Bioshock 4 is the next game coming out of the franchise!
2K Games released an announcement last year stating that a new Bioshock game is in development!
It's been 8 long years since the original trilogy wrapped up and now a new studio is taking the reigns.
Follow up acts are always difficult and hopefully, the new developers will be up to the task of capturing the magic of Bioshock, creating new and diverse storylines, without muddying the waters of its past.
So what do we know about Bioshock 4?
Click the links below to read all about Bioshock 4:
Latest News
Job Listing Points to BioShock 4 on Unreal 5 - 27th May 2021
Cloud Chamber's listing for senior gameplay programmer mentions the candidate would be working to adapt "existing systems and building new technology in order to fulfill the project’s technical needs and creative goals" using Unreal 5.
Since Cloud Chamber is only just now hiring programmers to create BioShock 4's basic systems, it means we likely have a while yet before a BioShock 4 release date or even any substantial footage from it.
Job Opportunities Detail Gameplay Mechanics - 19th January 2021
Recent job opportunities at Cloud Chamber have potentially detailed some gameplay details.
A listing for a systems designer says that they are looking for people to work on an "emergent sandbox world" featuring "interactive world systems and non-AI systemic ecology, player growth systems and progression and game balance and economy."
Release Date
As is expected, there is no release date at present.
In 2K Games recent website post, the game "will be in development for the next several years."
It's obviously not the news that people would have wanted to receive, but the announcement that the franchise is not yet over is fantastic for fans across the globe.
President of 2K, David Ismailer, had this to say:
“As we continue growing our product portfolio, we remain inspired by opportunities to invest further in our valuable IP, great people and their collective, long-term potential. BioShock is one of the most beloved, critically praised and highest-rated franchises of the last console generation*. We can’t wait to see where its powerful narrative and iconic, first-person shooter gameplay head in the future with our new studio team at Cloud Chamber leading the charge.”
We're expecting news to arrive during 2021 that gives us a better glimpse and more of an idea of what's coming.
What Is Bioshock?
Bioshock is a first-person shooter, originally launched in 2007. BioShock includes elements of role-playing games, giving the player different approaches in engaging enemies such as by stealth, as well as moral choices of saving or killing characters.
Since its creation, the game has launched three instalments, as well as a remaster in 2016.
The game incorporates ideas by 20th century dystopian and utopian thinkers. The game is considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series.
BioShock is set in 1960 in the underwater city of Rapture. Rapture was planned and constructed in the 1940s by Objectivist business magnate Andrew Ryan who wanted to create a utopia for society's elite to flourish outside of government control and "petty morality".
Scientific progress greatly expanded, including the discovery of the genetic material "ADAM" created by sea slugs on the ocean floor. ADAM allows its users to alter their DNA to grant them super-human powers like telekinesis and pyrokinesis.
The History Of Rapture
To protect Rapture, Ryan imposed a law that no contact with the surface world was allowed.
Despite the apparent utopia, class distinctions grew, and former gangster and businessman Frank Fontaine used his influence over the lower class to plan a coup over Rapture.
Fontaine profited by creating black market routes with the surface world, and together with Dr Brigid Tenenbaum, created a cheap plasmid industry by mass-producing ADAM through the implantation of the slugs in the stomachs of orphaned girls, nicknamed "Little Sisters".
Fontaine used his plasmid-enhanced army to attack Ryan but reportedly was killed in the battle. Ryan took the opportunity to seize his assets, including the plasmid factories.
Atlas soon rose to speak for the lower class, creating further strife. Atlas led attacks on the factories housing the Little Sisters, and Ryan countered by creating "Big Daddies", plasmid-enhanced humans surgically grafted into giant lumbering diving suits who were psychologically compelled to protect the Little Sisters at all costs and an army of plasmid-enhanced soldiers, named "Splicers", which he controlled using pheromones distributed through Rapture's air system.
On New Year's Eve of 1958, Atlas ordered an all-out attack on Ryan. The battle left many dead, and the few sane survivors barricaded themselves away. The game is set after this in the 1960s with the past being told through audiotapes as you progress through the game.
Price
We're expecting the title to cost £49.99-£59.99.
Platforms
We expect the title to launch on current and next-gen consoles including the PS5, Xbox Series X, PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
There's a chance it could even emerge on Nintendo Switch.
Developer
The game will be developed by Cloud Chamber, the newest, wholly-owned game development studio under the Company’s publishing label.
Cloud Chamber will build its team at two locations: 2K’s San Francisco Bay Area headquarters in Novato, Calif., as well as in Montréal, Québec, which marks the first-ever Canadian office for a 2K studio.
2K describes the Kelley Gilmore led studio "a collective of storytellers eager to push the frontlines of interactive entertainment by making unique, entertaining and thoughtful experiences that engage the world."
Ken Levine, creative director for the original BioShock trilogy, won't be involved.
Levine shut down Irrational Games after wrapping up BioShock Infinite.
Development
According to a Kotaku report, this isn't the first version of BioShock 4.
It was originally in development at Certain Affinity under the codename 'Parkside' in 2015.
Eventually cancelled, a year later, the current version has been in development since 2017.
Gameplay
According to Job Listings, the game will feature an "emergent sandbox world" featuring "interactive world systems and non-AI systemic ecology, player growth systems and progression and game balance and economy."
@MauroNL3 has also said it will feature:
- Ambitious, narratively-driven project full of character and personality
- Dialogue systems
- A meaningful AI urban crowd system and the systemic tribal ecology of a sometimes hostile AI.
It looks like the game will become much more of an open world with much deeper RPG elements, similar to the Fallout series.
Setting And Location
It appears that the next instalment of the Bioshock franchise might not be taking place in Rapture and Colombia.
Originally reported by GameByte, Cloud Chamber has recently posted several job listings that appear to hint at where the franchise could be heading.
Among mentioning candidates should have experience with Unreal Engine 4 and in producing cinematic sequences, the listings briefly mention a “new and fantastical world.”
The listings range from world designers, cinematic artists, and environmental modellers but other than suggesting that Bioshock is bidding farewell to Rapture and Colombia, the listings don’t reveal much more.
While some fans may be disappointed that the game won’t be returning to Rapture or Colombia, others may rejoice at the fact that a brand-new world with all-new experiences to be had will be playable in the next few years, just in time for the next generation of consoles.
Is It Bioshock As We Know It?
With the trilogy concluding, there was little indication that there would be another game.
But, how can you resist continuing such a successful franchise? It has been almost 8 years since the last game released.
Cloud Chamber is developing a new Bioshock title, they are working on a “AAA first-person action game” which has yet to be announced.
But will it be Bioshock as we know it?