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One of the pleasures of VR is seeing old genres reinvented or reinvigorated by an all-new perspective. The Assembly, nDream's sci-fi moral adventure created bespoke for virtual reality, is a case in point - it's a slow-paced, combat free exploration adventure told from the perspectives of two different characters, enhanced by the simple and essential act of looking.The vast underground research facility you're exploring is familiar enough - you'll have walked corridors like these countless times before, piecing together the little human stories that are found in the detritus on abandoned desktops while a bigger, more sinister picture slowly emerges. But you won't have inhabited them quite so fully: leaning into someone's office drawers to pick out an important file; picking through post-it notes or whiteboard scrawlings; investigating the stains inside a well-loved coffee cup.
It's a neat underlining of the fact these games have always had an unhealthy dose of voyeurism at their heart; whether it's Gone Home or BioShock, there's the slight unease of picking through other people's lives that's given an added frisson through the wonder of VR. You're still a passive spectator in The Assembly, but with a headset on you're implicated in the world to an uncomfortable, often exhilarating degree.
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