Renowned designer Ken Levine invited IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey and The Game Awards creator Geoff Keighley to Ghost Story Games in Boston, where we spent six hours playing a recent build of his new narrative-driven single-player first-person shooter Judas, followed by a lengthy conversation with the award-winning game designer to discuss the long wait since BioShock Infinite, bringing the “narrative LEGOs” concept to life in Judas, what the game is all about, and much more. You can watch the entire interview in the video above, but before you do, we figured you might want to know a little bit about Judas first. So we’ll share the basics, without spoiling anything: Judas is a first-person narrative-driven shooter that, from a moment-to-moment gameplay perspective, will feel familiar to BioShock fans. You have a gun in your right hand and various organic powers on your left hand.
Story-wise, you play as Judas, a young woman aboard the Mayflower, a city-sized spaceship on a multi-generational mission to save humanity by transporting what’s left of it from Earth to a new planet, called Proxima Centauri. You start the game having been reprinted (yes, meaning you were dead), where you’ll wake up and begin interacting with the holographic projections of the three leaders who run the ship: Tom, the ship’s head of security who wants to protect all of humanity by ensuring that the Mayflower’s original mission stays on course; Nefertiti, the ship’s Nobel Prize-winning doctor who wants to create a civilization of full robots with no human flaws; and Hope, who wants your help deleting herself because the existential crisis of her existence leads her to the conclusion that deletion is the only way to end her suffering. Further complicating matters is that the three of them are a family: Tom and Nefertiti were married, and Hope was their adopted daughter. It’s up to you to side with whomever you feel like, but whatever choice you make has consequences. Doing a favor for Tom might piss off Hope and/or Nefertiti, and vice versa.
This constant push and pull is at the heart of Judas’s player-driven narrative, and it means that no two playthroughs are ever likely to be the same. That’s the “narrative LEGOs” in action, and what we talk a lot about in the course of the interview. Enjoy!
#IGN
50 Comments
Can’t wait to play this!
Hope it’s better than Bioshock: Infinite.
Ugh another overly ambitious dev telling us his game is the best thing since sliced bread. While its took them a decade to make a new game! Suprised these devs even get funding anymore.
A true mastermind. The experience of Infinite still grips me to this day
Huuuuuge respect for Mr. Levine! Can’t wait to play Judas!
Yall better listen to this man. One of the most influential and legendary game developers in history. No doubt he's gonna push the genre again with Judas.
Ken legoat
This is going to be peak! Welcome back, Levine!
Shout out for the XCOM shirt
Judas is going to be spectacular. Ken has passion for stories and his characters!
Fallout New Vegas had narrative legos though.
Ken Levine looks a little like Steve Carrell.
Judas, Juda-ah-ah, Judas, Juda-ah-ah
Judas, Juda-ah-ah, Judas, Gaga
Judas, Juda-ah-ah, Judas, Juda-ah-ah
Judas, Juda-ah-ah, Judas, Gaga
Really hope sweetbb Inc isn't involved
OMG so many spoilers XD
Been a fan of Ken Levines work since the original Bioshock
Alright, having the Vectrex displaying Judas was pretty cool in the background
Can we all agree to call it bioshock 4
Ken Levine is a living legend. Bioshock is my favorite series of all time, Burial at Sea is tied with Witcher 3: Blood and Wine for best DLC ever released. So happy he’s finally back with a new game!
Looking forward to Ryan giving this 5.9 😂😂
One of my most anticipated games
2:17 does this imply we will get the insane inputs of choice influencing the world on a bigger scale on a semi linear game, as in, are we getting the true bioshock infinite, an fps with decisions meticulous and small as say a telltale game?
So hyped for "more Bioshock"
Dayum
So many spoilers…
These kinds of games will always be an instant buy for me! Passionate creator who understands games and what gamers want and wanting to push boundaries is so rare nowadays so it’s fantastic to see there are game still being produced like this.
IGN – you guys need to adjust the audio level discrepancy and re-upload this video. For example the difference in volume at 11min 28sec between the Kevin Levine interview and the gameplay video is so loud you could have blown out speakers, headphones and hurt ear drums. Please fix this.
Y'all don't realize that Ken Levine hates you. American Krogan has the receipts…
Judas to this gen could be the RDR 2 of last gen and im all for it
This better be on Xbox
It occurred to me how important Ken Levine is to games.. especially in today's current climate
Judas and clockwork revolution are most anticipated games to date but will be waiting for a while take your time
Remember Elizabeth from bioshock infinite before you drink the coolaid.
It's super cool hearing Ken Levine speak about creatvity
Great to see Ken is back again. Last time was him promoting infinite.
GOTY?
Ken Levine is the Steve Jobs of Game Development
Did Ken just give away the entire plot?
Hope it comes out this year
Does anyone know the release date ?
LFG BABY KENS BACK
Can't wait for Messiah oh gaming Ken Levine
Dude the last Ken levine game is so old that it predates gta v lol
Judas, the coming son of perdition
To everybody who works or worked on this game:
THANKS! You're awesome!
Really enjoyed this chat with Ken and Ryan — Geoff
If you didn’t already know but just hearing Ken talk you just know he’s a bona fide Genius
Dang it! Take my money Levine. Take it now!
😊 I'm glad Ken is arround creating these beautiful things 😊
Ryan McCaffrey is the beating heart of IGN, as far as I'm concerned.
This looks very promising!