Highlights
- BioShock 4's setting in a multi-level city in Antarctica has the potential to be a great fit for the game's themes and story.
- However, the gameplay mechanics typically associated with icy environments like warming up, sliding, and falling through ice could be annoying and affect the game's pacing.
- Implementing these mechanics strategically, such as in intense gameplay sequences, could enhance the Antarctic environment without hindering the overall experience.
When fans think back to their time with the BioShock series, there are a lot of great qualities that immediately stick out, but chief among them are the series' two primary settings. Kicking off the series with a setting that made a monumental splash upon its debut back in 2007, BioShock's Rapture is widely considered to be a character in and of itself, with some first-class visual design, excellent integration with the game's story and themes, and some great level design. And while BioShock Infinite's Columbia wasn't quite as immediately iconic, it came very close.
It's only natural, then, that fans expect BioShock 4's own setting to be one of the sequel's biggest highlights. While it hasn't been confirmed, many leaks and rumors all point to BioShock 4's setting being some kind of multi-level city in the icy regions of Antarctica. But while this setting sounds like an immediate perfect fit for a BioShock game, it does have the potential to be a bit annoying in the gameplay department, with Cloud Chamber needing to avoid some classic video game tropes in order to keep the setting fun to explore.
BioShock 4 Can't Make its Setting an Annoyance
While practically no official information has come out about BioShock 4 aside from its developer and the confirmation it's actually in the works, there have been a number of substantial leaks over the last year or so, and all of them seem to agree that the game will be set in Antarctica during the 1960s, around the same time as the rest of the series. Allegedly, players will make their way through a city of two halves, with a surface layer called Borealis, and a lower level called Aurora, each with their own class structures and complex politics.
If these rumors are to be believed, then BioShock 4's Antarctica setting sounds like it'll fit right at home with both Rapture and Columbia, sounding like a city that's on the brink of political collapse. But while this setting might fit BioShock 4's themes and story well, it might not lead to the best gameplay experience. When it comes to cold settings like the Antarctic, video games tend to lean on some well-worn tropes, such as having to keep the player-character warm in the icy environment, or having to carefully tiptoe across a frozen lake in order to not disturb the ice beneath their feet. Sliding around on ice is another mechanic that comes to mind.
Generally speaking, these classic video game tropes aren't necessarily a bad thing. In big open-world adventure games like the recent Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, these types of tropes make complete sense, working alongside the title's gameplay mechanics and encouraging players to use the game's extensive set of tools in order to survive and overcome the environmental challenge. But while BioShock 4 will apparently be open-world to some degree, gameplay elements like these likely won't fit the game's tone all that much, and overusing them could drastically affect the sequel's pacing.
If players are constantly having to scavenge the environment for consumables in order to keep warm, or are forced to walk across most of the map, BioShock 4 could easily become quite an annoying game to play. But that doesn't necessarily mean that these mechanics can't be implemented at some point during BioShock 4. For instance, having to slowly walk across an icy lake becomes an effective and intense gameplay sequence if players only had to do it the once while being chased by some kind of enemy. There's a lot about an Antarctic environment that BioShock 4 could get wrong, but as long as Cloud Chamber is careful, it should end up being another unique location for the series.
BioShock 4 is currently in development.