Also revealed during last night's Sony State of Play event was the second trailer for Ghost Story's Judas, a sinister-looking sci-fi nightmare which seems to put a special emphasis on varied gameplay and player choice. What else would we expect from Ghost Story head honcho Ken Levine, the mastermind behind the Bioshock franchise?
This thing looks awesome. Pay close attention and you'll notice all kinds of weird things happening in the margins of this footage: what's up with the guy on a stage performing to a crowd of thumbs-down emojis? Was that an animatronic horse with a shotgun? Is that machine rebuilding the player's destroyed hands on the fly? There's a lot going on here, and we recommend watching this clip a few times just to pick up on everything Judas is putting down.
Speaking of which, this is ostensibly Judas' "story" trailer, though you might have a hard time sorting out the narrative details. Luckily, the trailer's description puts a slightly finer point on things:
"The 'Who is Judas' trailer offers a deeper look at the game's setting aboard the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to tear each other apart for even the most minor infractions, and where machines control every aspect of business, art, and government. You, as Judas, are the driver of every event in a mysterious story with a new cast of characters to get to know – and to change – in a world where every decision you make affects how the story unfolds."
It will be interesting to see how literal that "every decision you make affects how the story unfolds" bit ends up being. That's a claim we've heard a number of other games make over the years, only for the reality to be something else entirely. Perhaps Judas will offer the entirely reactive narrative these kinda games have long promised to deliver.
At present, Judas does not have a release date, but given the fact that the game's first teaser arrived all the way back in 2022, we're guessing this one's gonna be along towards the end of this year or sometime in 2025. Guess we'll have to wait and see! Stay tuned for more on Judas (including its release date) as further updates roll in.
