It’s been a long time sinceBioShock 4was talked about in any official capacity. All the way back in December 2019, publisher 2K officially confirmed that a newBioShockentry was in development atnew studio, Cloud Chamber. It’s been almost total radio silence since then, with no official news coming from either Cloud Chamber or 2K aside from a handful of job listings from last year that simply confirm the sequel is still in active development.
There’s a lot that fans don’t know aboutBioShock 4, but the sequel seems to be in good hands. Though Cloud Chamber is a new studio, it’s home to severalBioShockalums, such as Hoagy de la Plante, a lead environment artist on the first twoBioShockgames, who will serve asBioShock 4’s creative director. As such,BioShock 4will hopefully feel like an authenticBioShockexperience, but it has the opportunity to be something greater than just a continuation. It has the opportunity to finally give the series its full-circle moment.
It’s Time for BioShock 4 To Go Full Circle With Its Inspirations
The Original BioShock Was Heavily Influenced by Immersive Sims
A fairly big name in the modern gaming landscape, Ken Levine was instrumental in the development oftheBioShocktrilogy, being the creative lead, director, and lead writer onBioShockandBioShock Infinite. But before Levine worked onBioShock, he had a hand in creating some of the most revered immersive sims of all time.
In the mid-1990s, Ken Levine was hired by Looking Glass Studios, where he worked onThief: The Dark Project, a game renowned for being an early pioneer of the immersive sim genre.Levine then founded Irrational Gamesalongside former Looking Glass developers Robert Fermier and Jonathan Chey in 1997, and the studio’s first project wasSystem Shock 2, another incredibly influential entry in the immersive sim genre. Naturally, when it came time to makeBioShock, Levine was heavily inspired by the series he had worked on previously, leading toBioShockembracing a few immersive sim qualities.
BioShock Was Never a True Immersive Sim
ButBioShockis far from a true immersive sim, at least by today’s standards. WhileBioShock’s iconic Rapture setting is thoroughly immersive, and the game’sPlasmid systemgives players some creative ways to dispatch enemies, the game’s general level design is very linear, as is its narrative. Players are given little freedom in how they can approach objectives, with most resulting in a firefight regardless.
It’s The Perfect Time for BioShock 4 to Embrace its Immersive Sim Roots
Though its strive for realism can be off-putting for mainstream audiences, the immersive sim genre has seen a resurgence recently thanks to high-profile titles likeIndiana Jones and the Great CircleandKingdom Come: Deliverance 2. Both of these games offer a great deal of player-freedom, a set of non-linear objectives, and an incredibly immersive world for players to explore.
It might finally be time fortheBioShockseriesto lean all the way into its immersive sim roots.BioShock 4should offer large open-ended, interconnected areas for players to freely explore at their own pace, along with multiple ways to complete objectives and a diverse toolset that reinforces player-expression. Delivering this would go a long way in makingBioShock 4feel like a proper evolution of the series and not just a mere continuation.
