14 DAY TRIAL // Nicolas Robin, an associate producer working on ZombiU, says that a number of the core multiplayer mechanics of the upcoming Nintendo Wii U game have been inspired by Dark Souls, the hardcore action role-playing game created by From Software.
Speaking to 3l33tOnline, the developer states, “Dark Souls, Demon’s Souls inspired our online features and yes, it inspired us more in terms of making the challenge demanding. Difficult but fair. And at the end when you achieve the thing you say, ‘Whew!’”
He adds, "This feeling in videogames that we used to have when we were young. In modern video games we have cool emotions also but we kind of miss sometimes the emotion of, ‘Okay, I tried many times, it was difficult, but I have a really good memory of that moment that I will tell to the other ones and share with the other ones’, and that’s really what we wanted to communicate with the game."
Robin says that his team talked to Mounir Radi, the lead content designer on both Dark Souls and Demon’s Souls, and exchanged ideas about how a game could be a challenge to players while also remaining fair.
The team also works with playtesters to make sure that the balance is right and that there are no points where a gamer is frustrated.
ZombiU is a first-person shooter with horror elements, tasking the player with battling a horde of undead, using an array of weapons and items.
The game has permanent death for the player, which needs to move to another character if he is caught and bitten by the zombies.
ZombiU is designated as a launch title for the Wii U home console, which means that the game will be available on November 18 in the United States, on November 30 in Europe and on December 8 in Japan.