate actual techniques of fighting. For those who seek to take enemies out from a distance, just reach up and over your shoulder to grab your bow, notch an arrow and pull back, before you let go and see it take off. The game will let you approach combat how you want, should you want to climb up high to survey then take a leap of faith down to the ground before you fight, you can do that too.

That brings up one very big question, for a game that is full of free motion, how will the game behave for people who suffer from vertigo or other motion-based issues. While you can freely explore the worlds, the team have taken their years of experience in VR to ensure that players can enjoy the game, no matter their requirements. One such addition is Teleport Locomotion, which is not a dub-step version of a Kylie Minogue song, but rather then option to point to locations and then just be there. This also applied to climbing and parkour events, so those players who suffer from motion sickness, can avoid that by using this. Another aspect being included is vignetting for peripheral vision blocking, which is just a fancy way of saying they will fade the game out on the edges, to help keep you focused. Clearly climbing to the top of a tower like in Assassin’s Creed 2 and then leaping off into a pile of hay 15m below, is going to be a very different experience in VR and the team have options for those people who suffer from heights.

So, there you go, the first details on Assassin’s Creed Nexus and everything has me excited. Not only do I get more time with Ezio, but this new way of experiencing the world of Assassin’s Creed means that for the first time, I can take a real leap of faith. The story sounds intriguing and while they could have done this as a best of moments, the fact that they are bringing a new series of events into the world is exciting. The suite of VR accessibility features is impressive and while I don’t have any issues in VR, hopefully they will stop me from replicating Johnny English. There is no release date for the game as of yet and so far, its only for Meta Quest 2 and with Meta Quest 3 being fully backwards compatible at launch, there as well. But once we know more details, we will be sure to share them.