New BioShock 4 Rumor Claims To Reveal Game’s Name, Setting, Location, And More

Ryan Pearson |

Dec 6, 2021

PlayStation leaker and game journalist Colin Moriarty has claimed BioShock 4 will be set in the 1960s, in an Antarctic city called Borealis. This further adds to earlier reports of the game appearing in the NVIDIA leaks, there known as BioShock 2022.

Moriarty’s claims come via the Last Stand Media podcast Sacred Symbols. Their latest episode, behind a Patreon paywall, but reported by Comic Book, featured the aforementioned claim.

It should be noted Moriarty had previously leaked two other PlayStation games which came true: the Demon’s Souls remake and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart.

“The new BioShock game takes place in the 1960s, in Antarctica, and in a city called Borealis.” Moriarty further claims the game was called “Parkside” in its internal code.

As with prior entries in the series, he noted that the games are inter-connected, “which is not a huge surprise.”

As prior games have taken place underwater and in the sky, the frozen wasteland would be a similarly inhospitable and suitable location for a city heavily built around certain ideologies.

While the ideology that the game will be built around was not discussed, the 1960s saw the Vietnam War, the first men walking on the moon, communist China’s Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

There were also several landmark moments in civil rights, such as the Stonewall riots, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech.

Prior games have heavily focused on the theme of free will, and it seems there will be plenty of material to work with.

Even internally the game is “very secret and totally locked up-” and failing miserably judging by this being one of several leaked claims. However, it seems there are some fears of trying to meet what gamers have come to expect from prior entries.

“Apparently,” Moriarty states, “the inclination there is that they understand full well that this game will be compared to what Ken Levine does.”

The BioShock series began under Irrational Games and creator Levine in 2007. He would also serve as creative director and lead writer on the series’ third entry, BioShock Infinite in 2013 and its DLC. It would be the last BioShock game he would work on as he announced in 2014 the studio would be shutting down.

Levine explained to Rolling Stone in 2016 that he walked away due to health and relationship issues.

He told the outlet, “It changed my life in terms of what it did to my health, and what it did to my view of making games, and my relationships with people.”

“I think the natural expectation was that I would go and do the next bigger and better BioShock game. And I felt, ‘I think I’ll fail if I do that. I think I’ll lose my mind, and my marriage.’ And so my solution was to quit,” he added.

This new BioShock game was announced back in 2019 with EuroGamer reporting that the game was being developed by internal studio Cloud Chamber.

At the time Cloud Chamber’s studio head Kelley Gilmore told the outlet, “We are a deeply experienced group of game makers, including many responsible for BioShock’s principal creation, advancement and longstanding notoriety, and honoured to be part of the 2K family as stewards of this iconic franchise.”

Following that report, VGC revealed that BioShock’s original art director, Scott Sinclair, would be returning for this new installment.

While Levine is not working on this new BioShock installment, Moriarty claims Take-Two Interactive are “also publishing Kevin Levine’s next game.”

The podcaster also notes the new BioShock game will be called BioShock Immortal, though commenters such as Lee Bull on Patreon noted other rumors have called it BioShock Isolation. Directed at Colin, those comments were replied to by the Last Stand Media account, stating “Oh, I probably misspoke.” The name may have been changed mid-development due to comparisons with the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Having high faith Cloud Chamber has “incredible latitude to get the game right,” Moriarty stated the new BioShock game could potentially be revealed at The Game Awards 2021, premiering December 9th. He did caution it this may be postponed until E3 2022.

What do you think of the leaks? Is this shaping up to be something you would want to play, or are there still doubts?