Color-wise, environments are subdued, but the distinctive graphical treatment lends an appropriately grimy style, while player movement is generally slow and cautious, creating an atmosphere of apprehension as zombies lumber, shuffle and suddenly lurch into view.
Perhaps the greatest expectation for ZombiU is that it would make good use of the Wii U's unique GamePad setup, not by making players feel all-powerful, but by working with the console's limits to enhance the feelings of struggle, of survival against the odds -- just as Resident Evil's tank-like controls produced heightened panic, and Day Z's uniform character modeling thrusts issues of trust to the fore.