Developed by indie studio Giant Squid and published by 505 Games,
ABZÛ is an underwater game with beautiful aesthetics and a very compelling story that was initially released in 2016 for home consoles and PC.
ABZÛ is a game that has an interesting way of developing its story, with absolutely no dialogues it manages to tell a story via gameplay and the occasional dialogueless cutscenes that slowly, but efficiently gives away the plot; with an ending that is open to interpretation.
Last week, 505 Games announced that
ABZÛ was coming out for the Nintendo Switch on the 29th of November, and now that we're only a few days away from its release date, new information about the challenges of porting the game to Nintendo's handheld hybrid console have surfaced.
The information comes from
Reddit during an Ask Me Anything thread with Creative Director for
ABZÛ Matt Nava, who openly discussed the process of porting the game to the Nintendo Switch; more in particular the challenges that posed bringing life to the gamme's beautiful underwater world on this portable console.
"
The underwater environment posed a lot of technical challenges... We had a fantastic dev team at Room 8 port ABZÛ to switch, and it was not an easy undertaking. the game simulates tens of thousands of fish and an equally large amount of dynamic kelp leaves. It also has a unique fog accumulation technique that allows different spaces to have different colors and densities volumetrically. All these critical features were originally designed for the powerful specs of the PS4 and PCs, and hard to be drastically optimized to run on the Switch. I'll be honest- a lot of the team was astounded that Room 8 was able to pull it off! I am super happy with it, it runs great and the game feels like a great fit for the Switch".
Room 8 was in charge of porting the game to the NintendoSwitch, and apparently they have succeded at bringing a faithful experience for fans of The Big N. The Nintendo Switch is a very capable console, but it is obviously underpowered when compared to the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One.
Nava also mentions that they got some inspiration for the game from other underwater titles like thw Wii's
Endless Ocean and even the Sega Mega Drive's classic action-adventure game
Ecco the Dolphin.
"
I played the Endless Ocean games before ABZÛ began development… the game aimed to do a scuba simulation, and it did a great job. However, they always left me wanting more freedom, smoother controls, and more focus on atmosphere, which is was what we tried to deliver with ABZÛ. but I am secretly still hoping for an Endless Ocean reboot".
ABZÛ is a game that combines very tight controls with a beautiful underwater world that brings the game to life, and a fantastic soundtrack that, while subtle, helps propel the narrative in a way that few games have been able to do in the past, and Nintendo fans will be able to take the game on-the-go when it releases for the Switch on the
29th of November.
Discover hundreds of unique species based on real creatures and form a powerful connection with the abundant sea life. Interact with schools of thousands of fish that procedurally respond to you, each other, and predators. Linger in epic seascapes and explore aquatic ecosystems modeled with unprecedented detail.
ABZÛ will be available for the Nintendo Switch on the 29th of November.