
One of the best-written games ever made, BioShock Infinite was infamously a nightmare to work on. It required a herculean effort to complete "Project Icarus" from everyone at Irrational Games, including creative director and lead writer Ken Levine. A critical and commercial success by every metric, within a year of launch, Irrational Games was gone. 2K Games' decision to shutter the studio shocked the entire industry, including Levine.
In the latest issue of Edge magazine (thanks, PC Gamer), Levine reflected on the difficult period, part of which stemmed from the drastically increased headcount required, going from BioShock to Infinite (BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin, the series' Dark Souls 2 if you will). Despite it all, Infinite received nearly universal acclaim from critics and fans when it was released in 2013 and has sold over 11 million copies since. Levine explains where things went awry:
"You're this creative person and, all of a sudden, as your vision increases of what you want to do, you have to become a manager in a way that you don't necessarily have any training or skill in. My mental health was a mess during Infinite. I was stressed out; a lot of personal things were going on in my life at the time, and then my parents both died. I couldn't do it any more, and I didn't think I had the team's confidence."
Needing to get back to something small scale, Levine took a core group of developers to begin the long work on what would ultimately become Judas and Ghost Story Games. Levine explains that he hoped that parent company Take-Two would keep Irrational together, which would make sense, as the first two games would later be remastered for BioShock: The Collection (from Blind Squirrel Games):
"My intention was to go [to Take-Two] and say, 'Look, I just need to start a new thing, and Irrational should continue. That's why I didn't maintain the name Irrational. I thought they were going to continue. But it wasn't my company–I sold it, so I worked for Take-Two, and the studio was theirs.The decision was made at a corporate level that they didn't think they should continue with the studio as a going concern. My feeling was that it probably would have made sense. Take-Two did a BioShock remaster: That would have been a good title for Irrational to get their head around, build a new creative director structure, and then build off that once they had the confidence to do the next BioShock game. I don't think I was in any state to be a good leader for the team."
We still don't have a release date after over a decade of development, but it could simply drop out of the sky. Lest we forget, according to its 2023 financial filings, Take-Two, at least, expects Judas out by March 2025, which is coming up pretty quickly. No pressure, Ken!
Have you been hanging out for Levine's next game as long as we have? Can Judas possibly blow our now-adult minds in the same goosebump-inducing fashion both BioShock and Infinite did? Attempt to keep your expectations in check in the comments section below.
[source awin1.com]
Comments 46
Judas feels like it will never come out but you know it’s going to be insane when we’re playing it on PS7.
Love the Bioshocks, even the 2nd. If any games need a graphical remaster though, it’s these. The character models are a joke, the textures are flat and simplistic, animation quality is extremely poor etc. Don’t get me wrong; the artistic direction is Best in Class. Second to none really, particularly the first game. But man oh man the games do not hold up visually. And yes that includes the “Remastered” versions we did get. The games need a complete graphical overhaul a la Bluepoint’s work on SotC or DS. Then they’d be perfect. Fingers crossed Judas looks visually appealing.
Infinite is truly dire. The end result of auteur mentality.
Everyone is talking about how crazy February’s release schedule is, but if it’s true Judas and Metal Gear Solid Delta both arrive in March, everyone is overwhelmed by the wrong month right now.
@Balaam_ how dare games that are over a decade old look old
@trev666
Bioshock had weird animation and incredibly plasticky looking character models even when it was released. The Unreal 2 engine was showing it's age by 2007. Infinite still holds up graphically though in my opinion.
@nessisonett Perhaps you don't understand it. Best to revisit before you badmouth someone who has truly earned the title "auteur"
Slightly off topic, similar to Judas and other games, I’m shocked that we are now in 2025 and we don’t have any release dates for any Sony first party titles.
@Vega37 no buddy that guys always correct..you've just been cancelled..
Judas is poised to be another Bioshock. Ken can be difficult to work with, but the best always are. Judas will come in time, when it's ready. Give the man his earned time, and be thankful for when it's finally ready. He only makes masterpieces.
First time I have ever seen bioshock infinite described as "the best game ever written." It's good granted but hardly the best ever. Personally I think the original deus ex and system shock are right up there above this.
@Northern_munkey Dude I don't even know what you're referring to but I hadn't even replied yet and you had a response with me tagged in it
@Vega37 your response to ness***** (#7)
Game dev seems like the most problematic, stressful and miserable profession there is. I don’t know why anyone does it.
@Vega37 If you take the immersive sim out of an immersive sim, what you get is a bog-standard FPS that has aged like milk. One with the political nuance of a half-eaten Toblerone. Seriously, people are stuck in 2013. The game is a mess, you can tell exactly which underbaked segments clearly were cut to ribbons. The final boss is a wave of enemies that you’d see three quarters of the way through any other shooter, then it sort of just ends. It’s rose-tinted glasses because of the twist at the end that everyone remembers.
"One of the best-written games ever made, BioShock Infinite"
😂😂😂😂😂
I knew standards were low, but seriously?
The base game is a an incoherent mess that crumbles under a minimum of scrutiny, and the DLC's are simply abysmal, to the point of really looking amateurish.
Yeah Bioshock Infinite is def not a well written game and the metascore shows you that even critics fall into hype because it def isn’t a 93 game
@OmegaStriver because pubs are waiting to see if GTA 6 is going to land and where
only the first bioshock is good to me, i don’t know what happened to the series after that . bioshock 1 is one of a kind
@Vega37 lol nothing about Infinite is hard to understand it’s amateurish crap that tries to both sides things one of the main conflicts and looks dumb doing it
I find Infinite fascinating. It is quite visibly a game cut in half and spliced together and in 2013 which had TLOU and GTA 5 as the other two of The Big 3 that year, it clearly has the least cultural staying power and weakest contemporary reception. The politics of the Vox Populi and The Founders is laughably bad and aged horribly. The combat wasn't good. That ghost boss fight is terrible. The songbird isn't used enough. Booker DeWitt isn't a great character and teh game lacks a Andrew Ryan or Sofia Lamb level villain.
But it is also a game that had so many good ideas that I think may have been better off targeting the PS4/XONE with its ambitions. It also has one of my favorite endings in modern games. Columbia is a beautiful city, I loved the idea of the skyhook even in its truncated form. I thought Elizabeth was a good character and I love the music, character and art design.
I also remember Infinite because IGN had that Exclusive review which was 3-4 days before other outlets and was unsurprisingly a 10/10. It was one of those things that would later hurt their credibility in 2015 when a certain "gate" happened.
Bioshock infinite was so good it killed its studio
I liked the story of infinite and how with the DLC is wound around right back to the start of Bioshock, and the setting of an America obsessed with its own superiority worked well. The gameplay however was very poor compared to the original. It felt very watered down after playing the originals and some design choices like rng outfit discovery was just baffling.
Love Bioshock 1 & Infinite but never finish Bioshock 2. I'm also not yet play Infinite DLC's. Time to get the remastered collection.
@OmegaStriver Bruh relax. It still very early January. They will announce the release date at State of Play.
I will never forgive the burial at sea DLC, because it destroys the story/lore of the previous 2 games.... so yeah not well written.
Call me nuts but Bioshock 2 has always been my favorite. WAY better gameplay and overall just a fun romp, with a solid plot twist. Obviously it wouldn’t exist without the first game, so credit where credit is due. Infinite, on the other hand… I was never a big fan of… so reading these comments by Levine isn’t surprising. Still, very much looking forward to Judas!
@ear_wig Bioshock 2 is a great game and gets way too much hate.
I didn't think much of Infinite, it was ok but very overrated. I appreciate these things are subjective and I'm happy for those who enjoyed it more than I did.
Still waiting for the Bioshock game that was promised for the Vita!
Wow.that was a deep story.and i always wonder why ken levine didn't have the rights to irrational games.bioshock is one of my favorite video games franchises ever.word up son
I own Infinite on PS4 and PC and I've never completed it for to the point you recuse the girl but that's about it
I actually really dislike Bioshock Infinite. It felt disjointed and a polar opposite to the marvelous, incredibly cohesive and groundbreaking first game, which is one of my personal favourites. Bioshock 2 was serviceable, but ultimately forgettable.
On account of how incredible the first Bioshock is and how similarly exciting Judas is looking, it's currently one of my most anticipated upcoming titles.
@ear_wig Bioshock 2 is my favorite narrative as well as gameplay. Somehow it was the most personal and controversial opinion but Sofia Lamb is a much better villain then Andrew Ryan or Fontaine. I loved how they handled the karma too.
@OmegaStriver I don't think they have any until after April based on last years earnings. I assume Yotei will be summer like Tsushima and DS2 awards season.
@Vega37 Some folks just don't get it. Gameplay-wise, yeah, Infinite isn't anything to write home about (though the grind rails are freaking fantastic), but those high concepts... chef's kiss.
The commentary on American Exceptionalism, while simultaneously showing some of the darkest aspects of humanity, is amazing. The fact that they took the Founding Fathers and turned them into religious prophets... soooo goood. And that is all without even mentioning the multiple reality or predestination angle.
Just replayed Infinite, not having played it since launch, and its still a wonderful game. Also played the DLCs for the first time and I didn't much like them at all. The new ending was just awful.
I don't have enough popcorn for all the pseudocritical comments triggered into barking at Infinite again. And that's before they hear that B2 remains damn worthwhile across the board, too.
@Balaam_ art direction is already how game visuals hold up and stand out. And while only Infinite came out close to the approximate time of 3DCG graphics reaching their evolution peak, the first two games are a far cry from the submedium's Gen 5 infancy and look great in their own right. The only compromises stem from budget/time shortage (like Tennenbaum's limited onscreen appearances in B1 which just used a female splicer model), but YMMV if these instances alone warrant a full remake where the potential of more useful features like gyro aiming didn't.
@dark_knightmare2 lol, but somehow Horizon is a masterpiece because of the same Metascore you're (correctly) insinuating means nothing here, which is lower for Horizon than Infinite btw.
Sorry but I couldn't resist pointing out the irony of your comment, you truly do just cheesy pick whatever suits you in the moment.
@PuppetMaster I’m glad I have Avowed coming next month and Split Fiction coming in March to keep me busy because PlayStation sure isn’t.
I absolutely adore both Bioshock and Infinite and I cannot wait for Judas
@OmegaStriver Split Fiction also come out for PS5. And I'm pretty sure many PS5 owners will be busy with DW Origins, Freedom Wars remastered, and MH World before Ghost of Yokai, Death Stranding 2, Lost Soul Aside, and more exclusives that will release this year.
But hey, good for you Xbox fans. Now you have games to play 😁
I like the part where Chuck Norris builds a lighthouse
I like system shock 2 and bioshock 1, bioshock infinite is good too but its different than previous shock game, it's more action oriented, cod like game. I hope judas is a slower game like system and bioshock rather than faster pace shooter like infinite.
I'm a huge Bioshock one and two fan, pre-ordered both way, way back, and also own the book, when it comes to Infinite? I can't stand it, it's not a Bioshock game in anything other than name only.
While I am happy to wonder through Rapture still even these days, Infinite was a waste of my money and time. I know people won't like that view but everyone has their own feelings about games, and mine is extremely negative. I'm glad the franchise has ended.
Reboot it by all means, but please don't try to resurrect it, or have the fools who did the Fallout show kept well away from Bioshock
@LieutenantFatman It wasn't overrated, it was just awful
One of the best written ever? Not sure about that. Seemed a mess to me, though it had some cool ideas. Very candid from Levine, wish more people would be so open.
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