Ken Levine and 2K's BioShock was a game-changer when it released in 2007. The sci-fi first-person shooter introduced players to the underwater dystopian world of Rapture, kickstarting a critically-acclaimed series that is currently awaiting its next entry, BioShock 4. Almost a decade after the previous mainline entry BioShock Infinite, news on BioShock 4 is still scarce, so players might have even longer to wait until they can play the next installment.
In the absence of concrete details, rumors and speculation about BioShock 4 have filled the web. From guessing what its setting may be to theorizing about how it will fit into the wider BioShock universe, fans have been keen to work out how BioShock 4 will take shape. Many hope that BioShock 4 will embrace its System Shock roots alongside other expanded elements and improvements.
Paving The Way for BioShock 4
With BioShock and BioShock 2 fully exploring the submerged world of Rapture, some were skeptical about BioShock Infinite's departure from the familiar flooded metropolis. While Rapture remains at the top when it comes to innovative video game settings, BioShock Infinite's Columbia did have its merits. The third game may not have had the same dingy, gritty aesthetic embraced by its predecessors, but BioShock Infinite still had spooky moments and dark thematic undertones.
BioShock Infinite was also well-received despite its departure from a lot of the elements that made up BioShock and BioShock 2, and the Burial at Sea DLC neatly tied all three games together. This narrative DLC closed the loop on the overarching story and fed into the franchise's themes of inescapable fate. Many wondered how a sequel could fit in, and doubts began to emerge that there would ever be a BioShock 4 – fears compounded by Irrational Games revealing BioShock Infinite would be its last game.
Luckily, BioShock 4 was confirmed to be in development by Cloud Chamber in 2019. Many hope BioShock 4 moves away from the settings and storylines in the first three games, while still maintaining the core elements that made BioShock such a successful franchise. Moving toward its System Shock inspirations would be the perfect way to help BioShock 4 stand apart from its predecessors.
BioShock's Links to System Shock
System Shock was an innovative title that blew players away and had a sizable impact on subsequent games. Its use of environmental exploration to collect items, progress through levels, and build the narrative was revolutionary, and its DNA can be seen in many popular releases like BioShock. The influence is clear from its use of audio logs to convey parts of the narrative to its immersive sci-fi environment.
Set inside a massive space station with multiple levels to explore, System Shock perfectly utilized its environment to convey a sense of claustrophobia and give players lots of locales to uncover. The combination of environmental puzzle-solving and close-quarters FPS combat will be familiar to many, but there are also lots of ways to make this feel fresh and exciting. System Shock may have helped introduce many of these aspects, but titles in the years since have perfected them.
The strong undertones of horror throughout System Shock is something that BioShock already does well. The isolation of System Shock's unnamed hacker as they traverse the station, battling against a malignant AI, echoes the player's explorations in BioShock. Time and again, it has proven to be a strong premise used in other titles like Dead Space. Moving back toward this simpler setup could make BioShock 4 special.
Expectations and Hopes For BioShock 4
There are many directions that BioShock 4 could go in, and with supposed leaks occasionally cropping up, it has been hard to sort fact from fiction. With speculation that BioShock 4 could be heading to space, the arctic, or even going open-world, there's not a lot of official information to go on. While an open-world BioShock \seems exciting, it could mean the game loses sight of things that really separated the series from its competitors. Like System Shock, setting the game in a single location lets the player get to know the area in ways they wouldn't for a wider world. This keeps the focus simple and allows the horror to really shine.
System Shock's memorable antagonist, the nefarious AI SHODAN, was instrumental in its success. Andrew Ryan was also an unforgettable part of BioShock, and iconic mechanical foes like the Big Daddies and the Songbird also show the series' penchant for well-designed enemies. BioShock 4 should follow in these footsteps, emphasizing the antagonist over the protagonist as players attempt to escape a confined setting.
While System Shock was exemplary on a mechanical and graphical level, it didn't tackle thorny philosophical issues the same way BioShock became famous for. BioShock's exploration of concepts like objectivism, utilitarianism, and American exceptionalism helped it stand out from similar titles. This is one of the franchise's greatest strengths, and BioShock 4 would definitely be missing out if it ignored this cerebral element.
BioShock 4 is in development.