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Get to grips with The Drowning's innovative 'two-finger' FPS controls now in certain App Store territories

Soft launch, hard targets

Get to grips with The Drowning's innovative 'two-finger' FPS controls now in certain App Store territories
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| The Drowning

We've had our eye on Scattered Entertainment's first-person iPad shooter The Drowning for some months now.

Ever since this DeNA studio started talking about this new game's "innovative" control scheme, in fact.

Well, now iPad owners will be able to put The Drowning's interesting new "two-finger" controls to the test... provided they live in New Zealand or Australia, that is.

With the game now in 'soft launch' mode in those two territories, ex-Battlefield dev and current Scattered Entertainment GM Ben Cousins can see how the general public takes to navigating an FPS with only one hand.

So, how do The Drowning's controls actually work?

Well, rather than employing the tired (and often unwieldy) virtual joystick system for his studio's mobile shooter, Cousins decided to combine point-and-click mechanics with other touchscreen control systems.

To move around the environment, you simply tap on the area to which you wish to travel. To shoot, you place two fingers on the screen, ensuring that your target is in between your digits.

You can move the camera by swiping, you can pinch-to-zoom to enter scope mode, and you can tap a button at the bottom of the screen to spin 180 degrees.

All of this means that you can play The Drowning with just one hand.

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As for The Drowning's gameplay, well, you'll be fending off zombies across 15 environments with a variety of weapons, and blasting the occasional big boss to kingdom come.

You can download The Drowning free on iPad from the New Zealand and Australian App Stores right now. There's no word on a global release date yet.

James Gilmour
James Gilmour
James pivoted to video so hard that he permanently damaged his spine, which now doubles as a Cronenbergian mic stand. If the pictures are moving, he's the one to blame.