Breakdown
- Ken Levine is hyping up Judas' story and roguelike elements
- The game will have you struggling to side with three leaders, with each decision pleasing one and angering the other
- System Shock Director Stephen Kick isn't impressed with the game being "Bioshock in space"
Ken Levine has revealed more details about his upcoming Bioshock successor Judas, promising fans complete control over the game’s narrative. Levine hypes up a number of aspects about the game’s story choices, calling it “narrative LEGO,” though the concept of Bioshock in space isn’t as original as he thinks.
Speaking with IGN, Levine has confirmed that the game is essentially Bioshock with some roguelike elements that actually affect the story. In fact, Levine’s new game actually starts with the lead character dying and getting “reprinted,” adding a storyline reason for these roguelike elements.
Judas, the game and the lead character, is in a city-sized spaceship with an even bigger dilemma: She has to choose if she will be siding with one of the ship’s three leaders. As the one controlling Judas, players will have to decide which of the three leaders to please and they can even try to please all three simultaneously. In the end, it’s up to them, as each choice can end up negatively affecting one of the three characters.
While the concept is fairly interesting, the concept of “Bioshock in space” is far from an original concept. Night Dive Studios head Stephen Kick sarcastically tweeted “Bioshock in space! Why didn't I think of that!?” since he worked on System Shock, the main inspiration for Bioshock in the first place.
Not helping with the accusations is how similar the gameplay is to Bioshock, once again letting players use a gun in one hand and powers with the other. The roguelike elements should make things more interesting, but Levine definitely has one particular gameplay style.
Despite some of the hype being overblown, there’s definitely a lot of interest in Judas right now and Levine does make the “LEGO narrative” bits sound interesting. In the end, fans will gravitate towards both the story and gameplay if they’re done well. The fact that Levine and Take Two have taken this long should mean a quality release, hopefully.