At the end of 2019, 2K Games announced the founding of a new development team named Cloud Chamber, and that it would be making the next Bioshock game. Fast forward five years and we haven’t heard anything official about what Bioshock 4 is or even when we can expect it to release. However, with that much time, rumors will begin spinning, and job postings for the game seemed to point to the new game being open world. It’s a discussion that pops up now and then, but the Bioshock community is divisive on whether an open world setting for the next game would be good or not.
People are pretty split on the thread above. Some say they prefer the linear experience, but appreciate the ability to backtrack to previous areas like in the first Bioshock. Others have expressed they would be open to the series tested a Metroidvania-like system that allows you to unlock certain areas as you progress through the story. Of course, there are some who flat out completely shoot down the notion of Bioshock being open world.
Should Bioshock 4 be open world?
Throughout this discussion, one common thing we keep seeing is player confusion for what Bioshock would look like in the open world template. For example, the Metroidvania example above doesn’t fit that description. If we are talking about an open world like an Assassin’s Creed game that has a lot of open space and random collectibles to grab, we would be worried we are losing the Bioshock charm in it. That doesn’t mean we are completely against a Bioshock map opening up, but we’ve had three great games that all were pretty linear with excellent storytelling and fun gameplay. Those are pretty core to the Bioshock experience. If you change up the formula too much, you might as well call it something else.
Of course, all of this is pure discussion until Cloud Chamber fully reveals Bioshock 4. The studio may have a different definition of open world when it comes to Bioshock that doesn’t align with what the common player thinks of when they hear the term. It’s rather unlikely the game gets shown off in 2025, but until then we will sit here speculating.
