Summary
While fans wait forBioshock 4, Ghost Story Games and its founder Ken Levine have recently revealed more about the upcomingBioShock-like first-person shooterJudasin PlayStation’s 2024 State of Play. Formerly Irrational Games, developer ofBioShockandBioShock Infinite, Ghost Story Games’Judaswill be its first title under the new name, with its last title as Irrational beingBioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode Twoin 2014. At first glance, it appears the developer plans to useJudasto capitalize on its success withBioShock, as footage revealed during the State of Play showcases plenty of similarities betweenJudasand the famedBioShockseries.
After the premiere ofJudas' story trailer during the 2024 State of Play, manyBioShockfans began quickly comparing it to their favorite bizarre underwater FPS, and justifiably so, due to severalparallels betweenJudasandBioshockwhen it comes to skills, graphics, and tone. Already, however, fans will be pleased to know that Ken Levine is promisingJudaswill be a completely separate experience fromBioShock, largely due to one rather significant difference between it and theBioShockfranchise.
Judas Is Set Apart From BioShock in Its Choices
BioShock’s Choices Were Few and Far Between
The originalBioShockgame is widely considered one of the best video game stories of all time, and this is largely due to its bizarre, compelling nature and the largely unforeseenplot twist at the end ofBioShock’s second act. Despite having an engaging narrative, it lacked a notable amount of player choice, as it was essentially themed around the player succumbing to the wishes of the game. In fact, the plot twist revealed that the player, Jack, had been under the control of Atlas, who was revealed to be Frank Fontaine, the entire game via the trigger phrase “Would you kindly.”
This is all not to say thatBioShockdidn’t give players any choice, as they had a great degree of freedom in choosing how to handle the game’s Little Sisters, who were formerly little girls but had been conditioned to harvest ADAM from the corpses found aroundBioShock’s underwater city. Upon encountering a Little Sister, players could choose to eitherharvest Little Sisters for ADAM or rescue themfrom their possessed state. This would result in one of two different endings for the game, depending on whether players chose to rescue the Little Sisters or harvest them. However, this is about the extent of player choice inBioShock.Judas, on the other hand, promises players a large degree of freedom over its narrative.
Players Will Have a Large Degree of Freedom Over Judas' Narrative
Not much has been disclosed aboutJudasthus far, save from what was showcased in 2024’s State of Play and Ken Levine’s comments in a recent PlayStation Blog post. In the blog post, Levine states that players “are the driver of every event in a story with a new cast of characters to get to know — and change — in ways you haven’t experienced before in our games.” TheBioShockgames of Ken Levine’s past have not implemented player freedom to this degree yet, allowing players to essentially shape every significant event of the story, so it will be interesting to see just how far this goes.
Other modern games have attempted to allow players the ability to shape a game’s narrative through their choices, but creating a story that considers the player’s choices at every major turn can prove to be a daunting task, as all possible outcomes must be taken into account when crafting the game’s resolution. That being said, Ken Levine is renowned for his incredible work, and that reputation may continue withJudas.
