A little over a decade has passed since then BioShock Series creator Ken Levine closed Irrational Games should become “a smaller, more entrepreneurial venture”. Ghost story games. The studio’s first project, Judashas also been in the works for ten years and after a few trailers announcing it BioShock spiritual successor, the first previews have appeared. To no one’s surprise, the game continues to sound very similar BioShock, with the addition of so-called “narrative LEGOs,” an ambitious idea whose implementation still sounds unclear. In particular, a special preview of IGN has shed new light on how Judas takes shape.
IGNThis is Ryan McCaffrey, along with Game Awards presenter Geoff Keighley, had the opportunity to spend six hours playing a build of Judas and then sit down for an in-depth interview with Ken Levine. (Keighley also posted his own impressions of the preview on The Game Awards YouTube channel.) As previous trailers have shown, the game follows the titular Judas As she attempts to navigate three factions vying for power aboard the Mayflower, a colony ship leading humanity to Proxima Centauri. The gameplay includes elements that are familiar from BioShock. As Keighley says in his video, “There’s hand powers, there’s hacking.” There’s also mention of roguelite elements, but none of this IGN Keighley still goes all in on it, opting instead to keep the surprise for the players. The focus of the previews is on the narrative LEGOs, which Levine first talked about in one GDC lecture 2014.
What exactly are narrative LEGOs anyway? “The metaphor is basically like LEGO: you have a bunch of these pre-made bricks that are really well designed and the bricks know how to communicate with each other,” says Levine IGN. “You build up all these smaller pieces in the game and then teach the game how to essentially create good levels, a good story and, most importantly, respond to what you do.” As detailed in IGN and Keighley’s Previews, the primary way players interact with the narrative LEGOs Judas is done by the three main NPC characters.
These are Tom, Nefertiti and Hope. The three each have their own goal for the Mayflower and want to use Judas as a means to an end. Tom wants to preserve life aboard the ship, Nefertiti wants to create a completely robotic civilization without human error, and Hope just wants you to help erase them to end their suffering. “It’s up to you to take the side you want, but whatever choice you make has consequences,” he writes IGN. “Doing Tom a favor could upset Hope and/or Nefertiti and vice versa.”
Levine also describes the system as a non-linear experience that allows players to experience new situations from game to game. The three main NPCs can appear as a hologram for Judas at any time, helping or hindering her depending on their relationship, and they will often have conversations with you and each other based on your previous choices. The semi-procedurally generated nature of the narrative also extends to the structure of the Mayflower, which Levine says will be different each time you die and come back.
But even after six hours of practical time, nothing IGN nor Keighley can make it clear exactly how these lofty promises of narrative LEGOs actually pay off. That could be because six hours is still a relatively small slice, which may not really illuminate how these narrative building blocks work.
It also feels like the idea of narrative LEGOs might suffer from being tied to a game that’s been in development for a decade. During this time, games like 2014 were created Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (and his Nemesis system), Baldur’s Gate 3, And Dragon’s Dogma 2 have given players access to extensive gameplay narratives that provide multiple paths for the player to take, with their respective worlds and characters responding in detailed ways. A decade ago, JudasThe narrative LEGO bricks may have seemed like a bold idea for the future of gaming, but in 2024, with the game’s release date not yet in sight, they still have a lot more to prove.
