There has been much speculation about what the upcoming BioShock 4 will be like once it finally releases. While there's still a lot of time before that happens as there isn't even an official title or trailer for the game yet, some details regarding its structure have leaked in the form of job listings for Cloud Chamber, the studio behind the upcoming game's development. If the listing is to be believed, the next entry in the BioShock series is going to be set in an open world, which has fans excited about the prospect of a BioShock game with an even bigger scope than before.
Not everyone shares that same excitement, however, as the series has traditionally been linear narrative experiences that are carefully crafted in scripted sequences, a style that simply could not be done in the randomness of a player-choice-driven open world. It may benefit BioShock 4, however, to take a page out of the highly anticipated Elden Ring's book of open-world structure.
While both titles have very little in common on the surface, the traditional From Software games are similar linear experiences to the likes of BioShock in that each moment is finely crafted to deliver the intended experience. From Soft's shift to an open-world structure seems like a big change for fans of their previous work, but the details of Elden Ring's open-world nature are putting many fears to rest and BioShock 4 could do well to learn from them.
Elden Ring's Open World
The idea of an open-world Soulsborne game might not instill tons of confidence in hardcore fans of the series. Elden Ring's approach to its open world, however, might actually end up being more similar to traditional Souls games like Demon's Souls and the original Dark Souls than one might think. Elden Ring director Hidetaka Miyazaki spoke on this saying that the open-world aspect of the game is more one area of the map that connects the six linear dungeons together than something found in games like Skyrim or Cyberpunk 2077. This open-designed map allows for players to explore however they see fit and tackle each area in whatever order they please, similar to Demon's Souls.
The six different dungeon areas that are connected by the open world are going to be more traditional Soulsborne maps with the thoughtful level design that fans of the series have grown accustomed to. This type of world design is similar to the traditional Mega Man titles which allowed players to start at whatever area they wanted to. Similar to Mega Man and Demon's Souls, however, Elden Ring does have a recommended order to complete its areas.
What BioShock 4 Can Learn from Elden Ring
This open-world with linear levels design that Elden Ring is adopting sounds perfect for a game like BioShock 4. There were some big promises about Columbia's world changing based on the actions of the player before the release of BioShock Infinite that never came to fruition, but this structure seems like the perfect way to do that in BioShock 4. If the player leaves the hub world and goes into one of several linear levels making choices along the way, when they return, the world could be drastically different than they left it based on their actions inside each level.
BioShock Infinite seemed like it wanted to dip its toes into an Elden Ring-style design, but wasn't able to make it work properly. There are plenty of levels in that game that start with Booker and Elizabeth exploring the more peaceful parts of Columbia before swash-buckling action ensues, but it always seemed like those more open-ended sections would have existed better in one big area that the pair could return to for a breather. Hopefully, Cloud Chamber can make such a design work better for BioShock 4 to really make its world feel like a believable, lived-in place.
BioShock 4 is currently in development.