Judas Was “Much, Much Harder to Make” Than BioShock, Says Ken Levine

Ken Levine has been on the down-low for over a decade but returns to the director’s chair with Ghost Story Games’ Judas later this year. While the shooter may appear akin to the BioShock series, Levine told GamesIndustry.biz that it aims to be “much more hopefully reflective of players’ agency.”

Interestingly, Levine considers BioShock to be more of a “corridor” from a development standpoint. “BioShock, if you look at it from a development standpoint – and this may be a bit alienating to some readers – but it’s basically a corridor.

“A very, very long corridor with a bunch of trigger points that make story elements happen. Judas is made very, very differently and that makes it much more hopefully reflective of players’ agency, but also much, much harder to make.”

Judas will seemingly differ by observing players and commenting on their actions at points. “Even just characters observing a long range of player action and commenting on it. ‘Hey, you saw this, and you did that, and then you did this, and that was interesting because that caused that’ – we’re doing that kinda stuff right now.”

Naturally, it’s a “huge amount of work” when considering all the potential decisions. There’s also having to write “in-character responses for different characters to those actions in a way that feels organic.”

Judas is in development for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Set in a spaceship, the story focuses on the titular protagonist’s attempt to escape. Of course, circumstances can change depending on your actions, especially when attempting to work alongside other crew members. Head here for more details.

Though it doesn’t have a release date, parent company Take-Two Interactive said it’s expected to launch by March 2025. Stay tuned for updates.