One cannot walk through an assembly factory and not feel that one is in Hell.
The Assembly is the latest in a long line of walking simulators to make the jump to Xbox One. But it was originally developed for Virtual Reality headsets and as we all know Xbox One doesn't support them. So how does a game developed for a peripheral that you can't use on the Xbox One work when playing it through your TV?
You start the game in the hideaway of The Lair. A shady and mysterious organisation that are conducting secret experiments which can only be done by keeping them off the radar and away from any government interference. Pushing the limits of science yields some amazing breakthroughs but those breakthroughs come with their own ramifications. As each episode starts, there are ten in total, you switch between two characters. You start the game as Madeleine Stone, who is at The Lair for an interview but this is no ordinary interview. You must pass a number of challenges in what must be the world's worth interview. Next up is Dr Caleb Pearson who has discovered what is really going on at The Lair and is trying to escape. The story is as generic as it gets and it doesn't get any better. 
The Assembly gets very boring, very quickly. At only three to four hours which might seem short but it quickly becomes a grind. I found myself pausing the game quite frequently just so I could take a break away from the monotony. The puzzles are really bland and not taxing at all. The majority of so called puzzles while playing as Dr Caleb Pearson devolve into nothing more than find object A and use it with object B. Roaming from room to room on a find the hidden object challenge does not make a fun game.
From the moment The Assembly boots into its title screen it's obvious that the game was built for a Virtual Reality headset. The menus have a weird wrap around aesthetic the would look good when using a headset but when viewed on a TV it's very off putting and the screen looks like it's being viewed through a magnifying glass with half the screen missing because there are no borders. When you start the game properly the amount of detail is quite staggering and I can imagine it looks really good when wearing a headset. The feeling of being in an underground secret base make you feel like you're right in the middle of an espionage movie. Just don't get to close to the NPC’S unless you want to look at the same face partially covered up by a surgeon's mask over and over again.
For a title born out of Indie roots one thing that really stands out is the voice acting. I have played bigger budget games that haven't been any where near this quality. In a game like The Assembly where so much of the plot is delivered by voice actors rather than just a constant barrage of text you have to truly believe what you're being told and The Assembly delivers this with great gusto. Both the actors who portray Madeline and Dr Caleb deserve a huge amount of praise as do the rest of the cast.
The Assembly has decent graphics and fantastic voice acting but it's not enough to save it from becoming a drawn out borefest. The story is nothing new and the puzzle elements are just plain yawn inducing.
Developer: nDreams
Publisher: nDreams
Website: The Assembly
Twitter: @nDreamsVR
Review code supplied by XCN.