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Why the Next-Gen Needs a Good “Shock”

Why the Next-Gen Needs a Good “Shock”

Every once in a while, rumors about major IPs come around again. We’ll have a company hint about new games being in development. Maybe it’ll suggest an old favorite could be coming back. Well, the November 2019 Take-Two Interactive earnings call for the second financial year’s quarter got people talking about BioShock , even though the series’ title never actually was spoken. But, it actually brings up a good point. The PlayStation 5 and next Xbox could be a perfect home for a new entry.

It could be an opportunity to give people a chance to really see Rapture in a new way. Now, this is going to make you all feel pretty old, but the original BioShock turned twelve years old in 2019. It originally appeared on the Xbox 360 and PC and, while it eventually received a remaster in 2016 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, it was a case of prettying up an older game. Putting a whole new installment on the PlayStation 5 and next Xbox is a real opportunity to bring this world to life. There are all sorts of technologies we have now and didn’t then, and it could be a glorious way to take people under the sea.

Especially since, well, there are so many directions a third game could take. We know Rapture was built in 1940. In 1958, Atlas led an attack on its creator, Andrew Ryan, and Subject Delta was killed and separated from his Little Sister, Eleanor. We followed Jack as he headed into Rapture in 1960. In 1968, Subject Delta was tasked with rescuing Eleanor, with one of two possible endings awaiting as the results of his actions. A BioShock 3 could be set before New Year’s Eve on 1958 and follow people or a person caught up in the attack that would change Rapture forever. It could be set between 1960 and 1968, showing what the city is like in that terrible time where all hell has broken loose.

The best part is, all of these different possible time periods could afford their own gameplay opportunities. If we had a game set around 1958, we could have a single-player game that perhaps involved someone trying to save as many people as possible while surviving or trying to get out of Rapture as society crumbled. A BioShock 3 set between 1960 and 1968 could be a sort of games as a service title, with various objectives as you form alliances and work together to get by in a dilapidated world. If it was set after 1968, it might be interesting to explore the aftermath of the “bad” ending as people on the surface deal with Rapture’s legacy seeping into the rest of the world.

Why the Next-Gen Needs a Good “Shock”

Even if the decision was made to go with an entirely new game, like BioShock Infinite , things could work. That helped convey the same sort of sense of uprising and need to escape. It still had the supernatural-seeming powers and the sense of desperation against formidable foes and demented leaders who somehow took power. Given the political and social climate of the world, it’d be a good time for a whole new take that imagines a new sort of series, different kind of dystopia, and likely surprising twist.

We could use a new BioShock game. Take-Two Interactive, during its financial calls, is always promising bigger and better games from returning IPs. BioShock Infinite dropped all the way back in 2013. The series has always been a success. A new game really is due. What better time to hop in than with the next generation? PlayStation 5 and next Xbox owners would surely appreciate a new installment acting as a staple, and the games we’ve seen so far have left it in a good position.

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