Despite being around for decades, it still only feels like the games industry is just scratching the surface of what virtual reality can offer. While the Meta Quest, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and PlayStation VR have been around for years now, there's still a significant lack of fully-fledged AAA VR experiences on the market, with Half-Life: Alyx and Walking Dead Saints and Sinners still being the leading examples of what's possible with VR. But Ubisoft could be about to throw another contender in the ring with Assassin's Creed Nexus.
Tentatively announced a few years ago, officially named a few weeks ago, and finally given its first trailer at the recent Ubisoft Forward showcase, Assassin's Creed Nexus has the potential to be one of the greatest VR games of all time. Following the story of someone using an Animus to locate an ancient artifact, Assassin's Creed Nexus doesn't just cover one Assassin or time period, but three, all of which are some of the most beloved characters and settings in Assassin's Creed history.
Every Assassin and Location Confirmed for Assassin's Creed Nexus So Far
Confirmed in its Ubisoft Forward gameplay trailer, Assassin's Creed Nexus will put players directly in the boots of three iconic Assassins, Ezio, Kassandra, and Connor. According to the game's Creative Director, David Votypka, Assassin's Creed Nexus' story ties together these three Assassins by having them all come into contact with a mysterious ancient artifact at one point in their lives. But on the way to that artifact, players can expect to parkour and murder their way through some iconic locations from the series' history.
Again according to the game's Creative Director, Assassin's Creed Nexus' Ezio missions will apparently take place two years after the events of Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, seemingly dropping the player into Venice. Assassin's Creed Nexus' Connor missions will take place concurrently with the events of Assassin's Creed 3, in the colonial town of Boston, meaning that players can expect to still run into plenty of British Redcoats. Finally, Assassin's Creed Nexus' Kassandra missions will jump 20 years after the events of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, taking place during the real-world historical event known as the Reign of The Thirty Tyrants, when 30 pro-Spartan leaders took control of Athens and mercilessly executed at least 1500 Athenians, and exiled even more.
From what fans have seen from Assassin's Creed Nexus' first trailer, it seems as though each of these iconic locations looks just how fans would remember them from each Assassin's respective game. But unlike Venice, Boston, and Athens in past Assassin's Creed entries, these settings in VR won't quite be open-world. Assassin's Creed Nexus' Creative Director, in a blog post on Ubisoft's website, refers to these areas as "open maps," stating that they take smaller sections of past Assassin's Creeds' open-worlds and condense them down into smaller, still-fully explorable open areas. So while players won't be able to explore all of Venice, Boston, or Athens, they will still be able to parkour and explore quite a bit of their surroundings freely.
Ubisoft's blog post also sheds a bit more light on how each of Assassin's Creed Nexus' playable characters differs from one another. Though each Assassin will apparently have essentially the same moveset, their weapons do differ slightly. For instance, while Connor and Ezio have two Hidden Blades, Kassandra has just one. Similarly, while Ezio has a one-handed crossbow, Connor has his own bow, and Kassandra apparently has some kind of "special bow," perhaps giving her arrows a homing effect. Melee-wise, both Ezio and Kassandra will wield swords, and Connor will use his tomahawk.
Assassin's Creed Nexus launches Holiday 2023 for Meta Quest.