Judas May Yet Avoid an Uphill Battle in Its Release Window

Ken Levine, the visionary behind the BioShock series, is gearing up for the release of his latest game, Judas, reportedly slated for early 2025. Set aboard the Mayflower, a spacefaring vessel on a desperate mission to save humanity, Judas presents players with a high-stakes narrative centered around the titular character. Judas‘ premise echoes the DNA of Levine’s past works while forging its own identity, with unique mechanics like Levine’s Narrative LEGO system and some roguelike elements to boot. However, despite everything it has going for it, Judas will launch into a crowded field of heavyweight titles expected in early 2025, making its path to success rocky at best.

That being said, Judas may hold some trump cards that will work in its favor, allowing it to detach from a dependency on its release window and instead appeal to fans strictly on the basis of what it is. With its potential to rekindle the magic of games like BioShock, where other games have failed, as well as its player-driven storytelling, apparent moral ambiguity, and its overall ambitious premise, Judas could come out on top in 2025, regardless of when it is released.

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Judas May Yet Avoid an Uphill Battle in Its Release Window

Judas May Face a Crowded Release Window in 2025

With Judas potentially launching by March 2025 at the latest, there’s a big possibility that it will come face-to-face with an incredibly stacked lineup of big releases. However, it’s not March that Judas will need to worry about, but February, as the games released during that month will inevitably carry players over to the following month, thereby stealing away any time they could be devoting to Judas. The biggest games coming in early 2025 are the following:

• Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 (February 11)
• Civilization 7 (February 11)
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows (February 14)
• Avowed (February 18)
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii (February 21)
• Monster Hunter Wilds (February 28)

As it turns out, early 2025’s biggest releases are all in February, and while Judas could very well still make a name for itself by launching in March, several of these games could potentially take players hundreds of hours to complete — like Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, and Monster Hunter Wilds. The best route for Judas to take would be to launch in March, but as late as is absolutely possible to avoid being overshadowed by the last two big releases launching in February, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii and Monster Hunter Wilds.

Judas’ Uniqueness Will Likely Allow It to Stand Out Anyway

Even with the big releases that Judas has to compete with it, however, none of that may matter in the end, as Judas is already showing signs of being one of the more unique titles to launch, not just in 2025, but arguably since the glory days of the BioShock franchise. Anything resembling BioShock, as Judas does, hasn’t really seen the light of day since Atomic Heart launched in 2023. While that was only a couple of years ago, Atomic Heart didn’t perform very well, for one thing, and was largely seen as an inferior BioShock clone. Before that was We Happy Few, which ended up being a similar story, as it tried to be BioShock despite not having the goods required to accomplish that.

Judas, on the other hand, has been developed by Ken Levine himself, the original creator of BioShock, and while that could result in it being exactly like BioShock, that may not be a bad thing. Arguably, no BioShock “clone” has managed to capture the essence of what BioShock truly is since the last game in the series, BioShock Infinite, was released in 2013. Nostalgia alone might win the battle here, tugging on the heartstrings of fans who were with BioShock through its most successful days and have been craving something similar ever since.

There’s also the uniqueness of Judas‘ gameplay mechanics to consider, as Ken Levine’s self-dubbed and long-touted “Narrative LEGO” system will finally be witnessed in action. This system will supposedly allow players to shape almost every single narrative beat with their decisions, due in part to the game’s three “factions,” which are headed up by the three leaders of the Mayflower. Additionally, Judas seems to possess that weirdness that BioShock and its clones are known for, and there’s not another game launching in 2025 that looks or feels anything like that.

All in all, Judas could still come out on top in 2025, as it looks like it has what it takes to stand out despite all the major titles launching near its potential release window. While some of 2025’s biggest launches — like Monster Hunter Wilds and Avowed — may attempt to overshadow Judas, the uniqueness and nostalgia of Ken Levine’s upcoming game may be enough to shine a spotlight on it and lead it to success.

Judas is a sci-fi first-person shooter game made by BioShock creator Ken Levine that’s set on a massive spaceship called the Mayflower.

Released

March 1, 2025

Developer

Ghost Story Games

Publisher

Ghost Story Games

Engine

Unreal Engine 4

ESRB

t

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