A carefully worded job listing at Cloud Chamber could be hinting at big changes coming to combat and environments in BioShock 4. The BioShock series, one of the highest-selling video games of all time, was also a critical success and remains a landmark achievement in first-person storytelling. BioShock 4, the next entry in the series, is currently in development, and the project remains shrouded in mystery. A job listing for Lead Combat Designer could provide a window into the direction Cloud Chamber will be taking while developing BioShock 4.
The BioShock games have left a long-lasting legacy of gripping first-person narratives, empathetic characters, and two beautifully designed cities no one should ever live in since the release of BioShock in 2007. However, it has been 15 years since the first BioShock game was released, and nearly a decade since the most recent game, BioShock Infinite. Game development has changed dramatically in that time, and the team at Cloud Chamber will have a completely new set of tools to build the next BioShock adventure.
New development tools and experiences could allow Cloud Chamber to create the BioShock game to end all BioShock games. Though the original BioShock created a beautiful environment and told a terrific story, the enemy encounters and environmental interactions were linear by design. Players followed a relatively straightforward plot and moved through self-contained levels that created interesting (but strictly staged) encounters. Bioshock 4 could be more open-world in its design, with new combat designs to break free from the linear nature of the original games.
Reactive Environments Can Breathe New Life Into BioShock 4
A more reactive environment would breathe life into the richly designed worlds of BioShock. Instead of encountering the same four Splicers in the same level area, players could discover fresh enemies and new quests in a dynamic, shifting world. BioShock 4 could honor the series' trademark first-person storytelling, while generating new, repayable experiences through a dynamic environment that ebbs and flows with the players' progress.
BioShock 4 is still a long ways off, as Cloud Chamber is continuing to hire development team . In the meantime, now is the best time to play the BioShock games, as all three have been remastered in the high-definition BioShock: The Collection. The collection includes all of the best things about BioShock: the original games in HD, plus a bevy of behind-the-scenes extras and a fully explorable "museum" of abandoned ideas and character models from the first game. BioShock 4 is all but guaranteed to follow in its predecessors' footsteps.