BioShock 4is in development at Cloud Chamber, a studio set up by 2k to handle the next chapter of the dystopian sci-fi series.BioShockcreator Ken Levine is not involved in the upcoming game, and job listings on Cloud Chamber’s website have already hinted at a few big changes potentially coming to the series.
Several of the job listings forBioShock 4’s studio have suggested that the new game will include features more often found in open-world RPGs. If implemented properly, these new features could help breathe new life into a series that has been dormant since the final DLC forBioShock Infinitereleased back in 2014. However, Cloud Chamber will need to handle these features with great care if the next game is going to feel likeBioShockat all.
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The RPG Features
A few job listings hint at some of the RPG features which may be included inBioShock 4. A listing for the position of Systems Designer described a strong candidate as having “an innate sense of how game systems connect and enhance one another in an emergent sand-box world.“BioShock’s worlds have had elements of sand-box games in them before. Players usually have access to a small segment ofRapture or Columbiaat a time, and are able to explore it fully before moving on. This listing may suggest, however, that player’s will have even greater freedom of exploration in the next game.
Indeed, it seems like freedom may be the name of the game inBioShock 4. A listing for the role of Senior Voice Designer requested experience curating an “ambitious, narratively-driven project full of character and personality.” The listing also requested experience in creating branching dialogue systems, seen in RPG series like theFalloutfranchise.
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Freedom And Storytelling
All of this hints thatBioShock 4players may be given a greater ability to control their paths through the next game’s story. In contrast, the originalBioShockandBioShock Infiniteactively subverted expectations of player freedom. In the first game players famously discover that the tasks they’ve been carrying out have been done while under the influence of mind control. InInfinite, players discover that they are just experiencing one version of events in an infinite number of realities, and that many of their choices are merely slight variations with little effect.
These were both great twists, and the strength of theBioShockgames so far has always been their ability to craft tight narratives. In comparison, RPGs which offer greater freedom tend to do so at the expense of the kind of character-driven narrative that made theBioShockgames famous. Even the stories of some fan-favoriteFalloutgames likeFallout: New Vegasare far less focused.New Vegas' Mr. Housecan be dealt with in a number of interesting ways. However, none of these choices have the same singular sense of thematic completion as Rapture’s Andrew Ryan insisting that his own son beat him to death as the ultimate demonstration of his Objectivist worldview.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the bargain series likeFalloutmake, but it is not one theBioShockgames have made in the past. IfCloud Chamberis going to include more freedom of exploration and dialogue options which affect the story, it should not do so to the extent that it hands control over the central narrative to the player. IfBioShock 4is going to live up to the franchise’s past, it cannot sacrifice the intense narrative focus of past games for player freedom.
