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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