Everything We Know About BioShock Spiritual Successor Judas

It’s been over a decade since we’ve gotten a BioShock game and no official follow-up has been announced, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something on the horizon for fans of the franchise. Upcoming shooter Judas looks to be a BioShock game in everything but name, and it’s helmed by none other than Ken Levine, the creator of that beloved franchise. Judas was first revealed during the 2022 Game Awards and has been eagerly anticipated ever since. Here’s all the details we know about the BioShock spiritual successor from Levine’s studio, Ghost Story.

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Does Judas have a release date?We still don’t have a release date for Judas. The closest thing we have is a February 2023 statement to IGN from Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick saying that the game is planned to launch in March 2025. But with a year having passed since that statement and no official release date from developers, there’s no telling if that March 2025 date will actually materialize.

What platforms will Judas launch on?Judas will launch on PC via the Epic Games Store and Steam, as well as Xbox and Playstation 5. There is no word on a Switch version at the moment but if Judas comes out in 2025, then maybe it will release on that rumored Switch successor.

Is there a trailer for Judas?Yes! Judas first debuted at the 2022 Game Awards with a trailer that mostly focuses on setting the mood for the game’s sci-fi setting. The latest trailer shown during the January 2024 State of Play gave us a more in-depth look at gameplay, and a tease of Judas’s story.

What is the story of Judas?The story of Judas remains somewhat of a mystery. It looks way more sci-fi than any BioShock game, bringing to mind the System Shock series. A PlayStation Blog post following State of Play has this description of the game and its central setting:

“The corridors of the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to spy on one another and tear each other apart for the slightest offense. Where machines control every aspect of business, art, and government. The ship’s leaders tried to turn you into something you’re not: a model citizen. And you sparked a devastating revolution to tear it all down.”

What will Judas’s gameplay be like?

Screenshot: Ghost Story Games

Even by looking at the brief bits of gameplay footage we have, it’s immediately clear that Judas is heavily influenced by BioShock. That makes sense considering Ken Levine is at the helm. The State of Play trailer shows us that Judas will be a first-person im-sim shooter that has all the hallmarks of a BioShock title. We see the protagonist wielding guns in her right hand while her left hand is equipped with different forms of energy attacks that look almost identical to BioShock’s Plasmids. You can expect Judas to require players to balance gunplay with powers that interact with the environment and enemies in new ways as you collect them all. Basically, if you like BioShock, you will probably like the gameplay of Judas.

In the same PlayStation Blog post, Levine also indicated that Judas will feature a more non-linear story than his games typically do, writing, “We wanted to craft an experience where these decisions and how the story unfolds is up to you. Because you, as Judas, are the driver of every event in a story with a new cast of characters to get to know — and change — in ways you haven’t experienced before in our games.”

While you wait for Judas to release (hopefully in 2025), you can always take a trip down memory lane and revisit Rapture.