In a recent interview with Game Informer, Ken Levine discussed the recent System Shock 3 announcement, along with the themes of his new game. Levine’s first title was System Shock 2 with Looking Glass Studio, and he hopes the new team at Otherside Entertainment have as much success with their game as he did with System Shock 2.
“I wish them the best," Levine said. "I have a personal connection to System Shock, [System Shock 2] was the first game I ever shipped. We were completely stumbling around in the dark on that game… so the impact that it had was a complete surprise to us. Without that game, there’s nothing else for us. Nothing would have happened. So I have a deep connection with it… I’m excited, I hope they can figure it out and make a cool game out of it.”
Levine was then asked whether he would have liked to be involved in the production of the new System Shock. While he said no, he did give some details on what his new game will entail: “I’m so deeply involved in the themes of our new thing, our new game is a science-fiction game," Levine said. "It involves themes like artificial intelligence and what it means to be programmed, that you are a thing that was created by programming. That’s a big theme in the new game. And how much agency you have outside of what you are as a piece of programming instructions. So I’m scratching a lot of those itches in the new game already.
Last year, Levine announced that he was closing Irrational Games, the developer responsible for both BioShock and BioShock Infinite. He and some members of the shuttered studio formed a new team that would work on smaller, narrative-focused experiences.
