With its rebranding on current-gen consoles and PC this August, ZombiU‘s dropped more than just a letter – it’s also axed its second screen. Given the former Wii U exclusive’s reliance on the system’s Gamepad, it’s been nebulous as to how the game would combat its dual-screen psychology. A few weeks ahead of its resurrection, Ubisoft’s shed a light on just how Zombi will keep all its scares on one screen.
And that’s exactly the idea, according Zombi producer Hélène Henry. Players won’t get any pauses from the action via the old inventory menu on the Wii U Gamepad’s second screen. Instead, players will have to dive into their goody bags on their own precious seconds, making them walking targets for London’s undead.
“Rummaging in the backpack still doesn’t pause the game,” Henry explains. “We’ve added a dedicated button to access the backpack, which lets players see their full inventory and assign shortcut keys.”
The minimal now pops up and fades away onscreen as necessary, with the sound balancing that made use of the gamepad modified for surround systems to replicate it as closely as possible.
“There has been a slight increase in the field of view,” Henry says, “and players can increase and decrease it a little if they want to, but not so much that it takes away that claustrophobic feeling. Some work was also undertaken on the control mapping and response to improve the look and feel of the first-person movement.”
You’ll also be cracking skulls and taking names with more than just a cricket bat this time around. Players will be wielding a shovel that can down multiple zombies a swing and a nail bat that packs a mighty wallop and more critical chances. The flashlight’s also been changed to allow for a wider beam at the cost of a full 30 second recharges.
Without a second-screen, Zombi will not include ZombiU‘s dual-screen multiplayer mode. Instead, the studio claims it wants to focus on the game’s single-player experience that it believed the true ZombiU experience reflected.
What do you think? Did you play ZombiU and are you looking to try out Zombi? Let us know in the comments below.
Via Ubisoft