Judas, the upcoming sci-fi shooter by BioShock creator Ken Levine, has received some additional information on its gameplay systems via the game’s first dev log, outlining its Villainy mechanic that can turn allies into enemies dynamically depending on a player’s actions.
As posted on the game’s official website, Villainy will be a central feature in Judas, with the post reading that unlike in Bioshock (2007) or BioShock Infinite (2013), where characters like Fontaine or Comstock were always going to be the bad guys, the line is blurred in Judas when it comes to its three central characters, the Big 3.
In Judas, players survive aboard a disintegrating starship known as the Mayflower as they escape an extinction event, facing all manner of robotic threats along their journey. Players will have to join forces with three individuals: Sheriff Tom Austin, Dr. Nefertiti Okeke, and Hope Jimenez, a trio of leaders known as the Big 3.
This relationship is a fragile one, however, as in Judas, a player’s actions will determine how they are treated by the Big 3. “Your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends,” read the dev log, “But ignore one of them enough, and they become the villain. From there, they will get access to a new suite of powers to subvert your actions and goals.”
In an example provided, having a good relationship with Sheriff Austin allows players to use Rent-A-Deputy machines, summoning a powerful bipedal horse robot to assist them in battle. But anger the Sheriff, however, and the summoned robot will turn on the player instead, forcing them into an unexpected boss fight.
“In Judas, you’re going to get to know these characters intimately. We want losing one of them to feel like losing a friend. We want to play with that dynamic, and we want that choice to be super hard,” the post continued.
“The Big 3 are all going to be competing for your favour and attention. They can bribe you, save you in battle, talk shit about the other characters, and share with you their darkest secrets. But eventually, you’ve got to decide who you trust and who you don’t.”
The post also adds that the trio will dynamically observe a player’s actions as they progress through Judas, and will “have feelings not only about how [a player approaches] combat, hacking, and crafting, but most importantly [their] interactions with the other two characters.”
In addition, the team also announced that they had completed “the biggest Judas playtest yet”, and that testers’ feedback helped to shape the team’s decisions moving forward. Apart from quick gameplay clips, the game’s key art was also revealed, showcasing the Big 3, the protagonist Judas, the aforementioned mechanical horse, as well as the previously revealed robot chef enemy from the trailers.
Despite this, Judas still doesn’t have a firm release window, something that was acknowledged by the team, who wrote that “while we wish we could give you an exact date today, we’re not quite ready to finalise that. As you know, release dates have a way of slipping by, and we’d like to avoid having to change the date after we announce it.”
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
