BioShock 4's Combat & Encounters Target Imaginative Players

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A job listing at Cloud Chamber, the studio currently developing BioShock 4, suggests that the fourth installment in the first-person shooter series will focus on player ingenuity and a reactive game world. While BioShock and BioShock Infinite were developed by Irrational Games and directed by Ken Levine, the next entry in the series will instead be handled by a new division of 2K. Cloud Chamber has yet to reveal a BioShock 4 release date or gameplay, but a recent job listing could shed light on the title's gameplay.

2007's BioShock, and its 2010 sequel BioShock 2, brought players to the underwater objectivist utopia of Rapture following a violent civil war. Exploring themes like free will and human nature, and deconstructing video games as a medium, these early installments also delivered excellent first-person shooter combat. As successors to «immersive sim» role-playing games like System Shock 2, the titles give players the freedom to approach combat using various tools, environmental reactions and AI systems. While BioShock Infinite's flying world of Columbia served as an excellent contrast to Rapture, the third game also removed many combat systems in favor of a linear first-person shooter experience. The BioShock 4 setting won't be Rapture or Columbia, according to a 2020 job listing, with the fourth game instead bringing players to a brand-new fantasy metropolis.

Related: BioShock 4 Setting & Time Period Reportedly Leaked

A Cloud Chamber job listing, recently posted to Greenhouse, hints that BioShock 4 may return to the reactive systems-based combat featured in the first two games. While the Lead Combat Designer listing does not specify BioShock 4 as the intended project, the bottom of the job description does