More Details on ZombiU: GamePad, NPC’s, Special Zombies, and More

At Gamescom, some French individuals got their hands on some ZombiU and took video of them playing it, revealing a ton of new information about the game. I don’t speak a word of French, so luckily GoNintendo knows Dearodie, who does. You can watch the original video here if you speak French, but if you don’t, we’ve got the translated details for you here.

The section of the game being played in the video is inside Buckingham Palace, where the player is searching for the “Royal Doctor,” who is working on a cure for the zombie outbreak. The inclusion of searching for a cure means that beating the game may involve stopping the apocalypse completely, or at least successfully finding a cure. This means that while survival is an important aspect to the game, it is not your only goal. The Buckingham Palace level is 7-8 missions into the game.

The messaging system is a facet of the game that has been revealed, but not much detailed information has been given on it. According to this video though, in-game messages from both your friends and other players in general will show up. There is a message rating system that allows you to rank the message as worthwhile or not, presumably for quality control. Hopefully this means we won’t be seeing drawings of penises all over post-apocalyptic England instead of actual useful tips.

Other than those messages, there is also an on screen messaging system that will let you know what your friends are doing as they play through the game. You don’t just get access to the humans though. This system keeps you informed on what your friends zombies (his failed attempts at playing through the game) are doing, as well as what shenanigans your own zombies are up to in the world. There is going to be some sort of leaderboard to show off these interactions.

As for the GamePad, your mini-map is going to help you out a lot in the game by remembering certain key codes and displaying them for you, meaning you won’t have to worry about trying to get through a door you’ve been through before. There are also three slots for quick item use, which will hopefully save you those few precious seconds of rooting through your bag that could be the difference between being eaten alive and making it out with all of your limbs.

There are some details on a couple NPC’s from the game as well. Prepper, who was the voice in the E3 demo, appears to be some sort of guide for your character. He is separated from his wife, Sondra, in the game. The husband and wife take two polar opposite approaches to trying to survive; Prepper barricades survivors insides his safe house, while Sondra is a member of an organization dedicated to helping people flee the city.

For some new information on zombies, we now know for sure that zombies are attracted to both sound and light. There are also going to be four or five special types of zombies you encounter as your progress further through the game. Whenever you die, we know your previous character gets tuned into a zombie, but your new character is randomly generated. There are a slew of weapons at your disposal to fend off these monsters and prevent that from happening, among them the crossbow, which is excellent for shooting down zombies at long range when outside.

With every new piece of news that comes out about this game I just get more and more excited, and I can’t wait to get my hands on the finished project. Huge news loads like this are the best of all, and I hope we have a steady stream of them until the game drops this (hopefully) November. Until then, I’ll definitely be following this game as well as I can.