Summary
Judashas been in the works for some time now. First officially announced at The Game Awards 2022,Judasis the forthcoming debut from noted creator and designer Ken Levine’s Ghost Story Games, which formed in 2017 as a rebranding of Levine’s former studio, Irrational Games. Known for his vision for theBioShockseries, many are expectingJudasto be a spiritual successor to it. Everything revealed so far aboutJudaslooks promising, with its use of Levine’s “Narrative LEGOS” idea of player freedom and choice-driven story combined with more roguelike elements in an FPS-RPG hybrid experience.
ButJudascurrently finds itself in a less than desirable situation. Originally given a targeted release of March 2025, this has now come and passed without a word from the developer regarding its status or a new possible date. And now thatJudashas missed its intended launch window, the uncertainty around when, or even if, it will manage to release this year has only increased. Yet there remains some hope and ways for Ghost Story to deliver the title this year, or if it does end up being further delayed, to ensure fans are more well-informed in the future.
BioShock 4has also been in developmentfor at least five years by 2K’s Cloud Chamber studio, with the developer similarly providing barely any updates about its progress.
Judas Has Already Missed Its Stated Release Window, But it Could Still Come Through
Judas Could Still Make a 2025 Release
Though it seems natural for fans tocompareJudastoBioShock, its more ambitious and nonlinear design elements may make a delay necessary to get everything right. The title’s most recent update came at last year’s PlayStation State of Play event at the end of January in the form of the story trailer forJudas.The frustrating part, of course, is that Ghost Story Games did not do a great job of keeping players informed about its actual release date even before it missed its broad March window, and that’s especially true now that it’s passed this.
With all that said, there’s a chanceJudasmay still yet emerge this year. The early half of 2025 was swamped with other highly-awaitedgames likeKingdom Come: Deliverance 2,Avowed,Civilization 7,Split Fiction, andAssassin’s Creed Shadows, just to name a few. It’s possible that Ghost Story wished to avoid this crowded space, but the lack of communication onJudasremains a sticking point. With the summer traditionally being a slower period for games, though, one potentiality is that it could be waiting to surprise fans at the last minute, announcing a date forJudasand quickly releasing it around then. This would surely be welcome and perhaps let the studio take advantage of the breathing room that normally goes with it.
Although unlikely, and it would be quite an unorthodox move,Judascould also be stealth-released sometime this year.
If Judas Doesn’t Drop in 2025, It Can’t Remain Silent Much Longer
Depending on how long the wait forJudasstretches on from now, fans will likely become more anxious and increasingly skeptical of it. A big factor this year as well is thatGrand Theft Auto 6’s releasealone will determine many others'. As things stand, it seems the best possible move would be for Ghost Story Games to be more forthcoming aboutJudas' status, even if it means disappointing fans with a further out date. While a one-year delay wouldn’t be too unreasonable, and it might allowJudasthe time needed to be refined, at the very least, it would behoove the developer to have better and clearer messaging to assure players and set realistic expectations for when it may actually arrive.
