2007’sBioShockwas one of the best games of the decade, and refined some key philosophies while introducing its own mechanics, presentation, and narrative twists. It’s a project that took the structure ofSystem Shock 2and subjected it to a libertarian spin. In many ways theIrrational-developedBioShockserved as a direct response to Ayn Rand’s works, but was also a stellar survival horror experience. 2010’sBioShock 2stayed in Rapture while the third game in the trilogy,BioShock Infinite,took to the sky in the floating city of Columbia.BioShock 4will hope to continue the lofty legacy.
The series has been dormant sinceBurial at Sea, and though it’s never been far from the minds of fans, games likePrey, We Happy Few, andAtomic Hearthave done well to bridge the gap and fill the temporarily vacated hole thatBioShockonce filled. Now being developed by new company Cloud Chamber,BioShock 4will be looking to reset the standard and swat away the impending competitorJudas, reestablishing its place as the king of first-person environmental storytelling. It’s at an immediate advantage over the rest, as it was the one to put the bar so high in the first place, and can’t be criticized for being just anotherBioShockclone.
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BioShock’s Gameplay is Fluid and Inventive
WhileCall of Dutyprioritizes twitchy competitive combat andBattlefieldinsists on being realistic,BioShockis a first-person franchisethat puts fun at the forefront. It’s always been heavy on its science fiction influences and splicing (no pun intended) of narrative genres. Having a firearm in one hand and an elemental attack in the other gives players choice with each encounter, and makes battling through the setting enjoyable because there’s always a trade-off for all the player’s potential approaches.
In the firstBioShock, for example, players can go in guns-blazing, or carefully use the environment and an ability to do damage in a more inventive way, like shocking a water puddle or using telekinesis to hurl an object from afar.The protagonist ofBioShock 4will surely have access to both guns and plasmids (though they may be called something different), which means that the game will have the same fundamental strength of its predecessors, ensuring it stays on the franchise’s pre-prescribed path to success.
BioShock’s Contemporaries Have More to Prove
BioShock 4being the newest entry in the series means there will be a lot of scrutiny, but this at least means that it won’t have to reinvent the wheel and prove that it’s more than just an imitation of Irrational Games' crowning achievement. Titles like the aforementionedPreyandAtomic Heartcan be criticized, perhaps fairly, because they take too much fromBioShock, whereas the fourth game in that series is building off the innovation of its predecessors.BioShock 4may be struggling in development hell, but in a way there’s less pressure in 2023, because it doesn’t have the added requirement of changing the formula to make it different enough from the stories in Rapture and Columbia.
The only game that could perhaps say the same thing isJudas, developed by Ghost Story Games, which is made up of former Irrational Games staff andBioShockcreator Ken Levine. Having that heritage could mean that those in the know believe it to be a more faithful continuation ofBioShock, but the name means a lot, andBioShock 4will stand alongside the previous games in the history books. It might be best, then, to rely on tried-and-tested gameplay conventions to help it resonate with existing fans as well as new ones.
