Published on December 11, 2022 at 4:49 p.m.
One game can sometimes hide another. During the last Game Awards, many expected to have a first trailer for the next BioShock, developed by the studio Cloud Chambercreated for the occasion and which had recently been talked about with the announcement of the recruitment of Liz Albl (Ghost of Tsushima, Watch Dogs Legion, Far Cry 5 in particular) as screenwriter.
No BioShock was featured, but Ghost Story Games unveiled Judas. As a reminder, Ghost Story Games was founded by Ken Levine, creative director of … BioShock. If it does not exploit the license, Judas seems very close to it, whether by its atmosphere, its artistic direction, its music or its gameplay.
No release date was given for the game; we just know that it will be available on PC (via Steam and theEpic Games Store), PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. An in-depth study of the game’s Steam page as well as the compte Twitter de Ghost Story Games nevertheless reveals a strangeness. To understand this, let’s go back a bit.
In 2013, BioShock Infinite, the third installment of the license, was released. The title is an important critical and commercial success, which shows in particular its average rating of 94 sur Metacritic and the more than 11 million sales of the game. However, less than a year later, Irrational Games, developer of the game, closes. The decision comes from Ken Levine: the creator had a hard time with the very rapid growth of the studio, which led to extremely chaotic development for BioShock Infinite. In order to avoid repeating this error, he wants to find a smaller team. After the studio closed, he founded Ghost Story Games with the support of Take-Two Interactive, publisher of BioShock. If you want more details, this story is developed in Press Resetthe second book by Jason Schreier.
But here it is: there is no trace anywhere of Take-Two Interactive or its publishing labels (Rockstar Games, 2K and Private Divisions) in the trailer, on the game’s Steam page or on the Twitter account. by Ghost Story Games. On the latter, the studio is presented as “self-publishing”, which is also indicated on Steam. Does the studio have significant autonomy or has it cut ties with Take-Two Interactive? In early 2022, Jason Schreier explained in an article published by Bloomberg that the studio had experienced significant creative difficulties. This may be the reason for this separation, if it is real.
Many mysteries therefore still surround this game, but the interest it arouses is also undeniable.