BioShock 4has been confirmed to be in development at an all-new studio, Cloud Chamber, set up by 2K to tackle the next chapter of the dystopian sci-fi franchise. The last game,BioShock Infinite, established that it was part of the same multiverse as the original, even going so far as to say that “There’s always a lighthouse. There’s always a man. There’s always a city.”
AfterBioShock Infinitehit players with such a huge revelation regarding theBioShockuniverse,BioShock 4should be a spiritual successor, not a direct sequel. Here are some of the reasons why, as well as problemsBioShock 4could have trying to directly follow fromInfinitein the same canon.
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BioShock’s Multiverse
WhenBioShock Infinitefirst released many fans of the franchise were under the impression that it was a spiritual successor to the first twoBioShockgames, rather than being set in the same continuity. The developers encouraged this. The opening of the game is a direct parallel of the opening of the originalBioShock.
In the first game the player finds themselves swimming from a plane crash towards a lighthouse and descending to the dystopian Objectivistcity of Raptureafter a disastrous New Years Eve reduced it to a haunting labyrinth of tunnels filled with splicers and Big Daddies. In the beginning ofInfinite, the player rows towards a similar lighthouse, only this time they ascend to Columbia, a city in the sky in the style of an early 20thcentury World Fair, along with all the racism and intense nationalism of the time.
It is only near the end of the game that players realize that these similarities are not just references but have a place in-universe, with Elizabeth revealing thatBooker DeWittand Columbia are just one variant of Jack and Rapture in another reality out of an infinite number of possible universes.
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BioShock 4’s Big Challenge
The problem forBioShock 4is that it would either have to commit to playing out the same structure again with players knowing the twist and the roles each feature is fulfilling in the multiverse, or it would have to abandon the continuity of BioShock Infinite to tell a totally new story, just as manyfans ofBioShockassumedInfinitewas doing. The latter choice, ultimately, would make for a more original and unexpected story that players could truly immerse themselves in without it getting drowned out by the meta narrative.
This doesn’t mean thatBioShockwon’t include a man, a lighthouse, and a city. However, it would mean that the game didn’t have to commit to any of those things and thatCloud Chambercould have greater flexibility in its storytelling. It would also make far more sense for players enteringBioShock 4as their first game in the series, without it being so heavily dependent on understanding the story ofInfinite.
WhenBioShockfirst began its exploration of an Objectivist nightmare inAndrew Ryan’s Rapture, few would have expected the next game to take on a multiverse plotline. The only wayBioShock 4can continue to surprise fans of the franchise is to make another radical leap, but in order to do so, the multiverse which includes the first three games will need to be left behind for a continuity which will afford the game’s new developers the freedom to tell a brand new story with its own twists, turns, and the series trademark move of putting a political philosophy under the microscope.
BioShock 4is reportedly in development by Cloud Chamber Studio
