A recently discovered job listing for the in-development BioShock 4 hints at some major changes to the game's approach to combat.
We've known for a while that 2K Games and Cloud Chamber are working on the next entry in the BioShock series, but we've yet to see or hear anything official from the game itself. Still, what we're hearing from the occasional job listing and leak suggests that BioShock 4 is shaping up to be a major departure from the previous three entries.
All signs so far point to the new BioShock being a much more open video game than its relatively linear predecessors, with some reports even suggesting that BioShock 4 is a full-on open-world game complete with side quests - something previous games didn't really offer.
Given the prevalence of this particular rumour, it's not hugely surprising to learn that BioShock 4's combat will likely be much more open, too.
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As spotted by Screen Rant, Cloud Chamber is currently hiring for a lead combat designer to work on the next BioShock. The listing once again references the open world, with the job spec explaining that the successful candidate will leading a team of developers to "implement combat gameplay in an immersive sandbox world".
It goes on to tease a combat system that is "accessible, satisfying, and allows for a high degree of player expression", which certainly sounds like a smart and natural evolution of what BioShock fans are used to.
It is, of course, also worth remembering that much can change during development. Just because job ads are teasing open worlds, side quests, and fancy new combat now, that doesn't necessarily mean that's going to be the BioShock 4 we ultimately get.