The BioShock franchise is known for its incredible stylizations, from the atmospheric views of Rapture to the colorful powers of the Plasmids and Vigors. This level of care is just as apparent in the franchise’s characters, specifically its handful of terrifying enemies. There are few gaming icons as recognizable as BioShock‘s Big Daddy, and with BioShock 4 in the early stages of development, there’s no telling what the team at Cloud Chamber is going to whip up for the franchise’s return.
If BioShock 4 is looking for inspiration on new enemies, it could look toward the most recent entry in the series. BioShock Infinite did a lot of things differently from the previous two games in the franchise, in that it brought players out of the sea and into the sky, as well as introducing concepts like time travel. Between all of these new features, BioShock Infinite also brought in some new enemies for the setting of Columbia. Developer Irrational Games toyed with a lot of enemy ideas for this new locale, and while some of them got cut because they didn’t fit the game’s final vision, they could find a new home in BioShock 4.
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One of the main staples of the BioShock franchise is monstrous enemies that tower over the player. The first game started this with the menacing Big Daddy, and there were a number of similar concepts that BioShock Infinite played around with. One of them was known as the Claw Daddy, conceptualized as a person in a massive crab-like exoskeleton with giant claws. It never made it into the final version of BioShock Infinite, but its design did eventually evolve into the Handyman that served as Infinite‘s surrogate Big Daddy-type enemy. If BioShock 4 were to return to a Rapture-like setting, it could bring back this concept.
The BioShock series has never been afraid to deal with the supernatural, and many of BioShock Infinite‘s cut enemies leaned into this. The Magician enemy type is one of the biggest indications, as this enemy would have used telekinesis to manipulate the environment and hurl objects at the player. It would also create minions in the middle of battle, motivating players to take out the Magician first so they don’t get overwhelmed. Compared to most of Infinite‘s other cut characters, this one is the most open to stylistic changes, so it might not be too difficult to bring it into BioShock 4.
On top of its supernatural tendencies, the BioShock series is largely known for its horror and suspense elements. BioShock Infinite moved away from this slightly, but there was one cut enemy that really would have made a chilling addition to the final game. The Resurrector was a character that lived up to its namesake, as it would use blood flowing from its hands to resurrect the dead to fight. Concept art showed that this would have been one of the more disturbing enemies to see in action, but it could fit with BioShock 4 if it leans into BioShock‘s horror roots.
There isn’t a whole lot that’s known about BioShock 4 as of this writing, so there’s really no telling what the game’s enemies will look like at this point. Cloud Chamber should be in good shape considering part of its staff worked on the original BioShock games, but it could use BioShock Infinite for inspiration all the same. The game is already potentially doing a lot of new things, with BioShock 4‘s reported move toward an open-world RPG style, so fans will have to wait and see what BioShock 4 has in store when more news is ready.
BioShock 4 is currently in development.
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