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BioShock 4 may be taking notes from Half-Life 3

The BioShock 4 setting and time period may have been revealed, and it may sound familiar to Half-Life 3 followers.

BioShock 4's setting may seem familiar to anyone who's been following Half-Life 3

A number of possible BioShock 4 details may have been leaked. If the rumours are accurate, we may now know the proposed time period, setting, and even the city name of the new BioShock – and some of these details might sound a little familiar to Half-Life 3 followers.

These rumours come from podcaster and game journalist Colin Moriarty on the latest episode of his Sacred Symbols PlayStation podcast. Reportedly the Cloud Chamber-developed BioShock 4 is targeting a 2022 release, is internally codenamed “Parkside” – which has been rumoured previously – and “the development team has incredible latitude to get it right”, according to Moriarty.

While all this is rumour until announced, sources at VGC and Eurogamer support Moriarty’s findings. The game will supposedly take place in the 1960s – the same time period as the original BioShock. It’s the setting, however, that might resonate with Half-Life 3 devotees – as BioShock 4’s version of Rapture or Columbia may be an “Antarctic city called Borealis”.

As previously revealed by Half-Life writer Marc Laidlaw, Half-Life 3 was supposed to take place in Antarctica and saw Gordon Freeman in search of the mysterious Aperture Sciences ship called the Borealis. This was all hinted at by both Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Portal 2, so it’ll be a rather big coincidence if BioShock 4 has the player visiting Antarctica in search of Borealis. Perhaps, if the rumours are true, it could be a fun nod to the much-yearned-for next instalment in the beloved FPS game series that has sadly never materialised. Sob.

BioShock 4 was finally confirmed two years ago this month, although to date the only solid-ish detail we have about the eagerly-awaited sequel is that it’ll probably be an open-world game – and hopefully a bit more of an RPG too. Regardless, it’s welcome to the Borealis name, since Half-Life 3 doesn’t seem to be in any sort of serious production at Valve.