It was with a heavy heart that we brought you the news of Ken Levine‘s decision to wind down Irrational Games as we knew it. As the creators of System Shock, BioShock and several other projects, this was a developer that established a reputation in the industry for shooters that struck a balancing act between intriguing storylines and novel gameplay mechanics.
Now, more than one year on, the influential creative director has broken the silence on his new project in an interview with Game Informer, revealing that player agency, character relationships and interactions with NPCs will form the building blocks of this all-new experience.
The whole system that I came up with and that we’re developing is based upon the fact that to make an interesting character, you have to have a character who has a bunch of passions, wants, and needs. The player now has the ability to facilitate those wants or needs or go against those wants or needs or ignore those wants or needs.
When you look at BioShock and BioShock Infinite, you had some tiny bits [of agency] with the Little Sisters when you harvested, but it led to one of two monolithic endings,” he says. “In the new game, you have very fluid relationships with the characters.
You can check out the extensive interview over on Game Informer’s official site, where Levine delves into the finer details of operations at his new studio. And though the up-and-coming company is still without a name, it’s understood that it’s beginning to find its feet, and voiceover work has already begun with at least one actor on the nascent project Levine alludes to in the above snippet.
We’ll have much more for you on the future of Ken Levine‘s project in the months to come. For now, tell us, do you hope the creative director will offer something radically new with this new IP? Give us your hopes and trepidations down below.
