The much-talked-about Assassin’s Creed VR game has been rebranded to Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, a virtual reality experience. Ubisoft made the announcement during the Meta Quest Games Showcase, held late Thursday, confirming that it will be out ‘by the end of the year,’ with further updates being revealed during the Ubisoft Forward event on June 12. The showcase event was planned as a response to the cancellation of E3 2023 — promising updates on the latest Ubisoft games — and will go live at 10:30pm IST/ 10am PT in the US.
Nexus VR would be the first Assassin’s Creed game to be playable in virtual reality — which seems odd given the platform’s similarities to the franchise’s Animus machine that lets you delve into key periods in history. A bit late, if you ask me. The project was originally confirmed in a blog post from 2021, which also mentioned a Splinter Cell VR game, though it got reportedly got cancelled last year along with three unannounced titles. The post also mentioned that Ubisoft Red Storm, the subsidiary responsible for Tom Clancy games, would lead development on both virtual reality games, with extra support from Ubisoft Reflections, Ubisoft Dusseldorf, and Ubisoft Mumbai.
Last year, Ubisoft confirmed multiple in-development projects in the Assassin’s Creed universe, which included two single-player experiences, a mobile game, and a central hub called Assassin’s Creed Infinity. The last of them is designed to tie a bunch of different AC games together, with plans to include multiplayer experiences within. Meanwhile, Assassin’s Creed Red is set in the heart of feudal Japan, where you master the arts and weaponry of a shinobi, and it’s being developed by Ubisoft’s Quebec division — best known for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. There’s also AC Hexe, which is described as the ‘darkest’ in the series, set during the latter stages of the Holy Roman Empire, engulfed by witch trials. And finally, there’s Assassin’s Creed Jade, the China-set mobile game, which follows the same gameplay format as the recent RPG-heavy entries.
More recently, Assassin’s Creed Mirage got a confirmed release date of October 12, alongside a gameplay trailer which further delved into the franchise’s back-to-basics approach that’s focused on a linear stealth-assassination game, rather than an open-world RPG. Set in ninth-century Baghdad, it follows Basim Ibn Ishaq, a side character from AC Valhalla, who grows from an impoverished pickpocketing background into becoming a master assassin for the Hidden Ones clan under mentor Roshan’s (Shohreh Aghdashloo) guidance. Franchise trademarks such as hidden blades, social stealth and Leaps of Faith return, alongside new additions such as a Pole Vault mechanic for parkour traversal. Assassin’s Creed Mirage is now up for pre-order and will be out on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S/X.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR will be out sometime later this year on the Meta Quest VR headset. Further details on the same will be revealed on June 12 at 10:30pm IST/ 10am PT in the US.
