{"id":1512990,"date":"2026-02-28T12:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wv3muBFyC6apxc3EyY87wf"},"modified":"2026-02-28T12:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T12:48:09","slug":"occult-deckbuilder-the-killing-stone-is-introducing-a-dynamic-scare-system-originally-considered-for-bioshock-2-its-very-fun-as-a-gamedev-to-be-surprised-by-something-in-your-own-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/occult-deckbuilder-the-killing-stone-is-introducing-a-dynamic-scare-system-originally-considered-for-bioshock-2-its-very-fun-as-a-gamedev-to-be-surprised-by-something-in-your-own-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Occult deckbuilder The Killing Stone is introducing a ‘dynamic’ scare system originally considered for BioShock 2: ‘It’s very fun as a gamedev to be surprised by something in your own game’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BioShock 2<\/a> was a bold follow-up<\/a> to Irrational Games’ 2007 FPS, putting you in the lead-weighted shoes of a Big Daddy and flipping its objectivist critique on its head. But 2K Marin’s sequel may have been bolder still if some of its developers had their way on the project. Early plans for the sequel included far more dynamic encounters with its fearsome Big Sister enemies, letting them get the jump on you whenever they fancied.<\/p>\n

This was brought to light by former 2K Marin dev David Lindsey Pittman in a Bluesky thread<\/a> (via GamesRadar<\/a>). “Way way back in the day on BioShock 2, me and Kent Hudson talked about doing a dynamic ‘Big Sister scare’ system, where we’d spawn the ostensible villain at the edge of your vision any time the game’s tempo slowed down,’ Pittman writes.<\/p>\n

Pittman doesn’t specify whether these dynamic scares would have resulted in an actual fight or chase sequel a-la Alien: Isolation<\/a> or Resident Evil 2<\/a> remake. Either way, it would have been an innovative approach to first-person horror in 2010, the same year that brought us Amnesia: The Dark Descent<\/a>. In the end, however, the idea was scrapped. “It didn’t end up happening, and the Big Sister’s appearances were all scripted,” Pittman adds.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, Pittman says the idea “stuck around in my brain ever since”, and now he’s finally getting to use it in the current project he’s working on. That project is the occult Deckbuilder The Killing Stone<\/a>, currently in early access development by Question, an indie studio formed by Bioshock 2’s director Jordan Thomas.<\/p>\n

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