Can you imagine a world without Bioshock? Developer Irrational Games had a completely different iron in the fire back then
In the mid-2000s, Bioshock developer Irrational Games had another project alongside the first installment of the later famous shooter series. So there could have been a world without Bioshock
But according to series creator Ken Levine, that wouldn’t have been such a bad alternative. He even calls the canceled zombie shooter in an X-Post: “Without a doubt the best game we could never make.”
This, no doubt, is the best game we never got to make. https://t.co/6Hf6tOyCK1
– Ken Levine (@levine) November 11, 2023
A zombie spinoff to SWAT 4
Between the cult games System Shock 2 and Bioshock, Irrational Games had another successful shooter: SWAT 4 and that was supposed to get a spinoff, but instead of chasing criminals with a group of lawmen, zombies were the new threat in the game called Division 9
What kind of game would Division 9 have been? The basic concept of a rather slow tactical shooter in the style of SWAT 4 was to be transferred to the setting of a zombie apocalypse.
As the leader of a special unit, you would have put together a team of characters with individual skills. The missions involved rescuing civilians, clearing buildings of zombies and gradually uncovering the background to the supernatural threat.
A customized version of SWAT 4 was used for the following gameplay:
Ken Levine was as convinced of the idea then as he is now. The game could perhaps have developed into a competitor for Left4Dead, which was released in 2008. What do you think of the concept behind Division 9? Would a zombie shooter in the style of SWAT 4 be something for you? Would you give up Bioshock for it? Let us know in the comments:
