Ken Levine’s next title with Ghost Story Games is an immersive sim

In 2014, Irrational Games, the developers of System Shock 2 and BioShock Infinite, were restructured with most of the developers laid off, some finding new jobs at other 2K studios. A handful stayed behind however and Ken Levine, Creative Director of the original BioShock and BioShock Infinite, said the team would keep their focus small. In 2017, Levine founded Ghost Story Games, rebranding the small team left at Irrational Games.

While Levine and others have not revealed much about the game they are making, we now have a bit of insight thanks to some new job listings. According to one of these job listings, Ghost Story Games is developing a “…creatively ambitious project in the immersive sim genre.” In 2015, Levine had stated that the team was working on a science-fiction game.

Ghost Story Games is not a particularly large studio, as in 2017 they had about 25 employees. Per the listing, the studio is stilll comprised of less than 40 people. While it’s likely that full production hasn’t yet begun, it could be the team is intending to just stay small all throughout development. Levine has previously talked about the use of “narrative legos,” small blocks that can be reused to make games. We’ll have to wait for more detail.

The “immersive sim” genre is not easy to quantify. It includes titles like System Shock and Thief from Looking Glass Studios, as well as games like Dishonored and Prey from Arkane Studios. Elements and design structures from immersive sims aren’t set in stone and many games that aren’t necessarily considered immersive sims borrow from these elements.