Assassin’s Creed Nexus Review

Assassin's Creed Nexus Review - Gameffine

Assassin's Creed Nexus allows you to take control of Ezio, Kassandra and Connor and become the Assassin you always wanted to be. Uncover a brand new Templar threat, while revisiting iconic locations and characters.

Product SKU: Assassin's Creed Nexus

Product Brand: Ubisoft

Product Currency: $

Product Price: 39.99

Product In-Stock: InStock

Editor's Rating:
9

We might sound slightly more excited than usual in our Assassin’s Creed Nexus Review. Why? From flicking the wrist mid-air, pretending we have a hidden blade after a year of Assassin’s Creed, to flick out not just one but two hidden blades is almost a dream come true. Released now exclusively for the Meta Store and currently supported by Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3, here is our official review of Assassin’s Creed Nexus, a VR Game by Ubisoft. 

Which Year is it? 

Assassin’s Creed Nexus takes on you on multiple episodes of previously known protagonists, including – Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Connor from Assassin’s Creed 3 and the fan favourite – Ezio Auditore Da Firenze from Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. The episodes are mostly set far from when their stories are completed as per the main games, exploring new threats and memories, fulfilling their pledged duty of being the best Assassin of the time. But Nexus is not just about visiting random memories for exploration. 

In Assassin’s Creed Nexus, you’re a freelance Hacker hired by Assassin’s Order, specifically by Shawn and Rebecca, the infamous modern-day assassin activists. You work at Abstergo undercover for a specific objective. Oh, you ask what the purpose is? What do you think? In yet another Templar quest for world domination in bringing order, the Templars have found an ancient supercomputer they wish to rebuild and make even better than those who came before. 

Does the threat sound scary enough? Well, it’s enough not to be ignored, and this is where you embark on a journey of scanning through the cloud of memories saved by Abstergo of Master Assassins, finding pieces of the Ancient Artefact, all the while planting secret logic bombs across the cloud. You can also explore Athens, Boston, Italy and the carnival again while being an absolute menace to the Templars. 

While exploring the protagonists’ stories, you will drive down memory lane, walking on the lands again where you spent hours exploring when the games initially launched. You’ll also meet essential historical characters and old friends, including the best of the best, Leonardo Da Vinci. If you explore his studio well, you’ll also come across his now-completed portrait of the Mona Lisa. 

I’m The Assassin

Assassin’s Creed Nexus breaks the subtle barrier of playing as an Assassin to being one. 

The VR experience is breathtaking right from the get-go. Even before you’re sent in for your first trip in the Animus, initially, you’ll solve a puzzle that almost feels like an AR game. The cameras of your Quest give you a feeling of playing IRL. You are present while holographic puzzles and animations are displayed, and you have to solve this puzzle in 3D. It resembles Tony Stark building the time machine in the Avengers Endgame. This already gave us goosebumps because this was a fresh and brand-new experience. 

As for going right into the game, you do everything an Assassin does, but more closely this time. You begin your adventure as Ezio, and you can already start picking up things in your surroundings. Your gear is stolen, so the game forces you to get versed with the ability to move around before you jump into the game itself. The controls are great, and the game works flawlessly. Although the game may not be at par with the graphics of Modern Day Games and Half-Life Alyx, it runs independently on the Quest Device without any wires. 

Once you’re faced with your first combat and the usage of hidden blades, you won’t even need the tutorials if you’re a seasoned Assassin’s Creed franchise player. All the past games felt like Animus training for us, and this was the actual test. It’s surprising how well it came naturally to know when to sneak when to talk slowly, and how to use all particular items to create the perfect Assassination opportunity. Nexus feels like a playground to be the Assassin you always wanted to be. 

You get up to four weapons to use at all times, with consumables needing to be gathered from weapon caches or simply reclaiming them from the wounded enemy. Throwable weapons are highly overpowered but are scarce if you don’t pick them back up. The guns include – Your hidden blade(s), Sword or Tommhowack, Throwing Knives, Smoke Bombs and Bow and arrow or Crossbow. Not having a pistol as Connor seems like a missed opportunity of having the whole struggle of reloading a powder-based gun in VR, but we can let that one slide since we already have many tools at hand. 

The game becomes a whole package when you truly experience how well parkour has been made. You can still free-run through the city by holding down the A key and looking in the right direction while manually climbing buildings, performing the leap of faith and saying goodbye to your fear of heights. You can swing your bars using just one hand and leap above cliffs while making sure you grab the ledges right. If you’ve had a good time finding ledges in Assassin’s Creed 2, this game would be straightforward for you to climb around. 

The Fastest Assassin in the World

Playing in VR allows you to play by your rules. Except for some missions, STEALTH IS ALWAYS OPTIONAL. And that means, even if you have to steal one piece of paper, every enemy guarding that area has to meet their fate. Now, either you do that by unleashing the double hidden blades through the skull of the bulky guard at the main door or shooting arrows like a game of duck hunt. This is your playground; you make your playstyle. You can gain intel by peeking through cracks or throwing random objects to distract enemies. But beware, their eyes are as good as yours, and they can easily spot you from a mile away. They won’t notice if you murder their fellow soldier right next to them unless it’s visible to them. 

The game allows you to free run, which means you can finish off an entire camp with your hidden blades if you time your run right and stay clear of enemy sights. Alarms make a return, so no, the whole city won’t be on high alert if an enemy merely sees you, but yes, be prepared to respawn once the bell starts ringing. And hey, a suggestion. DO NO RING THE BELL YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN. Or maybe do; it’s good to try different stuff, right? 

As for how the game looks, it looks decent. It’s at par with the graphics of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and it is commendable how the bugs are minimal and a smooth 60-120 FPS is felt during gameplay. The game could have done wonders should it have been on the PSVR or run through Steam utilizing the power of a PC system. The limitations of being a Quest-only game visually are evident, as player models are repeated, animations are less, and NPCs are pretty dead. The battery of Quest 2 dies in a 2-hour session, but it’s long enough for you to wear a chunky headset for one session. 

The voiceovers and original narratives are still breathtaking, and the way the hand movements are tracked in the game gives it a tremendous theatrical experience that the AC franchise has always been carrying with itself. However, the fact that we can interrupt their knowledge, which eventually leads to a reload, is highly dissatisfying and could’ve been replaced with more animations or barriers. 

Small details for which the game utilizes the power of a VR Headset are evident, as you can permanently track an enemy just by looking at them. You can duck IRL to hide further while ducking behind a cover; you can move away IRL to dodge an enemy attack and even imitate a whistling hand sign, and bringing it closer to your face will make your character whistle. 

The VR Verdict

Assassin’s Creed Nexus is a brilliant VR experience for an Assassin’s Creed game. It revisits famous titles, helps fans reconnect to the character they had always enjoyed playing, and takes it a step further. The VR experience pushes the boundary of making you experience the real struggle of jumping onto ledges and grabbing edges, and also ducking around the corners gathering intel is guaranteed to make every AC Fan bring a tear to their eye with joy. 

The story is quite Mid, and the graphics are limited to what the Quest can do; the game still plays smoothly with significant structures and sights to behold.