BioShock 4 is targeting a 2022 release date and will take players to a city in 1960s Antarctica, according to journalist Colin Moriarty (via VGC) in a currently paywalled episode of Moriarty’s Sacred Symbols show. He explained that the fictional location is called Borealis, and BioShock 4 will feature a story tied to previous BioShock games in some form.
“[The game is] codenamed ‘Parkside’… I’ve been told that the development team has incredible latitude to get it right. That seems and sounds right to me,” Moriarty said.
Publisher 2K revealed Cloud Chamber in 2019 as a new studio dedicated to creating the next BioShock experience. Though a 2022 release window sounds a bit early, reports that emerged around the time of the studio’s reveal indicated that the developer may have been operating for a few years before it was officially unveiled. Moriarty said that Cloud Chamber has done its best to keep details about BioShock 4 secret. That said, job postings from last year suggested that the narrative-driven title will feature an “emergent sandbox world” with some RPG elements.
Cloud Chamber is composed of a number of veteran developers who worked on previous entries in the series, but series creator Ken Levine is not involved. The former Irrational Games creative director is busy with his own new title at Ghost Story Games, which is also being published by 2K parent company Take-Two Interactive.
BioShock took players to the underwater city of Rapture in 2007. A sequel was revealed to take place in the same location shortly after, and in 2013, the series saw its last entry with the cloudy settings of BioShock Infinite. Each entry in the franchise is known for its diverse, creative locations, so if the chilled setting of Borealis in Antarctica is indeed the next stop, fans will surely have a lot to look forward to in BioShock 4.
