A preview of Judas highlights how the characters seem to come alive

NEWS Murillo Zerbinatto - Mar 27, 2024, 20:00 - 1 comments

At the 2022 edition of The Game Awards, Ghost Story Games revealed Judas. The game is being directed and produced by Ken Levine, the brilliant mind behind the creation of BioShock. Despite the early announcement, Take-Two's report indicated that Judas could be released in the fiscal year 2026, which spans from April 2025 to March 2026. However, this may change since another heavyweight title in Take-Two's lineup could steal all the spotlight in the gaming industry during the same period, GTA VI, which might have been delayed to 2026.

In Judas, players are immersed in a unique setting: the Mayflower, a spacefaring city. Here, citizens are trained to spy on each other and are quick to tear apart for the slightest offense. Machines control every aspect of life, from business to art to government. The ship's leaders have a vision for you: a model citizen. But you've sparked a revolution, determined to tear down their control.

Ken Levine has introduced a unique narrative concept in Judas, which he refers to as a "narrative LEGO." This innovative approach takes the storytelling lessons from BioShock and pushes them to new heights. In Judas, the player's decisions shape the experience, yet the narrative maintains a certain structure. In an interview with IGN, Levine elaborates on this LEGO metaphor:

"And the metaphor is basically like LEGO, it's you've got a bunch of these pre-crafted bricks and they're really well designed and the bricks know how to communicate with each other. They know how to interface with each other and this is the genius, but you can build, how many things can you build out of those bricks? So you have a bunch of handcrafted elements, but they come with them a set of rules based upon how they combine. So you can make almost anything."

And it seems that Ken Levine's proposed design is paying off. Geoff Keighley, the host of The Game Awards, was able to play 5 hours of Judas and shared his comments on this preview. According to Keighley, what stood out the most was how the characters are "alive" and interact well with each other and the player. You can check Keighley's opinions on X (former Twitter) platform.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to play 5 hours of JUDAS, the next game from BioShock creator Ken @Levine.

Here are my thoughts on what Ken has been working to crack the past decade -- a rich story game with a flexible narrative + characters that are truly "alive" as you play. pic.twitter.com/nRmvqHk9DZ
— Geoff Keighley (@geoffkeighley) March 26, 2024

Judas does not have a release date yet but is considered one of the great future promises in the industry. If you enjoyed BioShock and want to see Ken Levine's next project, keep an eye on our comparator to find the best deals on Judas when the game becomes available.