Judas - narrative FPS set on a disintegrating starship from Ken Levine's Ghost Story Games

[vortex]

How soon is Judas coming? I would guess around winter holiday.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Yeah but will it be any good? I mean there's a part of me that thinks when he's not buried up his own ass, Ken Levine can make a halfway decent game.

There's another part of me that thinks he got completely lucky as fuck and has no ability to replicate that. Kinda torn honestly.

Wish him well but I ain't gonna waste my shekels on it.

 

[Morgoth]

Yeah but will it be any good?

It will be 100% better than Bioshock 4.

 

[Morgoth]

What a likeable and humble chap.

 

[Morgoth]

 

[duskvile]

He said that Judas will be something new based on narrative legos. No random generation but handcrafted with smaller set pieces with modularity. Very excited to play it.

 

[Tweed]

It'll be a bunch of kvetching just like Bioshit Infinite was.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Meh. He doesn't have it.

 

[ciox]

It reeks of "downscale this shit in order to release it NOW!". Probably a lot of stuff getting cut from the narrative legos plan, until the end result as far as C&C is something close to many games already out there.
There will still be some entertainment value, but probably not for the reasons the team intended. It's more about seeing what bizarre form they can twist System Shock into, and Levine's strange chemistry-set style experiments where he tries to slightly dilute wokism without causing an explosion of internet seething.

 

[Roguey]

It reeks of "downscale this shit in order to release it NOW!". Probably a lot of stuff getting cut from the narrative legos plan, until the end result as far as C&C is something close to many games already out there.
There will still be some entertainment value, but probably not for the reasons the team intended. It's more about seeing what bizarre form they can twist System Shock into, and Levine's strange chemistry-set style experiments where he tries to slightly dilute wokism without causing an explosion of internet seething.

This game's been in development for nearly 10 years. They damn well ought to release something soon.

 

[ciox]

It reeks of "downscale this shit in order to release it NOW!". Probably a lot of stuff getting cut from the narrative legos plan, until the end result as far as C&C is something close to many games already out there.
There will still be some entertainment value, but probably not for the reasons the team intended. It's more about seeing what bizarre form they can twist System Shock into, and Levine's strange chemistry-set style experiments where he tries to slightly dilute wokism without causing an explosion of internet seething.

This game's been in development for nearly 10 years. They damn well ought to release something soon.

Time frames don't matter that much when you restart development several times, just look at Bioshock 4. Announced in 2019, first screenshot maybe sometime in 2024.

 

[Roguey]

Time frames don't matter that much when you restart development several times, just look at Bioshock 4. Announced in 2019, first screenshot maybe sometime in 2024.

It matters to the people funding this vanity project.

 

[Morgoth]

OT:

Ken Levine hails cancelled Irrational project as 'the best game we never got to make'​

The studio's monster-focused spinoff of SWAT was greenlit, before Bioshock became its sole focus.

Ken Levine, best-known for System Shock 2 and Bioshock, is not one for social media. Levine was the co-founder of Irrational Games and led the development of that studio's varied output in different creative roles for almost two decades, before the experience of developing Bioshock Infinite led to the studio's total restructuring as a much smaller operation.

Anyway, before Bioshock, there was SWAT 4: an excellent 2005 game, published by Sierra Entertainment, that was something of a revival for a more sim-oriented 90s series of shooters. Believe it or not, and this is going way back into the weeds now, SWAT began as a spinoff of the Police Quest adventure series, itself intended as an "authentic" depiction of law enforcement, hence SWAT 4's emphasis on proper rules of engagement and tactical gunplay.

SWAT 4 was a critical and commercial success and, as Irrational began concepting the game that would eventually become Bioshock, publisher Sierra wanted another SWAT title. Levine has said in the past the studio also "wanted the money really badly."

Irrational had made several very good games by this point—parts of SWAT 4 hint at the studio's future direction—and didn't want to just make another straightforward entry. So it combined the existing SWAT setup with a pre-existing pitch for a horror-focused shooter as SWAT: Special Division, which would later become known as Division 9. Levine has in the past made positive noises about this project, with a definite 'one that got away' undercurrent, but recently shared the only existing footage of the project and was unambiguous: "This, no doubt, is the best game we never got to make."

A post on the archived Irrational Blog includes the original pitch for the game as one where "Special Division is tasked with protecting the nation against the terrors that do not officially exist." Irrational used SWAT 4 to chuck-together the only gameplay demo of Division 9 that exists in around a week, and yes the similarities to some of what Left4Dead would go on to do are striking. The publisher liked the pitch, and things would have progressed from there, except Irrational got bought up by 2K and from thereon-in focused on Bioshock.

The footage that exists shows Division 9 as basically a slower and more tactical take on monster hordes versus spec ops, incorporating a bunch of original mechanics that allowed it to keep one foot in the sim-shooter side of things while going all-out on the monsters. A neat idea is how members of the squad can now become infected: completing the mission lets them receive treatment, but keeping them alive too long risks them turning.

Following Bioshock Infinite, Levine declared an intention to work on smaller projects, and is now creative director at Ghost Story Games, Irrational's successor. That studio is currently working on Judas, which last year got a reveal trailer: which, for all the talk of "narrative Legos" and a new way of doing things, looks… a lot like an heir to the Bioshock series.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Watching that video, it kind of looks like the idea of that game became that first person XCOM that eventually transformed into The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. That XCOM game started at Irrational Games, was moved over to Irrational Games Australia, who were later rebranded 2K Australia (there was a bit where Irrational was rebranded as 2K Boston) and then merged into 2K Marin (who also did BioShock 2) who would later take over the game completely after 2K Australia was shut down.

Talk about horrible mismanagement. Remember how fucking pissed of people were about that FPS XCOM game because there wasn’t a normal tactical X-COM happening, all the while 2K was sitting on the announcement of XCOM: Enemy Unknown. They could’ve easily quieted people down by just announcing Enemy Unknown was also in development, but they waited two years to announce Enemy Unknown and let internet outrage kill the FPS one in the meantime. I’m not sure I can think of another time a developer as done something like that.

 

[duskvile]

Wait, they've started with news articles. Maybe dev narrated gameplay trailer and release date will soon appear. Maybe at GA 2023.

 

[StrongBelwas]

 

[pOcHa]

atomic heart clone?

 

[Cyberarmy]

Why robots again? Best part of Bioshock was creepy and insane human enemies doing creepy and insane shit.

 

[Morgoth]

Why robots again? Best part of Bioshock was creepy and insane human enemies doing creepy and insane shit.

Bite my shiny metal ass.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I understand they really want everyone to think this is Bioshock1 again, but using exactly same production values might not be the best way to go about it?

And definitely one of the worst logos in history of mankind, seriously.

 

[toro]

Bioshock in space. I know that it will be mediocre shit with on the nose social commentary but I will play it.

edit: also Judas, the plot twist is visible from miles away

 

[ciox]

Explore the corridors of the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense.
The ship’s leaders tried to turn you into something you’re not: a model citizen. And you sparked a devastating revolution to tear it all down.

Ok, so I guess that's going to be controversial spicy bit for this game, Levine will very slightly criticize the pandemic psychosis, with the most gentle kiddy gloves possible, and it will nevertheless create a huge shitstorm. Let the games begin.

 

[Spukrian]

edit: also Judas, the plot twist is visible from miles away

The trailer shows explicitly that the main character causes the robots to become selfaware so I assume that isn't the plottwist.

Uhh... that the main character is a robot? That all humans in the game are robots?

Explore the corridors of the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense.
The ship’s leaders tried to turn you into something you’re not: a model citizen. And you sparked a devastating revolution to tear it all down.

Ok, so I guess that's going to be controversial spicy bit for this game, Levine will very slightly criticize the pandemic psychosis, with the most gentle kiddy gloves possible, and it will nevertheless create a huge shitstorm. Let the games begin.

So it's We Happy Few in Space with Robots!

 

[lightbane]

Happy Few is before the scamdemic, but the plot was also about manipulating people with a special medicine. Desu Ex would be a more fitting match, as now Warren says it's totally baseless conspiracy fodder.

 

[Spukrian]

A big part of We Happy Few is that if you don't conform the other citizens will beat you to death with frying pans. Comparable to "spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense" in the description.