Judas
About this game
BioShock Infinite came out in 2013. Thirteen years ago. That's how long Ken Levine's name has been attached to "upcoming project" in the gaming world, which by this point qualifies less as an anticipated release and more as a mythological event. And yet here we are in 2026, with Judas still targeting a release this year on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC - and the more that trickles out about it, the more I'm convinced the wait is going to be worth it. The premise is immediately striking. You play as Judas, a self-taught hacker aboard the Mayflower - a colossal city-sized starship built by tech genius Max Rosenberg to carry humanity to a new home on Proxima following an AI-predicted extinction event. The ship was designed as a tightly controlled society where machines govern every aspect of life, citizens are encouraged to monitor each other, and conformity is survival. Judas doesn't fit. She understands machines in a way she can never understand people, and that disconnect sits at the heart of everything the game is exploring. The ship is in crisis when the game begins, and Judas's only way off is through one of the Big Three - the trio of leaders who once ran the Mayflower. There's Hope Jimenez, who handled the social and emotional needs of the passengers and is now on the edge of self-destruction after discovering she's a robot. There's Dr. Nefertiti Okeke, who embraces her robotic nature as an evolutionary step forward. And there's Tom, a cowboy-hat-wearing figure whose role in the power structure is more ambiguous. Each offers a different route forward, each with their own agenda, and the game builds its entire narrative architecture around which of these alliances you choose to build, neglect, or outright destroy. The biggest mechanical innovation Levine has revealed is something he calls Villainy. Unlike BioShock's fixed antagonists - Fontaine, Comstock - Judas doesn't have a predetermined villain. Instead, whichever of the Big Three you ignore long enough will turn against you, gaining unique powers designed to disrupt your progress. It's a dynamic system that reportedly took years to get right, and Levine has described it as the most reactive thing he's ever built. Characters observe your behaviour, form opinions, and shift based on not just what you do but how you treat each other. Geoff Keighley, who played five hours of the game back in 2024, came away describing the characters as genuinely feeling "alive" - which for a game this narrative-focused is about as good a sign as you can get. Levine also confirmed in 2025 that this is a straight single-player experience - no online component, no live service, no monetisation beyond the purchase price. In the current landscape that almost feels radical. No firm date yet beyond the 2026 window, and given how many times this project has slipped, cautious optimism feels like the right setting. But I've been waiting thirteen years. A few more months won't break me.
