Judas’ latest gameplay still looks a lot like a sci-fi BioShock, now with evil Brum and a robot chef
Yep, definitely a Ken Levine game
The latest taste of Judas, the spiritual successor to BioShock from the former director of BioShock, has confirmed that, yes, this is definitely a game from at least some of the people that made BioShock. That looks to be only a good thing, mind.
First revealed by Ken Levine and developers Ghost Story Games during The Keighleys in 2022, Judas definitely pitched itself as “what if BioShock, but on a space station instead of underwater” from the off, with hints of twists and mystery in its narrative.
The latest story trailer shown during Sony’s State of Play tonight continues the clear BioShock inspiration, opening with glimpses of a creepy-looking mannequin (on top of a grand piano straight out of Rapture’s Fort Frolic, no less) and someone trapped in what looks like a transparent iron maiden before cutting to an impassioned speech from a dirt and blood-splattered character telling the viewer - the player themselves, perhaps - that they are “the frog in a pot, boiling” before promising to set them free “whether you like it or not”. Naturally, that’s followed by the overlay of a computer confirmation for a “catastrophic systems failure” and a meteor crashing down into a fireball.
We see characters wrestling with shotguns and an unseen crowd hurling literal thumbs-down at a cowboy-hatted performer on stage before the real action of the gameplay kicks off, the player pistol-whipping what looks like an evil Brum and using BioShock plasmids with the serial numbers filed off - fire, telekinesis, lightning - to kill what I can only describe as a humanoid orange zebra and a buzzsaw-swinging chef robot before being sucked into space.
Soundtracked to intense vocalising and set against levels halfway between futuristic space station and Victorian fairground, it all screams “Remember BioShock??? You’ll like this!!!!” Honestly, I’m here for it - it looks utterly wild in the best ways.
We know that Judas is headed to Steam and Epic, but we still don’t know when that will be, as no release date was given despite being told it was “coming soon” almost two years ago now.