New-gen Zombi ditches multiplayer, retains claustrophobia and tension

ZombiU relied on the Wii U's gamepad for some of its functions, but Ubisoft found a workaround when porting the game to new-gen systems.

ZombiU is a game that was built with the Wii U gamepad in mind. After all, it was one of its more interesting third-party exclusives and set out to justify the existence of the second screen.

When Ubisoft announced that it's releasing the game on PC, PS4 & Xbox One, many players wondered if it's just going to be another zombie shooter and lose its survival horror origins. That's not the case thankfully, according to the publisher.

How they managed to do so is explained in a lengthy post on the Ubi blog. First up, the map has been moved to the main screen, though it does disappear when not required. The screen also still shows minimal HUD, to keep the level of immersion intact.

Things like the sound mix has returned from the original. Opening the backpack takes up most of your screen and also doesn't pause the game, to keep the tension aspect.

Outside of the design decisions, controls have been tweaked to make first-person movement feel better, and the FOV has been slightly increased. The game now has two more melee weapons, on top of the cricket bat. These are the shovel and the nail bat.

What is not returning however, is the original's single-system multiplayer, which was sort of like being the AI director in Left 4 Dead.

Expect the game August 18 on digital store shelves.