Despite a lack of updates over the past few years, fans of the franchise are still eagerly awaiting the release of BioShock 4. The fourth main installment in the critically acclaimed series could be a big departure from the previous entries, with Cloud Chamber taking on the task of developing BioShock 4. However, although players might have some trepidation about how the upcoming game will turn out, there are still many excited fans waiting patiently to dive into a new, complex world within a BioShock game with both fresh and familiar elements for them to enjoy.
There's been a healthy amount of speculation around BioShock 4, but so far 2K Games has kept its cards close to its chest. Other than the confirmation that the game was coming at some point, gamers don't know much else, so it's been up to them to fill in the gaps. Alleged leaks from the BioShock 4 camp have suggested anything from an arctic setting to trouble within the development team, but one aspect that some fans are keen to get clarification on is what sort of philosophical quandaries the game will be tackling, and how this could affect the story.
Philosophy In The BioShock Series
Complex explorations of different philosophies are not something that people typically expect in video games, but over the years the medium has shown that it can be deep and thought-provoking as well as light and entertaining. Video games are a complicated art form that is capable of challenging players in many different ways. The BioShock series is a perfect example of this, as on the surface it's an engaging FPS franchise with survival horror elements that can keep gamers entertained for hours, and on the other hand it's an intelligent IP that has something unique and provocative to say.
Players might not be intimately familiar with the ideologies that the series is exploring, such as BioShock's free will, but that doesn't mean they won't pick up on the messaging or enjoy grappling with the thorny issues the different titles feature. Andrew Ryan's doomed underwater city Rapture and Comstock's twisted paradise of Columbia represent different philosophies – objectivism and American exceptionalism respectively. These are layered with ideas of religion, humankind's capabilities, and what freedom truly means among others, which all culminate in distinct worlds that stick with the player long after they've finished the game. It's likely that BioShock 4 will look to emulate the earlier games, but bringing its own philosophy into the mix could be a way to distinguish it.
Introducing Something New To BioShock 4
BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite have all featured characters that want to push themselves and their societies beyond the realm of possibility. Rapture was founded as a place for people to follow their own self-interest and ambitions and not be held back by controlling authorities, and Columbia was a theocratic state that wanted to escape the reaches of the United States government and achieve its so-called destined greatness unimpeded. All three installments in the BioShock series show these aspirations to be flawed, especially when the greed and inevitable elitism of humanity come into play. These philosophies form the main part of the threat of each game, but BioShock 4 could introduce its own.
Instead of a character or a collection of characters striving for greatness and individuality no matter the cost, BioShock 4's narrative threat could be a society or individual that embraces nihilism – a school of thought that rejects all moral and religious ideals, believing that everything is essentially meaningless. Antagonists Andrew Ryan and Comstock are nothing if not ambitious, but a villain who is the opposite, and yet is just as capable of causing great harm, could be an interesting contrast. If a character or a society really believed that nothing mattered and that every action was truly meaningless, they could be capable of atrocities just as heinous as players see in the previous BioShock games.
BioShock 4 is in development.