We almost got a BioShock remake, and BioShock 4 is reportedly in trouble

BioShock remains one of the most iconic games of all time and even though it’s been years since we’ve played the remaster, it’s not an experience you forget easily. Everything from the stunning descent to Rapture to its shocking late-game twist has left its mark on us. So we were crushed to find out that we very nearly got a full-on remake.

This revelation comes via Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier who, known for his investigative journalism, is normally on the money. In his latest Bloomberg piece, shares some news about both an alleged BioShock remake and BioShock 4.

While BioShock 4’s existence is common knowledge, publisher 2K Games has never officially announced a remake. However, according to Schreier, it was in the works until earlier this year, when it was shelved. It’s not clear what stage of development it was at, but we’re seriously disappointed it’s not going to see the light of day.

We would, however, have wanted to have kept the original’s voice actor. We can’t think of Andrew Ryan as anyone other than Armin Shimerman. And Karl Hanover was superb as Atlas, especially when.. well, that’d be spoiling things too much.

Why was the remake shelved? It might have had something to do with the issues facing BioShock 4, which was announced nearly 6 years ago. Developed by internal studio Cloud Chamber, the game reportedly failed an internal review, according to Schreier’s sources. There’s also been an apparent change of leadership at Cloud Chamber.

While those sources didn’t want to be identified, 2K has all but confirmed that the game needs a little more work. Responding to Bloomberg, 2K stated: “Right now, we have a good game, but we are committed to delivering a great one. We are working closely with leadership at the studio to define this path.”

We’re certainly eager to see where BioShock 4 goes. BioShock Infinite essentially framed BioShock 1 and 2 as part Infinite’s multiverse, but we’d like BioShock 4 to stand on its own two feet. We’re absolutely on board with more tales of hubris, however. We’ll never get tired of that.