Ken Levine, who is well known for being the main mind behind the Bioshock series, has released a new blog on PlayStation’s website detailing a new big feature coming in his next game, Judas. Called Villainy, this seems to be a new take on Shadow of Mordor’s often praised Nemesis System. However, with that feature being under a copyright for who knows how long, Ghost Story Games has to provide something different. In this case, Villainy is focused on a “Big Three” group of characters, where as you go through the story your actions and choices will decide which of them becomes a villain in the story.
What is Villainy in Judas?
In the blog, Levine writes that these big three characters will all be vying for your attention a lot. It sounds like no matter what you do, one will always be left out and become the villain, and when that happens, the goal is for that character to feel like a big loss to the player. As of this writing, we don’t exactly know what choices the player can make to alienate that one person away, but one example of a smaller way they turn on you is a sheriff character unleashing a Rent-a-Deputy to attack you instead of aiding you.
Levine takes quite a few moments to bring up past experiences with Bioshock, including how players spent a lot of time in Bioshock Infinite learning about Elizabeth. In Judas, the Big Three seem to be watching your every move and will form opinions on you around that.
Key art for the game was also revealed, which features the titular main character, a shadowy character behind her who may be the main antagonist, and presumably the Big Three mentioned above who seem to be a sheriff, a little girl with pink hair, and a woman who seems to have quite a bit of wealth. We don’t know these characters’ names or their motivations right now, which is right in line with how secretive Levine and Ghost Story Games have been since Judas was revealed in 2022.
We still don’t know when Judas is expected to release, but it is exciting to finally get some more details about the game. The Villainy system in Judas by no means will be as big as the Nemesis System, but hopefully it can carve out an interesting and creative way to interact with these big three.
