Ken Levine’s worked on a few great games over the years.Levine’s career includesThief: The Dark ProjectandSystem Shock 2, but he is arguably best known today for creating theBioShockseries. Many gamers are understandably excited about his upcoming sci-fi FPSJudas, which is in development at Ghost Story Games. However, its recent announcement is at least a little awkward for 2K’s Cloud Chamber Studios, which is working onBioShock 4.
Since both studios are in the Take-Two family of companies, it might not be strictly accurate to callJudasand the newBioShock 4competitors. However, it’s only natural that fans will compare the two. The newBioShockmay also find itself under additional scrutiny due to Levine’s absence from the project. However, Ken Levine may have doneBioShock 4a favor by settingJudasin space.
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What We Know About Judas and BioShock 4
Publisher 2K announced a newBioShockin a tweet from 2019. 2K hasn’t revealed the release date, though the publisher saidBioShock 4was still “several years” from release. However, there is very little available information about the game. Even the titleBioshock 4is just a fan nickname.The little information onBioShock 4mostly comes from rumors and leaks, and fans should take much of it with a grain of salt. This includes an alleged logo for a game that shows the titleBioShock: Isolationand reports that Cloud Chamber is developing it in Unreal Engine 5.
Podcaster Colin Moriarty shared a leak in 2021 reporting that the newBioShockis codenamedParkside.According to his source,BioShock 4takes place in the 1960s in a fictional Antarctic city called Borealis. Eurogamer and Video Games Chronicle later corroborated this claim with the help of anonymous sources. Moriarty goes on to sayBioShock 4will have some narrative connection to the earlier games and that 2K is giving the developers a lot of creative control.
As withBioShock 4,Judasdoesn’t have a release date yet. However, the trailer and screenshots might indicate thatJudasis further along in development and could release beforeBioshock 4. Judas is also confirmed to be coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, though that’s likely to be the case withBioShock 4as well.
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Why Judas Setting is Good News for BioShock
Fans expectJudasandBioShock 4to have some similarities, including gameplay and possibly even themes. However, Ghost Story Games may have helped Cloud Chamber by settingJudasin space. WhileBioShockprotagonists have a knack for stumbling across retro-futuristic cities in inaccessible locations, the games are traditionally set somewhere on 20th-century Earth. Sure, there’s no reason aBioShockgame couldn’t take place in outer space, but a big part ofBioShock’s identity is that there are places on Earth just as inhospitable as another planet.
BioShock’s audio logs reveal that Rapture started leaking well before the city collapsed. Pipes froze and burst due to the freezing temperatures of the ocean depths, explaining the ice filling some of the hallways. The claustrophobia and absence of sunlight also negatively affected the residents’ mental states. These are primarily small background details, but they help to flesh outBioShock’s world and distinguish Rapture from other sci-fi settings. Some might even argue thatJudas’ outer space setting puts it at a disadvantage in this regard.
BioShock 4has a chance to do something similar with its supposed polar setting. Real people often struggle to adapt to the months-long polar night and day, and BioShock 4 could show how this affects Borealis’ residents. The endless twilight of an Antarctic day and the months-long darkness of Antarctic night would also give the game a unique atmosphere. Putting cities where people don’t expect to find them is a core part ofBioShock’s identity, and it’s a trait that canhelpBioShock 4stand outfrom Ken Levine’sJudas.
Judasis in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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