2K Cloud Chamber’s BioShock 4 is ramping up development after years of pre-production hell. Amongst the new slew of developers joining the upcoming game, a leaked image of an early in-game environment has already been leaked online.
Via MP1ST, a very early development image of BioShock 4 has been shared, showing a general vibe more in line with the series’ Rapture entries than the bright sunny skies and high saturation of BioShock Infinite’s Columbia.
From the image, it’s clear that the game is being developed in some form of Unreal Engine, the same family of technology that has powered every other BioShock game. While the screenshot does show some very basic lighting, it can’t be said whether or not the game is using the full Unreal Engine 5 feature set including Nanite and Lumen.
In the screenshot, we do see multiple abilities—or even the return of Plasmids—equipped at the same time instead of through a weapon wheel. The player currently has three equipped plasmids mapped to the left bumper, right bumper and both bumpers simultaneously. These include a magnetism ability, an electric ability and what appears to some kind of time distortion ability.
Furthermore, the image reveals a number of weapons that are currently in the game, but could be replaced, reworked or removed by the time the game releases. At the moment, we can see a Ricochet Shotgun equipped by the player. Previously, ricochet bullets were an additional ability for the machine gun in BioShock 2, but adding that ability to a powerful shotgun does seem much cooler.
Lastly, the most intriguing part of the image, is the location. BioShock 4 has been rumoured to take place in a number of unique locales and, at some point, even returning to Rapture. While we can’t possible guess where the game takes place from one screenshot, there is at least some form of outside element, likely ruling out locking the player to an underwater city.
There is no BioShock 4 release date at the time of writing.
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