Back in early-2014 Ken Levine made the shocking, some might say irrational, decision to shut down Irrational Games, the studio behind the critically acclaimed BioShock series. Ken’s stated reason for closing the studio was that he wanted to work with a smaller team on more personal, experimental titles. Thus far we’ve received very few clues as to what Levine’s new project might entail.
Well, yesterday Levine took to Twitter to discuss his new game and frankly it sounds a lot like BioShock. The game will be sci-fi, large in scope and be played through a first-person perspective, with the big change being how the story is told – according to Levine the game will have a “Lego narrative” where various chunks of story can be recombined in different ways based on how you play the game. Here are a few of Levine’s more interesting Tweets…
RT @braxton_wheeler: @IGLevine what is the game about? will it be first person or third? -Current thinking is first.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
@Trey_Tice It's a new universe, not set in any existing.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
@SGuergachi –The scope will be large-ish, but heavily reliant on re-useable "lego" narrative and game systems, which are re-combineable
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
RT @Trey_Tice: give us a hint as to what this setting is? Or is that confidential? –We're playing with something sci fi. Or sci-fi ish.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
@mrsambarlow voice actors. But have to write them very differently so smaller chunks recombine in meaningful ways. Lots of headscratching.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
RT @deadlybit: @IGLevine Still sticking to 3 act structure? –no don't think that's relevant in what we're doing. i think more like chapters
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
RT @tweetyericsson: @IGLevine Telltale Games style? –No.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
@kevinscheidt A game with replayable narrative that can be added IN to like a civ expansion pack, vs. say a Burial at Sea.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
RT @No0nelmportant: movies that inspired this project? –Stylistically, yes. Been looking at formalism a la Kubrick and Wes Anderson.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
RT @Nick09: @IGLevine will there be a lighthouse in your new game? –There's always a lighthouse. But probably not in this game.
— Ken Levine (@levine) January 27, 2015
While we’re at it, here’s a video from a while back of Levine discussing the game’s Lego narrative approach. I have a sneaking suspicion Levine’s team may get larger and larger as this game develops and we may end up with something very BioShock-esque after all. Let’s hope.
via Gamespot