The next game in theBioShockseries - known colloquially asBioShock 4- is being developed by a new studio, Cloud Chamber, set up specifically to tackle the project.
With the departure of series creator Ken Levine and over eight years since the release ofBioShock Infinite, fans are wondering just how similar the upcoming title will be to the original trilogy. There are some good reasons to think that the nextBioShockwon’t exactly beBioShock 4.
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The BioShock Formula
Although the distinction goes far beyond the title, the nextBioShockgame already appears unlikely to be calledBioShock 4. For a start, the currentBioShockgames areBioShock,BioShock 2, andBioShock Infinite. IfBioShockwent down theAssassin’s CreedorFalloutroutes when it came to naming conventions, this would make the next game’s titleBioShock 3. Cloud Chamber’s website is careful to avoid naming the game, instead saying that the studio is “hard at work on the next entry of the critically acclaimedBioShockseries.”
That also seems unlikely, however.BioShock Infinite, as its title suggests, isn’t just a straight-forward sequel. At first the game appeared to be a sort of spiritual successor, taking elements like the lighthouse from the first game but shifting the setting and story to something new. Towards the end ofBioShock Infinite, however, Elizabeth reveals that a multiverse full of parallel realities exist, and that there’s “always a lighthouse. There’s always a man. There’s always a city.”
In other words,BioShock 1andBioShock Infiniteare in some way revealed to be the same events taking place in different realities. In one reality, the city is Rapture, in another it’s Columbia. In one reality the man is Jack, in another it’sBooker DeWitt,and so on. In one part of the retail release and the two-part DLCBurial at Seathe player even returns to Rapture. This gives Cloud Chamber some great reasons to break from the first three games and establish the nextBioShockas a standalone story, or the launching pad for a new narrative.
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A Fresh Start
If the nextBioShockisBioShock 4and attempts to pick up somewhere in the same continuity as the first three games, Cloud Chamber will have a problem. It will have to develop a story which follows what Elizabeth makes sound like fundamental laws of theBioShockstories- there’s always a lighthouse, there’s always a man, there’s always a city.
In fact, the nextBioShockwill likely go to lengths to make it clear that its new story is not also playing into this formula, otherwise players will be expectingElizabeth or the Lutece twinsto show up halfway through the story and whisk them away. That might have worked forInfiniteand its DLCsbut if the nextBioShockis going to have as distinct an identity asInfiniteforged in comparison to the first game, it needs to leave the past behind.
To leave the originalBioShocktrilogy and the expectations that come with it behind, the nextBioShockneeds to make it clear from the get-go that it is a spiritual successor with its own standalone story. It’s likely to feel that way mechanically as well, with evidence that the nextBioShockwill have RPG featureslike an open world and a branching dialogue system. Whether or not Cloud Chamber will actually be able to come up with a story and setting to match or exceedBioShockandBioShock Infinitehas yet to be seen.
BioShock 4is currently in development.
MORE:BioShock 4 is Sounding a Lot Like Assassin’s Creed Right Now
