Explore The Assembly, launching on PlayStation VR later this year

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Explore The Assembly, launching on PlayStation VR later this year

Developer nDreams asks, “When does the end justify the means?”

Are you excited by virtual reality? Looking forward to the launch of PlayStation VR? We at nDreams have been lucky enough to spend the last two-and-a-half years playing around with the tech, and take it from us – it’s an experience that never gets old!

Today, we’re excited to tell you about the VR game we’ve been making during that time: The Assembly. Better yet, we’re delighted to confirm that it will be coming to PS4 later this year, following the launch of PlayStation VR. Check out the game’s two new trailers to find out more and see how it plays.

But what is The Assembly, you may be asking? In the world of our game, few who ask that question ever find a satisfactory answer, and those that do are not allowed to hold on to their discoveries…

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Enter The Assembly

The Assembly is an immersive, first-person interactive story in VR that asks the question: When does the end justify the means? It’s an experience with two sides to everything, where what’s right or wrong is never clear. Remember: Progress is never perfect…

The game is centred around the eponymous Assembly, an enigmatic collective that has hidden itself from the world so it can conduct its scientific experiments outside the constraints of government scrutiny and society’s morals. But what secrets is it hiding? How far will it go to keep its existence buried? Just what will it sacrifice in the name of progress? That’s for you to discover from the perspective of two different protagonists, both with their own motivations, as you uncover the mysteries of the Assembly’s underground facility.

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As newcomer Madeleine Stone, you’ll face a bizarre induction programme that seeks to test your potential, and as veteran Cal Pearson you’ll make a series of shocking revelations that lead you to question the Assembly’s relentless pursuit of progress.

Over the course of the game, you’ll make tough decisions and overcome trials. You’ll face thought-provoking dilemmas with uncertain outcomes that challenge your views of the Assembly and its members, all coming to a head in one of multiple surprising conclusions. Will your actions and their future repercussions save lives… or lead to catastrophe?

Exploration and discovery in virtual reality

We’ve created The Assembly to be an ideal introduction to virtual reality, but one that gamers will still recognise as a proper, fully-fledged videogame. We’ve set out to build a cohesive world that you can explore freely in VR, without ever having to leave your chair.

To make that possible, we’ve designed a player-tested control scheme custom built for VR to ensure comfort. Both novice and more experienced VR gamers will be able to explore The Assembly’s world as comfortably as a flatscreen first-person game. Players of The Assembly will also be able to switch to a non-VR mode, which features a reworked UI designed to be played on a monitor.

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Be immersed in a mature and gripping story

By combining realistic graphics with life-like positional audio and an intuitive in-game UI, it’s been our hope to make The Assembly the most convincing interactive story in VR to date.

Even so, every interactive story needs a narrative that captures your imagination, so we’ve set The Assembly against a backdrop of current events and real-life societal anxieties. Take a look at the world today and you’ll see life changing technology being developed at a rate where laws and institutions can’t keep up. This can lead to all kinds of difficult decisions regularly being made by people on all ends of the spectrum. Having this as the foundation for our story allows us to ask players whether it’s possible for one person to make a real difference.

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The Assembly awaits you

We can’t wait to find out what you make of our first major VR game release. Feel free to get in touch with us via Twitter on @nDreamsVR or via Facebook at /nDreamsVR, we’d love to hear your impressions and answer your questions!

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