2K, the publisher behind the upcoming BioShock 4, announced its recruitment of a new lead narrative designer in Liz Albl.Albl has been a writer in the video game industry for some time, having worked in the past on games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Watch Dogs: Legion, Far Cry 4 and 5, and Ghost of Tsushima. Albl shared her excitement on social media, writing, "The dream is real!"
Albl began her career as a writing intern on Black Flag and was credited as a senior writer for her work on Ghost of Tsushima, which received a nomination at the 2020 Game Awards for Best Narrative. This will be her first time helming a project as the head of narrative design, rising from intern to lead writer in less than a decade.
Cloud Chamber Remains Tight-Lipped About BioShock 4
2K announced BioShock 4 back in 2019 alongside the formation of its new studio division Cloud Chamber, which was created explicitly for the development of the new BioShock game. The studio is led by former Firaxis executive producer Kelley Gilmore, who previously worked on titles such as Xcom 2 and Sid Meier's Civilization. The studio also includes a number of developers who worked on the original BioShock game, though the original creative director, Ken Levine, will not be involved. Very little is known about the game so far aside from some possible leaks, with Albl's announcement being one of the most significant public developments concerning BioShock 4 since it was first announced.
The original BioShock was released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac, and PC in 2007 to critical acclaim. It is currently one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic. Its sequel, BioShock 2, released in 2010 also received warm praise, though it never scored as highly as its predecessor. The next installment, BioShock Infinite, took the franchise to a bright new setting while retaining the core gameplay of the first two.
A BioShock movie is currently in development at Netflix with Blade Runner 2049 writer Michael Green and director Francis Lawrence attached. Lawrence helmed such films as Constantine and the final three Hunger Games films. The filmmaker is quoted calling BioShock "one of the greatest games of all time," indicating his enthusiasm for the project. However, much like the next installment in the video game series, the release date of the film is currently unknown.
BioShock: The Collection is available on current-gen consoles and on PC through the Epic Games store.
Source: Twitter, via IGN