Assassin’s Creed Nexusgives players a virtual nose, though they may never see it, to help with motion issues related to VR. As many know,Assassin’s Creed Nexusis the first AC game to release on a VR platform, and in it, players will step into the shoes ofEzio Auditore, Connor Kenway, and Kassandravia a set of newly-discovered memories. On top of that, it is not a corridor game either—there is an open map for players to perform parkour, NPCs to flesh out the city, and enemies to fight and/or assassinate.
It’s an exciting venture forAssassin’s Creed. Since its inception in 2007, the core formula of the game has changed, and it has featured side-scrolling spin-offs, action-adventure games, action RPGs, and more. However, VR is an all-new way to playAssassin’s Creedin more ways than one. Because it is VR, because it can be motion-heavy, and because it is first-person, Ubisoft deemed it important to give players a virtual nose. Game Rant recently spoke withAssassin’s Creed Nexusdirector Olivier Palmieri about many facets of the upcoming game, including the nose.
The point of the nose is to give players a fixed point of focus for the brain. Of course, just like someone’s real nose, they are not going to see it constantly unless they are looking for it. Palmieri was quick to joke about how no one notices it unless he points it out, but by giving the brain a focal point, it makes motion a lot easier. He compared it to early games likeDoom, which would cause motion sickness when played because of how everything moves. By giving the brain fixed references (among other comfortVR settingsinAssassin’s Creed Nexus), it helps reduce potential discomfort for the player.
Your brain likes to have fixed references and elements on the screen, so the nose is kind of doing that for the human vision system. When you put a VR headset on, you don’t see your nose most of the time because it covers it, it’s dark, and you can only see the screen. It’s also different for the brain because it’s like, ‘Hey, I don’t have a nose anymore.’
Although Palmieri would stop short of saying this was proven science, he does mention that there have been plenty of tests to justify its inclusion. Furthermore,Ubisofteven tried creating a virtual nose as far back as 2014, completing a handful of prototypes for how it works. “It seems to help with grounding the brain, making it think there’s something fixed on the screen,” Palmieri said. He also compared it to the cockpit effect where, in space or plane games, the cockpit serves as a fixed reference as a brain.
We couldn’t have a cockpit in Assassin’s Creed, but we could have a virtual nose.
When players step intoAssassin’s Creed Nexus, they can look down at their outfits and see their entire torso, legs, and feet. AsEzio in Veniceat least, they have Throwing Knives on their chest, a sword on their hilt, and a crossbow on their back. If they look closely, perhaps they’ll even see their new nose in VR too.
