Players “reward” single-player games without monetization like Clair Obscure Expedition 33, and Baldur’s Gate 3, says BioShock creator

Ken Levine, the designer and writer behind System Shock 2, recently appeared on Nightdive Studios’ YouTube channel for an interview. He talked about the game’s development, where he finds creative inspiration, how his work has evolved through the BioShock series and his current project, Judas. One thing hasn’t changed for sure; he’s still all about delivering a pure single-player experience.

Ken Levine stays loyal to single-player games

Levine says he has nothing against developers adding online features or microtransactions, he gets that games are expensive to make. But he believes there’s still a huge audience for classic single-player games that don’t chase live-service trends.

To back that up, he points to the success of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and The Witcher 3 – titles that are focused on just playing through the story, no strings attached. According to Levine, this kind of straightforward, story-driven experience still really clicks with a lot of players, who “reward” these games for sticking to their roots.

Judas, the upcoming narrative FPS from Ghost Story Games, led by Ken Levine, was first revealed at The Game Awards back in 2022. It’s his first game since BioShock Infinite’s Burial at Sea Episode Two back in 2014. There’s still no release date, but at least it’s good to know the project is still in the works.

Judas

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• Overview

• BioShock (franchise)
• Ken Levine
• singleleplayer / campaign