The Three Leaders of Judas' Mayflower Seemingly Confirm a Big BioShock 1 Similarity

Ken Levine and Ghost Story Games’ upcoming title Judas is undoubtedly reminiscent of BioShock, and rightly so, considering BioShock is Levine’s critically acclaimed brainchild. At first glance, Judas appears very similar to BioShock in its visuals, setting, and gameplay. BioShock is known for its bizarre dystopian environments and its unique blend of first-person shooting and RPG elements, both of which appear to be included in Judas as well. Furthermore, based on what has been revealed so far, it seems Judas may also share some narrative similarities with BioShock, though nothing will likely be able to compare to Judas‘ “narrative LEGO” design, as it allows players to heavily influence the game’s story in the most minute ways.

Judas is set aboard the spacefaring city Mayflower, which was originally sent out on a colonization expedition after Earth became inhabitable. Its purpose was to save humanity by establishing a colony on a different planet. Unfortunately, the machines that were designed to keep it running eventually took over and made every human being on board their slaves. Now, as Judas, players must work with the three leaders of the Mayflower — Tom, Nefertiti, and Hope — to discover Judas’ story and establish a future for the Mayflower. It is here, and in the potential endings that these three leaders may guide the player toward, that Judas shares one rather significant similarity with its spiritual predecessor, BioShock.

Why Judas Having Its Own ‘Would You Kindly” Moment Is Very Likely

Judas creator Ken Levine is likely bent on making sure the game has a massive plot twist akin to BioShock’s famous “Would you kindly” moment.

Judas’ Three Leaders May Already Confirm at Least Two BioShock-Like Endings

Who Judas’ Three Leaders Are and What They Want

Tom, Nefertiti, and Hope are the three leaders on board Judas‘ Mayflower who keep it running. Tom is the city’s head of security, complete with sheriff getup to boot. His goal is to ensure the Mayflower stays on course to complete its mission, so he holds humanity in much higher regard than the machines. Nefertiti is the opposite of Tom, in that she wants society to be entirely composed of robots, simply because they are without any flaws. Originally, she was responsible for keeping people on the ship alive, so it’s plausible she eventually came to realize that was either impossible or way too insurmountable of a task, and she now wishes to just let the machines take over.

Hope is the black sheep of the “big three,” as her desire is neither to see humans lead the way nor machines, but for herself to simply be deleted. After learning that she is a machine and not a human, she is going through a sort of existential crisis that leads her to believe the only way to end her suffering is through deletion. Before, she acted as the ship’s counselor and was loved by everyone. Now, the crisis she faces is too much to bear. With each of these leaders having such drastically different motives, they will undoubtedly play into Judas‘ choice-driven narrative and potentially result in at least a few different endings.

How Judas’ Potential Endings Might Compare to BioShock’s

While Judas‘ “narrative LEGO” design will potentially result in a multitude of endings, there are at least three endings these three leaders and their agendas suggest for the game, with two of them being very similar to BioShock. In BioShock, players had to choose whether to save the Little Sisters or harvest them for ADAM, much like they may have to choose whether to save humanity or allow the machines to take over in Judas. This would require siding with either Tom to save humanity or Nefertiti to ally with the machines, but Hope’s ending is a bit more cryptic.

Hope’s ending may result in something similar to BioShock as well, where players are required to choose whether to “save” Hope by deleting her or to convince her to accept who and what she is. However, wherever Judas‘ narrative ends up going and wherever players choose to take it, it’s likely to be a wild ride.