Development on the successor to BioShock Infinite appears to be finally moving along, five years after it was originally announced.
Despite being formally announced way back in 2019, there’s never been any significant updates on the next BioShock game other than it hasn’t been cancelled.
Previous reports have suggested it’s been stuck in development hell for some time before the official announcement and has seen several reboots behind the scenes. As for the game itself, the only rumoured details have been that it’s open world and set in the Antarctic.
We now have something close to an official update though, via a recruitment drive at developer 2K Cloud Chamber, with over 30 positions now being advertised at the Montreal-based studio.
In a post on LinkedIn earlier this month, senior cinematic designer Jeff Spoonhower wrote: ‘The #Bioshock team at 2K Cloud Chamber is ramping up! We have many positions open across a variety of disciplines including art, animation, engineering, design, narrative, and production. We are working on a really awesome project, and our studio is remote-friendly.’
While the job descriptions are relatively vague, they describe ‘implementing combat gameplay in an immersive sandbox world’ which can ‘accommodate various play styles’, so it sounds like it’s sticking close to the BioShock formula.
There are multiple references to a ‘living world’ too, which may suggest there’s some truth to the open world rumours.
While this ‘ramping up’ is a positive step for the game’s progress, it’s bad news for anyone hoping BioShock 4 will come out anytime soon.
BioShock fans might have more luck clinging to another LinkedIn post which has revealed that an ‘unannounced upcoming remake’ is in the works at 2K.
As highlighted by Mp1st, motion capture animator Brett Shupe listed the remake alongside other games he’s working on, including the upcoming BioShock, a new Mafia game, and an ‘unannounced sports title’. His page has since deleted any mention of a remake.
Naturally, speculation has gone into overdrive on what it could be but one possibility is a remake of the original BioShock. That would make sense to drum up excitement for BioShock 4, especially if it’s going to be a while.
There’s every chance it could be something else though. Some fans have mentioned the likes of The Darkness or Spec Ops: The Line as games they’d most like to see given the remake treatment, but neither of those carry quite the same weight as BioShock.
If you’re after an experience similar to BioShock soon, your best bet might be Judas from BioShock director Ken Levine. While there’s no official release date yet, a story trailer was released earlier this year.
As for the ‘unannounced sports title’, that will add further fire to rumours that 2K has acquired the FIFA licence and is working on their first football game, possibly even for release this year. Although there’s also talk of them making a Lego football game, which has been leaked multiple times but never announced.
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