It’s been over a decade since a new Bioshock game came out, far too long for one of the medium’s most important franchises. The original trilogy was a groundbreaking fusion of role-playing and first-person shooter action, and all three games are widely regarded as some of the best ever released… two console generations ago.
Ever since publisher 2K Games confirmed the existence of Bioshock 4 in 2019, players have been waiting with bated breath for an update for the next game in the series. And gamers finally got their wish earlier this month. The Montreal and San Francisco-based developer behind the next Bioshock shared a small but reassuring update after a five-year silence. But while it may seem like 2K is finally getting serious about Bioshock 4, some of the latest updates have us concerned that the influential video game franchise may be chasing industry trends rather than sticking to the ideas that made it so important in the first place.
Bioshock 4 increases
2013’s Bioshock infinitea divisive entry in the series, it was the final game in the long-running franchise.
2K Games
According to one of the leaders of the development team, development on the next Bioshock game is in full swing. It is the first major update to the project since its announcement.
Jeff Spoonhower, Senior Cinematic Designer at Cloud Chamber, has been sharing several job openings at the studio on Linkedin over the past month.
“The BioShock team at 2K Cloud Chamber is scaling!” he wrote. “We have many positions open across a variety of disciplines including art, animation, engineering, design, narrative, and production.”
It will likely be a few more years before the fourth Bioshock game emerges from the depths of development. The series has seen some major changes behind the scenes, including the departure of franchise creator Ken Levine and multiple developers under 2K Games, including Certain Affinity, signing on to handle the project.
Leaks have also provided unconfirmed but credible insights into the mysterious project. Rumors have it that the game will be set in a fictional Antarctic city, around the same mid-20th century time period as the original Bioshock. If true, it’s a welcome addition to the universe, one that feels right in line with Rapture and Columbia before it.
Should Bioshock 4 be an open world game?
The Bioshock games have historically been the furthest removed from an open world.
2K Games
Leaks also reveal that the game will feature an open-world structure, a first for the series known for its more guided, scenery-based experiences.
There have certainly been stranger franchises that made the switch to an open-world structure. Jak and Daxter, Metal Gear Solid, And Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst all took big risks by opening up their linear formulas to mixed results. Unlike those titles, however, Bioshock has always emphasized its fantastical environments as one of the primary reasons to play. It could be argued that there’s plenty of untapped potential to show players more of the franchise’s signature, intricately designed dystopias.
But chasing this trend also runs the risk of diluting much of what made the first three games in the series so memorable. Leaving the series’ signature environmental storytelling up to the player’s willingness to explore risks relegating a defining pillar of Bioshock to an optional side element that some will simply let slide by.
Environmental stories have always been a crucial part of Bioshock’s identity. Going open-world could blur this pillar of the series.
The linear structure of previous Bioshock games also meant that objectives and levels always felt focused and purposefully constructed. Even the more open areas of Bioshock Infinite’s Colombia was relatively small in size thanks to the fast skyhook. These design choices reduced the chance of wasting time and ensured that the games’ tight and concise storyline was rarely disrupted by simple side content that blew up the game’s runtime.
In an age where it feels like every game is open-world, giving the player the freedom to approach objectives and missions as they see fit, Bioshock could benefit from subverting this tired gaming trope. Perhaps an open-world Bioshock game was the ambitious dreams of Andrew Ryan a decade ago. But these days, when the genre’s novelty wears off with every major game announcement, a more focused Bioshock experience in the vein of the originals could be an exciting breath of fresh air.
Cloud Chamber could of course knock the open-world element of the next Bioshock game out of the park. The series has a history of subverting negative expectations, such as Bioshock 2 from surprisingly fun multiplayer modes. But open-world fatigue is very real and very present in the current video game landscape. After 13 years without a new Bioshock game, the last thing players need is to see such a groundbreaking franchise lose some of its strongest defining qualities in favor of chasing tired trends.