Having finished last night and still re-wiring my brain from the last 1/2 hour I begun to think, where next for the series? The convention, if there could be considered one at all, has been earlier time period (Rapture Built 1940's, Columbia Built 1900's) but the big reveal is that the series could go anywhere in time and space so long as their are constants. So, where does it head next? Hollywood's law of squeals dictates bigger & more bad-ass which would imply the moon/space but this would not fit as this would constrain the setting to at least the 50's more likely the 60's without being too tenuous. Where else could they possible go?

I'd like them to go crazy with the multiverse concept and have them outright invade different incarnations of the world - plasmids in medieval times, etcetera. It's the only way to go after the reveal of Infinite.

Still, I'm not sure if I even want a BioShock game after this. At least not for the next few years. All I want right now is to see what's the 3 DLC packs gonna be, since they can shed some light on the Songbird and Constance Fields business.

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Oh wait. You said that.

Underground? Volcano?

@ghostiet: If they let Irrational be the sole dev for Bioshock, prepared to see another one in 6 years.

@ghostiet@awesomeusername I can see it becoming a Infinity Ward/Treyarch scenario Irrational make the 'new' worlds and advance the story and another 2K studio developing secondary stories in the same universe.

@awesomeusername Volcano suggests to me a 60s James bond esque style lair perhaps?

A world where North Korea is capitalist and South Korea is communist, and hopefully Japan never entered WWII, saving us from nukes, anime and kpop.

The fact that Ken Levine has laid bare the formula for the Bioshock series sort of implies that he's going to be moving away from that formula. Why make a game when there is no mystery or twist to it, and you can come to expect the same from everything with the "Bioshock" name on it?

God, I hope not. I don't want a sequel to Infinite.

A city under lava! That'd be extremely hot.

System Shock 3

@fancysoapsman: This makes me want to play both SS games just to see if there are parallels with the BioShock games, apart from the SHODAN twist.

There will most likely never be another Bioshock, at the very least I would think there would never be another one made by Irrational/Ken Levine. After the way Infinite busts that series open there is zero point in making another. Except maybe, money.

New generation, new start. I can't see Ken Levine going back to BioShock for Irrational's next game.

Annualise it, some kind of Pirate theme next...

A universe prior to the invention of lighthouses. A girl has been captured, but there is no man because he cannot be summoned as there is no lighthouse.

On Weekend Confirmed, Jeff mentioned something that was kind out there for an idea but why not mention it for a "If I had wishes" thread...

Why not a game where you play as "Elizabeth"? This would actually address one of the big criticisms of the game where the combat is kind of wonky where if you play as Elizabeth then combat is left to the AI Booker and not an issue for the player.

Or have it Amnesia style, where there's no combat. Actually, if you're playing as Elizabeth, you can defend yourself by throwing random objects at enemies.

@extomar: Because Elizabeth's story is complete and reopening that book wouldn't make things better plus she's no murder machine like Booker? Seems like there are pretty good reasons actually.

How about wizards?

@beachthunder said:

This would be amazing. I would love a first person walker without combat. Something more personal and less of an action movie. If they reused the assets and scaled back the budget it probably wouldn't take a million years to be released either.

I'm using BI as a metaphor to help explain my answer. I mean a new game where the player take on the role of "The Elizabeth" while the game takes on the role of "The Booker". Your job is to solve the puzzles in the area, scavenge for clues and resources, and support AI Booker as he protects you.

I don't think removing the combat is the way to improve the franchise.

*shrug* I didn't mean to suggest that it would improve anything but the question is "Where next?" not "What should they do to improve?"

Unless they have a team dedicated to combat and combat encounter design, Irrational is never going to compete let alone "win" compared to any number of other games out there. I can take or leave the combat in BI where it isn't special enough to protect or abandon.

^

Well Bioshock 1 took place at the bottom of the sea and Bioshock Infinity took place in the sky.

I think the next logical place would be in space. For example a utopistic moon colony.