Summary
- BioShock 4's development has been shrouded in secrecy, with rumors suggesting various issues.
- While BS4 remains elusive, fans can enjoy the original BioShock trilogy and similar games for a fix.
- Games like System Shock Remake, Prey, and Avowed offer BioShock-like gameplay and themes, and could ease the wait for the fourth installment.
It's been over six years now and players have still seen neither hide nor hair of BioShock 4. With the lack of much official word about its direction or release date, a slew of rumors and leaks have trickled out since. Some of these have suggested that BioShock 4 has been experiencing various development issues, changing visions and designs as developer Cloud Chamber works to nail down the highly-anticipated fourth entry.
Other information has been slightly more positive though, with some previous job postings for BioShock 4 lending a small measure of encouragement that the project continues to make progress. Whatever is going on behind the scenes at the studio, the silence around BS4 remains for now. And with this in mind, there's a good spread of games in a similar vein that could aid in filling the void until it hopefully eventually releases.
BioShock's creator, Ken Levine, and his studio Ghost Story Games, have been working on their upcoming title, likened to a spiritual successor. However, Judas has now missed its March 2025 release window, and the developer has not provided any updates at this time.
As the Wait for BioShock 4 and Judas Continues, Games Should Still Look to Ken Levine's 'Narrative Legos' Idea
Ken Levine, the architect behind BioShock and the upcoming Judas, once proposed a "narrative Legos" concept that more game developers should explore.
Games to Play While Waiting for BioShock 4
Revisit the Original Trilogy
It may be an obvious starting point, but for fans for whom it's been a while, or who haven't gotten to them, all three BioShock entries remain worthy of a playthrough, especially since the 2016 BioShock Collection bundled the remastered versions of BS1 and BS2 together with BioShock: Infinite. Jumping back into any of these is a solid warm-up ahead of BioShock 4 and is a good reminder of how and why the franchise made such an impact on gaming.
Excellent Other "Shock-Likes" To Check Out Before BioShock 4
- Singularity (2010)
- Dishonored series (2012, 2016, 2017)
- System Shock Enhanced Edition/Remake (2015/2023)
- Soma (2015)
- We Happy Few (2016)
- Prey (2017)
- Close to the Sun (2019)
- Ghostwire Tokyo (2022)
- Atomic Heart (2023)
- Stalker 2 (2024)
- Avowed (2025)
- Atomfall (2025)
All of the above titles share a number of aspects with BioShock and contain similar vibes across their stories, gameplay, or both. Singularity is a somewhat forgotten but hidden gem from the Xbox 360/PS3 era involving time travel, and one of the earliest games clearly taking inspiration from BioShock. Night Dive's work on modernizing BioShock's own predecessor provides a great take on the 1994 classic. Others like Close to the Sun and Soma draw heavily upon BioShock's retro steampunk aesthetics, underwater settings, and philosophical musings, but lack combat.
Arkane Studio's Dishonored franchise and its often underrated Prey align closely with BioShock's gameplay and environmental design, and also invoke similar themes. Ghostwire Tokyo may seem like more of a stretch, but its use of weaponized mystical sigils against hordes of invading malevolent spirits strongly resembles some of BioShock's iconic plasmids, and is a more unique setting compared to the others.
More recently, Obsidian Entertainment's Avowed has a combat system mixing spells, melee, and ranged options that also feels very "BioShock-y", albeit within a fantasy framework. Atomfall, from Sniper Elite developer Rebellion, was closely compared to Fallout, but like We Happy Few, its dystopian world and plot twists echo those of BioShock's.
Whether for the first time or going back after many years, checking out any of the titles on the above list could help make the wait for BioShock 4 more palatable, and are fun and enjoyable experiences unto themselves. They could also provide some good inspiration for BioShock 4 and how it might continue to evolve the franchise while hopefully staying true to the core components that made it stand out in the first place.
- Released
- February 26, 2013
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Cloud Chamber
- Publisher(s)
- 2K Games
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 3
- Franchise
- BioShock
- Genre(s)
- FPS
