Ubisoft unveils ZombiU for Wii U

Ubisoft is making a play for the lucrative zombie-killing market with the release of ZombiU, an M-rated action game slated for an exclusive Wii U release (and, no, not a Zombie University sim which may have been equally cool).

Revealed during Ubisoft's E3 conference, ZombiU is allegedly built from the remains of Killer Freaks from Outer Space, Ubisoft's former Wii U horror exclusive that was shown off at E3 2011. Judging by ZombiU's debut CGI trailer - shot in glorious zombie slo-mo, no less - the game will come by its mature rating honestly with scenes of graphic zombie killings, suicides, and loads of viral madness. Think Dead Island meets Dead Rising with a pinch of Resident Evil and you'll get the idea. Now stop thinking and start planning all the morbid things you'll be able to do when ZombiU arrives with the Wii U later this year.

Also check back later for the official trailer. Just make sure there's no little kids in the room when you do.

Update: Ubisoft's dropped off a press release shining a little more light on its Wii U survival horror entry. In development at Ubisoft's Montpellier branch (From Dust, Beyond Good and Evil), ZombiU is a first person shooter that takes place in modern day London during a “mindless monster” outbreak. In it, players will be challenged with surviving as long as they can in the undead chaos; however, death will bring the opportunity to hop into the body of another survivor, track down your former corpse and continue the fight.

Being a Wii U exclusive, ZombiU will act as somewhat of a showpiece for the Wii U's GamePad. One of its core functions will be to serve as an interactive “Bug Out Bag” which, if you're up-to-date with your doomsday lingo, is the term applied to an emergency survival kit stocked with the necessary weapons, tools, first aid supplies, and resources to survive a mutated outbreak. The GamePad's touch and motion controls will also be used in-game for various activities and in ZombiU's multiplayer mode, in which players will be able to use it to deploy a mutant army against their friends.

“ZombiU is a dark and daunting game that gamers will love to play again and again,” said Guillaume Brunier, producer at Ubisoft. “ZombiU takes advantage of the Nintendo Wii U’s one-of-a-kind capabilities and will be a launch title that every gamer will want to sink their teeth into.”

We'll be keeping track of ZombiU as it nears release. In the meantime, you can read the latest info straight from Ubisoft at www.ZombiU.com or its Facebook page (that is, when Ubisoft gets around to activating either).

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.