Bioshockcreator Ken Levine has recently confirmed that his next project, which is being developed by Ghost Story Games,Judas, will not have a modern gaming trend that most players seem to loath.
According to Levine, during a deep dive interview withNightdive Studios,Judaswill not feature any online components or live service elements, with Levine saying: “we’re not gonna push any of that stuff on you”(viaEurogamer). Levine continued his statement, cementing his stance on Judas' release strategy, saying:“You buy the game and you get the whole thing. There’s no online component. There’s no live service, because everything we do is in service of telling the story and transporting the player somewhere.”
Levine also went on to praise the leadership of Ghost Studio Games for allowingJudasto just be a single-player, offline experience. He stated:“This is no diss on any developers who have done that, because look, games are expensive to make, and we’re very fortunate to work at a company where they believe in us enough…”
Everything We Know About Judas
A Spiritual Successor To Bioshock
Judasis a first-person action-adventure game and is aspiritual successor to theBioshockfranchise. The game features combat very similar to Bioshock, with a focus on combining weapons and special powers, similar to the Plasmids fromBioshock. Judas is the main character and seeks to break free of a society governed by computers and AI aboard the game’s ship, the Mayflower. Keeping in line withBioshock, the game isheavy on sci-fi elements.
Reportedly,no AI is being used to develop the game, which is also a real-life touch on the game’s narrative, being focused on AI governing human lives and societal values.Judasis reportedly set to featurea lot of ways to alter the story, with the concept being described by Levine as “narrative LEGOS.” Levine had those ideas for a while, but never found a way to implement them in theBioshockgames. Surprisingly, we still don’t have a release date for the game, despite it previously aiming for a March 2025 release.
Online Gaming Has Its Issues
Microtransactions, Incomplete Games, And More
In a world that is seemingly always connected online, it’s refreshing to hear thatJudaswill be a strictly offline experiencethat is complete straight out of the box. Online games have their place, of course. Fans ofMarvel Rivals,Destiny 2, and several others quite enjoy the live-service model and their favorite games getting more content. On the other hand, a lot of players wish not to have to be connected online to play single-player games or have microtransactions, likeMiddle-Earth: Shadow of War’smanymicrotransactions, despite being mostly single-player.
This is good news forJudas, even though the game’s development seems troubled, and with no potential release date in sight, it might be a while before we see it again. Levine confirmed the title is still in development as of April this year, after it missed its scheduled release window, so hopefully, development smooths out, and we seeJudasagain sometime soon.
