It was recently leaked in a Kotaku article that 2K has a small team working on Bioshock 4 under the codename Parkside. This is certainly huge news, and not just because it has been a whopping five years since the last Bioshock game. Previously, Bioshock games came out every three years, but following Bioshock: Infinite, Irrational Studios was dissolved, Ken Levine – the creative mind behind the series – left, and 2K underwent fairly dramatic changes. So while a new Bioshock is big news, the real question is if it will be up to the reputation of its precursors.

Bioshock is an icon, but this is more to do with certain iconic elements than iconic gameplay. For instance, every Bioshock game has revisited the world of Rapture, with Bioshock Infinite creating a DLC, Burial at Sea, just so players could once more visit the iconic landscape. This is a huge credit to the original Bioshock, which created a style and tone that all following games have tried to emulate. However, each game after has suffered in one way or another.

Bioshock 2 was created by 2K Marin, a secondary studio and one which was without the guiding influence of Ken Levine. To that end, Bioshock 2 was a game that retreaded much of the same ground, trying to use the power of the first game to propel the second. Case in point, the player controls a Big Daddy in the second game, the iconic enemies from the first, which may seem cool but also dramatically altered the perception of the world. Once the player becomes the nemesis of the world, the world is not so scary (and the Big Sisters were certainly a pale comparison). The game’s villain, Sofia Lamb, also banks on much of Andrew Ryan’s successes and legacy, with much of the audio logs and story of the second game undermining that of the first. Bioshock 2 was by no means a bad game, but it certainly didn’t change gaming the way Bioshock did.

Bioshock Infinite strove to be a different game though, one that existed outside of the control of Rapture; however, due to a myriad of problems regarding the direction of the game, much of the content in original trailers was cut or altered dramatically. The main changes were to the story and the mechanics, with Elizabeth at one point having elemental powers she could use to help Booker. However, the constant revisions to Elizabeth – and to the ziplines of the game – turned the combat and level design into a very different experience, one that left most combat simply feeling like clearing waves of enemies. Quantum physics and time elements were also added to the game far after production had begun, and the story suffered from a number of confusing plot holes and twists that many fans felt ruined the potential of the game.

But Ken Levine is gone, now heading up Ghost Story Games. That means that Bioshock 4 will be the brainchild of the new 2K, not the old. However, the track record for that company hasn’t been so great. Hangar 13 is the big studio at 2K now, replacing what Irrational Games once was, and was wholly responsible for Mafia III. A recent expose on Hangar 13 revealed a development troubled in almost every aspect. The execs constantly made terrible decisions – like trying to create a rhythm based superhero game – and ignored the worries of the team below them, resulting in the subpar Mafia III. Many members who worked on Mafia III reported the games flaws to upper management for years and yet the flaws remained. The head of Hangar 13, Haden Blackman, also hasn’t exactly proven himself.

Blackman has worked on a myriad of comics and some LucasArts games, and while the story in Mafia III was largely enjoyed, it showed a leader that did not how to blend story and gameplay seamlessly. We already know that many of the Hangar 13 staff have been moved onto Bioshock 4, but Blackman has not yet been confirmed. However, Kotaku reported that 2K might be trying to force Blackman to fill the shoes of Levine.

Everyone will be highly anticipating anything with a Bioshock moniker, but the last two games have both disappointed in some significant ways despite good sales. However, they were both solidly made games delivering thematically and mechanically despite other flaws. There’s little evidence that 2K’s current squad is up to the task of revitalizing a series that has been sleeping for five years, and the only hope is that they’ve learned from Mafia III: listen to your teams worries, stick to a core concept, and for the love of God, don’t make a rhythm game.