Ken Levine has started a dev diary for Judas.
Why This Is Already A Big Deal
Ken Levine hasn’t released a game since BioShock Infinite since 2013. In 2017, he founded Ghost Story Games. But it still took until 2022 to reveal his next project, Judas.
Judas has become notorious as one of those games that have been perennially stuck in development hell. Jason Schreier claimed all of Ghost Story Games’ founding members left the studio as of this February 2025.
Levine has been put in an awkward situation. He knows fans are now worried about the game’s progress. At the same time, he can’t commit to a release until it’s actually happening.
It’s so obvious that Levine should have launched a dev diary much earlier. It’s kind of surprising that he did it at all. But now, we do have to look forward to Levine willingly sharing details about the game as they prepare for its release.
Becoming Judas In Their Minds
Levine shared an interesting new mechanic in Judas that immediately differentiates it from BioShock. We won’t reveal story details here, but there are three central characters who Judas interacts with throughout the game.
We’ll let Levine explain it from here:
In Judas, your actions will attract members of the Big 3 to you as friends. But ignore one of them enough, and they become the VILLAIN. From there, they will get access to a new suite of powers to subvert your actions and goals.
The Shadow Of Inspiration
Levine also revealed this new Villainy mechanic is inspired by Monolith Productions’ Nemesis System. That was a system where the bosses would learn more about you every time you fought. They would act differently towards you and in the game based on how you interact.
You will get to interact with the three just like this while playing Judas. Eventually, you will reach a point where you have to choose who among the three you will stick by, and who you will disregard. In fact, you can turn on them at some point.
Levine doesn’t say if it’s possible to turn on two of the Big Three or do it to all of them. But it already sounds like something that will make players want to replay Judas again and again.
Levine Probably Isn’t Breaking Anyone’s Copyright
While WB Games closed Monolith, they still own the copyrights to the Nemesis System. But Levine seems comfortable to talk about this. He may feel they have shaped this system in such a way that it is different from Nemesis. And I do mean he seems confident he can defend it in court if he has to.
It’s really a shame that Levine only started this dev diary project now. But in this way, Levine can fight back potential rumors and speculation that Judas is going nowhere. And he and his team can get us properly excited by revealing things that we didn’t know we had to look forward to.
