BioShock 4 adds Ghost of Tsushima writer as narrative lead

We don't know much about BioShock 4, but we know one thing more than we did yesterday: Ghost of Tsushima writer Liz Albl has joined the development team at Cloud Chamber as the game's narrative lead.

"The dream is real!" Albl announced on Twitter. "So happy to announce I've joined Cloud Chamber as Narrative Lead on Bioshock."

BioShock is a shooter series, but it's an unusually narrative-focused one. Yes, you're still blasting the holy hell out of everything that moves with guns, powers, and poorly-stored explosives of various sorts, but you're also contemplating heady matters as you go: philosophy, politics, racism, morality, ethics, and, you know, stuff. The games can be hit-or-miss at times—BioShock: Infinite in particular felt like a real spinout on the back stretch—but story and characters play a far more prominent role in the BioShock series than they do in most FPS games. 

That makes Albl's hiring a pretty big deal, and she brings considerable experience to the role. Her previous writing credits include Assassin's Creed: Black Flag and Rogue, Far Cry 4 and 5, Watch Dogs: Legion, and most recently Ghost of Tsushima, which was nominated for a number of narrative awards (among other categories) in 2020 at The Game Awards (where it also won the fan-voted "Players Voice" award), the Golden Joysticks, the DICE Awards, and the GDC Awards.

Unfortunately (but predictably), Albl's announcement revealed nothing more about the new BioShock, so we remain almost completely in the dark about what's coming. A 2021 leak claimed the new game would be set in a city in the Antarctic in the 1960s, which sounds very BioShock-like, but there's been no further news on that front. In fact, there's been no further news on it at all until today—as it stands, we know more about the BioShock movie that's currently in the works at Netflix. (Which, I'm sorry to say, also doesn't have a release date.)