Bioshock: Next Up, An Open World

[Husky_Khan]

2K Games in Montreal, whose developing the next Bioshock game, issued a statement for job openings with the following description:

Cloud Chamber is looking for a Senior Writer to join our talented Narrative team to bring the world of BioShock to life once again. Under the supervision of the Lead Writer, and collaborating closely with the Narrative and Design teams, our Senior Writer will craft memorable narrative arcs, write dialogue, and breathe life into our characters. Experience in writing for games, with a particular aptitude for managing the nuances of interactive storytelling, would be ideal for this role. We’re hoping to find someone who can weave impactful, character-driven stories in an open world setting.

So it seems like BioShock 4, in whatever form it takes, will likely be a more open world style game.

The next BioShock will be an open-world game

A job ad at Cloud Chamber for a senior writer suggests BioShock 4 will be open-world

www.pcgamesn.com

 

[FriedCFour]

Doesn’t surprise me. Freaking Halo is going in that direction. Campaign based FPS just seems to be dying out.

 

[Battlegrinder]

Doesn’t surprise me. Freaking Halo is going in that direction. Campaign based FPS just seems to be dying out.

I'm not sure if I'd say that campaign based games are dying out, I would phrase it as quasi-liner map based campaigns fading. A campaign isn't defined as just a series of maps, it's about an ongoing liner story. Far Cry has a campaign, mincraft does not.

That said, yeah, open world is definitely becoming the new "extremely brown modern military shooter" imdustry dominating mega-fad.

 

[ParadiseLost]

Doesn’t surprise me. Freaking Halo is going in that direction. Campaign based FPS just seems to be dying out.

Halo Infinite is not open world. Its still a linear campaign.

Its just a more dynamic campaign, like BOCW. For example, the developers say that at points in Halo Infinite you can make choices that will affect the rest of the campaign - for example, you might choose to try to reach an alien base on foot, or you might choose to steal a Banshee and participate in a large dogfight and attempt to gain access to the base through a completely different entrance, leading to a different experience in attempting to get wherever from there.

 

[Laskar]

Again? Open worlds are a fad again? Didn't Borderlands kick off something similar back in the day, where everything had to be an open-world looter shooter? Or did the fad just never die out.

I think it's worrisome that they're trying to hire a writer who can write an open world game. Don't get me wrong, interactive storytelling takes a special kind of talent, but it screams to me that they're jumping on the latest fad with whatever IP they have on hand. I'm not sure that Bioshock is suited to that. It'll either be great, or terrible, nothing in between.

I'm not sure if I'd say that campaign based games are dying out, I would phrase it as quasi-liner map based campaigns fading. A campaign isn't defined as just a series of maps, it's about an ongoing liner story. Far Cry has a campaign, mincraft does not.

If you want a dead genre, go look at the RTS. FPS games with a linear sequence of levels may fade, but they'll never die out.

 

[ParadiseLost]

If you want a dead genre, go look at the RTS.

Hardly. All Paradox Grand Strategy Games are essentially RTS. C&C Remaster was very popular. Aven Colony is a thing... Mindustry... Factorio...

Yes, a lot of RTS games tend to now either be very high level strategy games or basebuilders, but RTS is hardly dead.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Hardly. All Paradox Grand Strategy Games are essentially RTS. C&C Remaster was very popular. Aven Colony is a thing... Mindustry... Factorio...

Yes, a lot of RTS games tend to now either be very high level strategy games or basebuilders, but RTS is hardly dead.

When people talk about RTS, they're usually talking about stuff like Dune II, Starcraft, Impossible Creatures, Supreme Commander, etc. Military RTS where you load into a map, gather resources, build a base, build up an army, and then go blow up the other guy's base in about an hour of playtime. Factions with different units and playstyles, etc. Main gameplay is on tactics.

Paradox's games are a different genre: They are 4x. Building up and managing a nation over a long save that can last dozens of to hundreds of hours. Main gameplay is managing stat spreadsheet windows. Lots of random events that happen. Etc.

Base builders like Sim City are also different. You're playing a long save that is going to last dozens of hours. Yes it's real time but you're usually not being rushed by the threat of being wiped out and losing like in a RTS match. Main gameplay is planning out your layout and resource spend ahead of time so things are easier on later.

The only recent RTS games I can think of are Planetary Annihilation, and Iron Harvest, both of which were kickstarter games with negative fan feedback at launch. Skimming through the recent Steam reviews for PA, it seems to have higher reception now, but Iron Harvest isn't looking too good (devs are trigger happy with their bans, anyone who criticizes the game gets banned, terrible online support, bugs, etc).

 

[ParadiseLost]

The only recent RTS games I can think of are Planetary Annihilation, and Iron Harvest, both of which were kickstarter games with negative fan feedback at launch. Skimming through the recent Steam reviews for PA, it seems to have higher reception now, but Iron Harvest isn't looking too good (devs are trigger happy with their bans, anyone who criticizes the game gets banned, terrible online support, bugs, etc).

Iron Harvest has good reviews.

There's also Northgard and They are Billions, if you want to be so specific.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Oh yeah They Are Billions was super fun. It almost had me amazed at how original it was until I realized it was basically just a well made RTS. Which ain't taking anything away from it. It's a solid game of which many hours were sunk into.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Behold Hampture!

This real-life Andrew Ryan is building a Rapture for hamsters

Would you kindly run a few laps in the wheel?

www.pcgamer.com

Alex Beyman is actually an undersea explorer and writer/YouTuber so sadly only is halfway to Andrew Ryan greatness. But he has invested a decade in creating Underwater Hamster cities... for some reason that's undoubtedly nefarious.