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The next BioShock will be an open-world game.

DonJorginho

Banned
We heard a while back that 2K Games was spinning up a new studio to work on the next entry in the BioShock series, and now some new job listings have provided a few more details about what we can expect when we finally see it. Unlike the BioShock games of the past, the next chapter in the FPS game series will be an open-world game, featuring “character-driven stories” and both primary and secondary missions.

The studio working on the next BioShock game is called Cloud Chamber, and it’s currently hiring for several positions. These include an AI programmer, UI/UX designer, a tools programmer, senior world designer, a senior technical designer, and a senior writer. This last, based in the Montreal office, will be a position responsible for helping to create the narrative content for BioShock 4, and the ad says the studio is looking for someone “who can weave impactful, character-driven stories in an open world setting.”

The senior writer will also be “brainstorming primary and secondary mission content with the design” and helping in “the creation and execution of the core story including the writing of dialogue and other narrative elements as director.” The position reports directly to the project’s lead writer.


Other clues about BioShock 4 can be found in the other job postings. The videogame AI programmer role, for instance, explains that the job will involve developing an “urban crowd system” and “the systemic tribal ecology of a sometimes hostile AI.”

Game designs go through multiple iterations between the initial concepting phase and final release, so everything about BioShock 4 is currently subject to change. That said, it seems clear that Cloud Chamber is planning on something a bit different with the next BioShock – a more open world that’s populated with an AI-driven “ecology” certainly sounds fascinating.

 

Cravis

Member
Oh boy. Looks like they’re already missing the point of the original bioshock games.

No GIF
 
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Plantoid

Member
Only played the one with the brunette chick and the city in the clouds... I liked it very much, don't know about this open world thing though
 

Gamerguy84

Member
Sounds odd. Also I know infinite was highly regarded but the underwater city of Rapture made that game for me.

Without Rapture I'm not sure I care for the rest.
 
Didn't take long for GAF to jump to conclusions.

Keeping an open mind. Good luck to CC, I will await the announcement of their product vision with eagerness.
 

matty3092

Member
I still don't understand how infinite gets so much praise I didn't play it at release I played it in 2016 and it a good game but not anything unforgettable at all. Yet another series to try the open world route really hope linearity makes a comeback to gaming in general at some point.
 
Keeping my expectations low but hoping for the best. Could be really fun , you never know. I care more about gameplay than story . Plus Bioshocks story always had some cheesy retconned potholes anyway to me. I mean story was ok but gameplay was what I really enjoyed in the series . They get the gameplay right in this one and I'll be there.
 

Larxia

Member
I hope it won't be the typical open world stuff we get in most modern AAA games, I really don't see that for Bioshock, but I guess we can be surprised.
Unlike many people, I really liked Bioshock Infinite, but I was really disappointed by how linear it was, I loved the world and atmosphere of Columbia and I would have really liked for this episode to have more freedom, but not something "open world", more like, Bioshock 1 or Dishonored style of freedom.
 
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SinDelta

Member
I can only hope the story is as good as 1 or 2, instead of whatever infinite failed to be.
sea bioshock GIF


short film bioshock GIF


bioshock rapture GIF
 
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SnapShot

Member
Well since og bioshock infinite was going to be open world before it was heavily reduced to the game it is now....i will hold my judgement till I see the final product
 

MiguelItUp

Member
Yeah, honestly, considering how well Prey created one giant "open-world", I can actually see this working. I was a huge fan of Bioshock 1, and I enjoyed 2 and Infinite quite a bit too. At least for what they were. I'll keep an open mind and hope for the best.
 

Shanomatic

Member
Bioshock 2 is far and away the best in the series, and ended the story of Rapture beautifully in my opinion. Any sequel would have ruined that, but if they wanted to do a sequel that badly they should have followed Eleanor’s story in some way.

Instead we got Infinite, and now this. What a disappointment.
 
God I love me some Bioshock. The atmosphere and environments they created in those games appealed to me in a very special way. What made it great though was very unique, imaginative, and curated level designs. I hope going open world doesn't dilute that charm.
 
I guess it depends on what they mean by open world. I honestly would not have minded a larger or more fleshed out Rapture or Columbia maps. If they mean Assassins Creed style humongous open world, or Borderlands massive barren wasteland style then I think it would be pretty bad......
 

bitbydeath

Gold Member
Didn't take long for GAF to jump to conclusions.

Keeping an open mind. Good luck to CC, I will await the announcement of their product vision with eagerness.
This is true FFXIII is considered as an open world and that game is mostly a single long corridor.
 

wipeout364

Member
I think it could work as a metroidvania type of open world. Large complex world all connected with no loading but areas blocked off that are gradually opened. I don't think it needs to be an open world like fallout. I just hope its good, infinite was disappointing, there were some great aspects to it but overall it just lacked something.
 

Dark Star

Member
I don't like most open world games aside from GTA. Single player games are so much better when they're linear and actually focused on leading the player through a curated experience. That's the charm of the first Bioshock game, you feel like you're walking through an abandoned museum filled with strange steampunk artifacts. Games like Witcher 3 are cool because they're basically RPG's with a ton of main story and side quests to do/see and loads of items and stuff scattered throughout the maps. It works.

But Bioshock? Please. Just give me a spooky corridor shooter like Doom. Even Infinite's "sand box" design was fine. But please don't make the player drive a car to get from check list objective A to generic fetch quest B. People complain that games like TLOU "spoon feed" the player, but at least you're not progressing at a snail's pace because the game decided to dump you into an enormous map with 200 objectives.
 
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