It’s been more than a decade since a new Bioshock game was released, far too long for one of the medium’s premiere franchises. The original trilogy was a quintessential mix of role-playing and first-person shooter action, and all three games are widely regarded as some of the best to be released… two console generations ago.
Ever since publisher 2K Games confirmed the existence of Bioshock 4 in 2019, gamers have been waiting with bated breath for any updates on the next game in the series. And finally, players got their wish earlier this month. The Montreal and San Francisco-based developer behind the upcoming Bioshock shared a small but reassuring update after a five-year silence. But while it looks like 2K is finally getting serious about Bioshock 4, some of the latest updates have us worried that this influential gaming franchise may be following industry trends instead of sticking with the ideas that made it so great. important in the first place.
Bioshock 4 rises up
2013 BioShock Infinitea divisive entry in the series, it was the final game in the long-running franchise.
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Development for the upcoming Bioshock game is in full swing according to a senior member of the development team, marking the first major update to the project since its announcement.
Jeff Spoonhower, a Senior Cinematographer at Cloud Chamber has shared several studio openings over the past month on Linkedin.
“The BioShock team at 2K Cloud Chamber is growing!” he wrote. “We have many positions open in a variety of disciplines including art, animation, engineering, design, narrative and production.”
It will probably be a few more years before the fourth Bioshock game emerges from the depths of development. The series has seen some major shake-ups behind the scenes, including the departure of franchise creator Ken Levine and multiple developers under 2K Games, including Certain Affinity, signing on to carry on the project.
The leaks have also provided an unconfirmed but reliable insight into the mysterious project. The game is said to take place in a fictional city in Antarctica around the same mid-20th century time period as the original Bioshock. If true, it’s a welcome addition to the universe that feels completely in line with Rapture and Columbia before it.
Should Bioshock 4 be an open world game?
Bioshock games have historically been about as far from an open world as you can get.
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The leaks also suggest that the game will incorporate an open-world setting, a first for the series known for offering more directional and heavy experiences.
There have definitely been more eccentric franchises for the transition to an open-world structure. Jak and Daxter, Metal Gear Solid, AND Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst all took great risks in opening up their linear formulas to different outcomes. However, unlike those titles, Bioshock has always emphasized its fantastic settings as one of the main reasons to play. One could argue that there is a lot of untapped potential to allow players to see more of the franchise’s signature, intricately designed dystopias.
But following this trend also risks diluting much of what made the first three games in the series so memorable. Leaving the series’ trademark environmental storytelling up to the player’s willingness to explore could remove a defining pillar of Bioshock as an optional side item that some will simply skip over.
Environmental storytelling has always been a core part of Bioshock’s identity. Going into the open world could blur this mainstay of the series.
The linear structure of past Bioshock games also meant objectives and levels always felt focused and purposefully constructed. Even the most open areas of Bioshock Infinite’s Colombia was quite small in scale thanks to the rapid impact of the sky. These design choices cut down on the chance of time wastage and ensured that the games tight and concise narrative was rarely sidetracked by low side content that bloated the runtime.
At a time when it feels like every game is an open world, giving the player all the agency to tackle objectives and missions as they wish, Bioshock could benefit from subverting this dull gaming trope. Perhaps a decade ago, an open-world Bioshock game would have been the stuff of Andrew Ryan’s ambitious dreams. But these days, with the novelty of the genre wearing thinner with every big game announcement, a more focused Bioshock experience in the nature of the originals could be an exciting breath of fresh air.
Cloud Chamber, of course, could knock the open-world element of the upcoming Bioshock game out of the park. The series has a history of subverting negative expectations, such as Bioshock 2 surprisingly fun multiplayer mode. But open world fatigue is very real and very present in the current video game landscape. Having gone 13 years without a new Bioshock game, the last thing gamers need is for such an important franchise to shed some of its strongest defining qualities in favor of tiresome trend-following.