10 Predictions For BioShock 4
Release Date
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Unfortunately, there is no official information on when this game will be released; 2K Games just barely confirmed it exists at all in 2019. But that isn’t going to stop us from speculating when the next “BioShock” may appear. The most optimistic estimates could put its release in 2024, potentially even sooner if it turns out 2K wants to do a Nintendo and only reveal the game when it’s just about finished. Though 2K is a giant company, it may not be too strange to see this happen. After all, revealing too much too soon didn’t necessarily work in “Infinite’s” favor, while “BioShock” isn’t a name that needs a lot of marketing to get people excited. But 2025 might be a more reasonable year to expect its release, though we could see an official reveal and teaser in 2022.
Music
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All three “BioShock” games have absolutely outstanding music. They use licensed music to phenomenal effect, like playing Django Reinhardt’s “La Mer” upon entering the first lighthouse, or hearing a barbershop quartet since “God Only Knows”. But the orchestral score is just as iconic; who can forget seeing Rapture appear over the horizon as the music crescendos, or watching Cohen blow somebody up for not playing his masterpiece correctly? All three games were scored by composer Garry Schyman, and though we have no confirmation, we hope Schyman will return to “BioShock” to write the music for the next one; it wouldn’t be the same without him.
Setting
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The one thing everybody wants to know when it comes to a new “BioShock” is where it will take place. The first three games explored two of the most iconic and well-regarded settings in video game history, the city at the bottom of the sea and the city above the clouds. Some widely reported leaks say that the next game is going to Antarctica in the late 1960s, and that there may potentially be two cities rather than just the one. This blending of two cities makes sense, as you learn late in “Infinite” and its DLC “Burial at Sea” that Rapture and Columbia are irrevocably linked by the inter-dimensional tears. Supposedly, one will be on the surface and controlled by an “entrepreneur”, while the other will be underground and led by a “dictator”. Antarctica is definitely an interesting setting regardless of how many cities it contains, however.
Infinite’s Lore
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Though “Infinite’s” lore is notoriously convoluted thanks to Elizabeth’s ability to travel through time, space, and to different universes at will, it does open the door – literally – for endless potential sequels. Certainly, a sequel will exist in one of “Infinite’s” many parallel worlds, but how much of “Infinite” it takes on is yet to be seen. Ken Levine, “BioShock’s” creator, has nothing to do with this sequel, which will free up the developers to do whatever they want. We’d like to see some returning characters; there’s a different version of Elizabeth in every universe, while the Luteces exist in a quantum superposition and are similarly able to teleport around and manipulate events. Any of them reappearing would make sense and be a lot of fun.
Plasmids or Vigors?
The first game introduced plasmids as a major part of the lore; they’re the power everybody in Rapture wants, the reason the Little Sisters are so coveted, and are why the gameplay is so fun. “Infinite” had more or less the same thing but switched out the first game’s syringes for drinkable vigors. The “Burial at Sea” DLC even had a vigor of its own down in Rapture, “Old Man Winter”, because apparently the Winter Blast plasmid from the first game wasn’t good enough. Both games do use the sea slugs and ADAM as the basis of their supernatural powers. It wouldn’t be a “BioShock” game without these abilities, but only time will tell how the next game will incorporate them. Maybe you’ll use inhalers next time around like the consumable items in “Cyberpunk” or “The Outer Worlds”.
London
Before the Antarctica leak, there was another popular leak that the game was actually going to take place in London in the early 1970s. This London leak has been hovering around for some time, but there’s even less information about that than about Antarctica. However, it would be interesting to see “BioShock” tackle a city that already exists; it was nice to see glimpses of Paris and New York throughout “Infinite’s” campaign. But it’s just as true that looking at a real city wouldn’t really be in the spirit of the franchise. Those retro-futuristic worlds brimming with impossible technology are a huge part of what has made both “BioShock” and “BioShock Infinite” stand the test of time.
Different Developer
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As mentioned previously, Ken Levine isn’t involved in the production of “BioShock 4” at all. After finding he didn’t like managing the huge staff Irrational Games accumulated during “Infinite’s” development, Levine shut the studio, downsized significantly, and made a new company: Ghost Story Games. Ghost Story Games has had its own struggles since opening, namely that it hasn’t been able to put out a single title nor has it even announced what the one it’s working on is. So, it makes sense that 2K has turned to a different developer for “BioShock 4”. In fact, it’s a whole new studio created just to make this game, Cloud Chamber, which has many former “BioShock” developers on its team.
Big Songdaddy
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After the setting, the other thing that makes a “BioShock” game a “BioShock” game is its most formidable enemy. The first game had the Big Daddies, the second game had the Big Sisters, while “Infinite” had two: the Handymen and, of course, Songbird himself. The Handymen turned out to be a dud, though unlike Songbird you can actually defeat them when they appear. Between the Big Daddies and Songbird, Cloud Chamber has a lot to live up to. But the popularity of undefeatable enemies that relentlessly hunt you down has only grown in the wake of all the post-2017 “Resident Evil” games, so there’s a lot of appetite for a new, steampunk stalker. And with the Little Sisters and Boys of Silence, we’re also sure there will be some sinister children in “BioShock 4” as well.
Immersive Sim
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Though it was critically acclaimed and is a lot of people’s favorite game, “BioShock Infinite” did stray from the survival horror and immersive sim roots in some people’s eyes. It came out in 2013, a time when other horror franchises like “Dead Space” and “Resident Evil” also wanted to become action shooters, but things are different now: intense horror games are having a renaissance, and we hope the next “BioShock” returns to those roots. We also hope it gets back to its immersive sim lineage as well, something that came from the first game’s position as a spiritual successor to “System Shock”. However, if it does do this, it will have hot competition: Arkane Studios has dominated the immersive sim genre for years thanks to “Dishonored”.
Title
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It’s not likely that the next game will be called “BioShock 4”. The tradition of numbering the entries was broken with “Infinite”, and many other big-name franchises have also ditched numbers in favor of subtitles. Leaks had suggested that the title will be “BioShock Isolation”, though this is very nonspecific and really, any of the “BioShock” games are isolated enough to justify that title. Plus, “Isolation” was also the subheading of 2014’s “Alien: Isolation”, an outstanding game that definitely borrows a lot from “BioShock” where its gameplay and level design are concerned. We’ll have to wait and see whether Cloud Chamber does call it “Isolation” or something else entirely.
