Ken Levine’s worked on a few great games over the years. Levine’s career includes Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock 2, but he is arguably best known today for creating the BioShock series. Many gamers are understandably excited about his upcoming sci-fi FPS Judas, which is in development at Ghost Story Games. However, its recent announcement is at least a little awkward for 2K’s Cloud Chamber Studios, which is working on BioShock 4.
Since both studios are in the Take-Two family of companies, it might not be strictly accurate to call Judas and the new BioShock 4 competitors. However, it’s only natural that fans will compare the two. The new BioShock may also find itself under additional scrutiny due to Levine’s absence from the project. However, Ken Levine may have done BioShock 4 a favor by setting Judas in space.
What We Know About Judas and BioShock 4
Publisher 2K announced a new BioShock in a tweet from 2019. 2K hasn’t revealed the release date, though the publisher said BioShock 4 was still “several years” from release. However, there is very little available information about the game. Even the title Bioshock 4 is just a fan nickname. The little information on BioShock 4 mostly comes from rumors and leaks, and fans should take much of it with a grain of salt. This includes an alleged logo for a game that shows the title BioShock: Isolation and reports that Cloud Chamber is developing it in Unreal Engine 5.
Podcaster Colin Moriarty shared a leak in 2021 reporting that the new BioShock is codenamed Parkside. According to his source, BioShock 4 takes place in the 1960s in a fictional Antarctic city called Borealis. Eurogamer and Video Games Chronicle later corroborated this claim with the help of anonymous sources. Moriarty goes on to say BioShock 4 will have some narrative connection to the earlier games and that 2K is giving the developers a lot of creative control.
Meanwhile, Ghost Story Games announced Judas at the 2022 Game Awards, and while the studio hasn’t revealed too much just yet, there’s a good deal more information about Ken Levine’s new game. Players take the role of a mysterious woman named Judas trapped on a decaying starship. Her only means of escape is with one of her three worst enemies, with the trailer cryptically hinting that she may be responsible for what’s happening. Beyond that, Judas features BioShock-style first-person combat and a similar aesthetic. The ship’s art-deco interiors and retro-inspired advertisements wouldn’t be too out of place in Rapture, while the mascot-like robots help to give Judas’ enemies a distinct visual personality.
As with BioShock 4, Judas doesn’t have a release date yet. However, the trailer and screenshots might indicate that Judas is further along in development and could release before Bioshock 4. Judas is also confirmed to be coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, though that’s likely to be the case with BioShock 4 as well.
Why Judas Setting is Good News for BioShock
Fans expect Judas and BioShock 4 to have some similarities, including gameplay and possibly even themes. However, Ghost Story Games may have helped Cloud Chamber by setting Judas in space. While BioShock protagonists have a knack for stumbling across retro-futuristic cities in inaccessible locations, the games are traditionally set somewhere on 20th-century Earth. Sure, there’s no reason a BioShock game couldn’t take place in outer space, but a big part of BioShock’s identity is that there are places on Earth just as inhospitable as another planet.
BioShock’s audio logs reveal that Rapture started leaking well before the city collapsed. Pipes froze and burst due to the freezing temperatures of the ocean depths, explaining the ice filling some of the hallways. The claustrophobia and absence of sunlight also negatively affected the residents’ mental states. These are primarily small background details, but they help to flesh out BioShock’s world and distinguish Rapture from other sci-fi settings. Some might even argue that Judas’ outer space setting puts it at a disadvantage in this regard.
BioShock 4 has a chance to do something similar with its supposed polar setting. Real people often struggle to adapt to the months-long polar night and day, and BioShock 4 could show how this affects Borealis’ residents. The endless twilight of an Antarctic day and the months-long darkness of Antarctic night would also give the game a unique atmosphere. Putting cities where people don’t expect to find them is a core part of BioShock’s identity, and it’s a trait that can help BioShock 4 stand out from Ken Levine’s Judas.
Judas is in development for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
