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 seminal fusion of RPG and first-person shooter action, and all three games are considered some of the best released…two console generations ago.
Ever since publisher 2K Games confirmed the existence of Bioshock 4 in 2019, players have been waiting with baited breath for any update on the next game in the series. And gamers finally got their wish earlier this month. The Montreal and San Francisco-based developer behind the next Bioshock has shared a small but reassuring update after five years of silence. But while it looks like 2K is finally getting serious about Bioshock 4, some recent updates have us worried that this influential gaming franchise may be chasing industry trends instead of sticking to the ideas that made it so important in the first place.
Bioshock 4 ramp up
2013 Bioshock Infinitea divisive entry in the series, was the final game in the long-running franchise.
2K games
Development of the next Bioshock game is in full swing according to a lead member of the development team, marking the first significant update to the project since its announcement.
Jeff Spoonhauer, Senior Cinematic Designer at Cloud Chamber, shared several jobs at the studio over the past month on Linkedin.
“The BioShock team at 2K Cloud Chamber is growing!” he wrote. “We have many open positions 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 undergone some major changes behind the scenes, including the departure of franchise creator Ken Levine and multiple developers from 2K Games, including Certain Affinity, signing on to make the project.
The leaks also provided an unconfirmed but plausible insight into the mysterious project. The game is said to be set in a fictional city in Antarctica around the same mid-20th century period as the original Bioshock. If true, it’s a welcome addition to the universe, one that seems perfectly 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 open world as you can get.
2K games
the leak also suggests that the game will feature an open-world structure, a first for the series known for delivering more manageable, gritty experiences.
There have definitely been weirder franchises to transition to an open world structure. Jack and Daxter, Metal Gear Solid, and Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst all took great risks, opening up their linear formulas to different results. Unlike those titles, however, Bioshock has always emphasized its fantastic settings as one of the main reasons to play. Arguably, there’s a lot of untapped potential in letting players see more of the franchise’s signature intricately designed dystopias.
But chasing that trend also runs the risk of diluting much of what made the first three games in the series so memorable. Leaving the series’ trademark environmental storytelling to the player’s desire to explore could relegate Bioshock’s defining pillar as an optional side item that some will simply skip over.
Environmental storytelling has always been an important part of Bioshock’s identity. The move to open world could tarnish this pillar of the series.
The linear structure of past Bioshock games also meant that objectives and levels always felt focused and built with intent. Even the more open areas of Bioshock Infinite’s Columbia were relatively small in scale thanks to the fast skyhook. These design decisions reduce the potential for time-wasting and ensure that the games’ tight and concise narrative is rarely derailed by side content that inflates runtime.
At a time when it seems like every game is open world, giving the player all the freedom to tackle objectives and missions as they please, Bioshock could benefit from subverting this boring gameplay. Perhaps a decade ago, an open-world Bioshock game would have been part of Andrew Ryan’s ambitious dreams. But these days, with the novelty of the genre wearing thin with every big game announcement, a more focused Bioshock experience in the vein of the originals could be an exciting breath of fresh air.
Cloud Chamber could, of course, ditch the open-world element of the next Bioshock game. The series has a history of subverting negative expectations, such as Bioshock 2 surprisingly fun multiplayer modes. But open world fatigue is very real and very present in the current video game landscape. Going 13 years without a new Bioshock game, the last thing gamers need is for such a family-friendly franchise to abandon some of its strongest defining qualities in favor of chasing tired trends.
