When Bioshock got here out in 2007, it blew expectations out of the water. Not solely did it introduce us to the memorable world of Rapture deep beneath the ocean, however it pulled off one of the crucial surprising plot twists in gaming historical past. The sequel caught to the identical setting, however Infinite as soon as once more invited us to a model new dystopia floating within the clouds. Much like Murderer’s Creed, these video games have turn into outlined by their settings, which is why we have now all been eagerly awaiting the following entry to see what improbable area we might be exploring. Whereas unique creator Ken Levine has moved on to Judas, 2K has had Cloud Chamber Studios engaged on a brand new entry since 2019. That’s a very long time, however we nonetheless have a variety of questions that want answering. Would you kindly discover all the things we learn about Bioshock 4 with us?
Launch date hypothesis
Bioshock
Neither 2K nor Cloud Chamber has dedicated to a launch date for Bioshock 4. The most recent unofficial replace was noticed on LinkedIn by GamesRadar. Senior cinematic designer Jeff Spoonhower posted the follwoing: “The Bioshock crew at 2K Cloud Chamber is ramping up! We’ve got many positions open throughout a wide range of disciplines together with artwork, animation, engineering, design, narrative, and manufacturing.”
This suggests the sport was solely in a preproduction stage up till this level, so we in all probability have to attend one other two to 3 years earlier than Bioshock 4 is absolutely full.
Platforms
Bioshock Infinite
Based mostly on the sport coming into a full manufacturing cycle in 2024, we really feel it’s secure to say that Bioshock 4 shall be a current-gen unique, that means PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X/S, and PC.
Leaks and rumors
2K
No official trailers or screenshots of Bioshock 4 have been launched to tease our appetites. Nevertheless, one leaked screenshot has appeared on-line that seems to point out a construct of the sport, and it contains a weapon, UI components, and a few type of glowing tower. MP1st, who obtained the picture, claims it comes from a visible results artist at 2K who took it from a 2021 demo construct. If true, there’s a good likelihood a variety of components have modified.
Even previous to this leaked shot, there have been two sturdy rumors concerning Bioshock 4‘s setting. Essentially the most substantial is that the sport will happen in a Nineteen Sixties-era metropolis in Antarctica referred to as Borealis. Not a lot else was talked about right here besides that the sport would someway join the prior video games within the collection.
One other little bit of hypothesis suggests the sport shall be, or a minimum of at one time was deliberate to be, open world. This comes from one more job posting noticed by PCGamesN that, on the time, referred to as for “somebody who can weave impactful, character-driven tales in an open world setting.” This is able to be a giant departure from the linear construction the collection has caught to so far.
Gameplay hypothesis
2K
The one fixed component between the Bioshock video games has been its gameplay. Whereas there will definitely be new additions and mechanics, we suspect the core of Bioshock 4 to deal with first-person taking pictures and powers. What kind these powers take, and the way they’re justified in that setting, stays to be seen.
Bioshock has additionally caught to a linear construction with some occasional backtracking. If the leak about Bioshock 4 being open world is true, we suspect which means your entire metropolis — no matter it finally ends up being — shall be absolutely explorable from the beginning and never sectioned off as a lot. Our guess is that it’s going to resemble the construction of one thing like Prey somewhat than try and be an enormous sprawling recreation.
Preorder
Bioshock 4 remains to be closely beneath wraps and certain gained’t be prepared for an additional couple of years. As quickly as 2K and Cloud Chamber are prepared to offer us a launch date and preorder data, we are going to maintain you up to date.
