Judas Preview: One of Gaming's Most Unique Bad Guy Experiences

• Release Date: TBA
• Platform: PC, Xbox Series X|S, Playstation 5
• Developers: Ghost Story Games
• Publishers: Ghost Story Games
• Steam Page: Link

Authored by guest writer: SiegeOC

You're Judas, waking up on the Mayflower, a massive spaceship that's falling apart in front of your eyes. It's full of rogue AI and factions that are fighting over control for who gets what.

This is Ken Levine's new game from Ghost Story Games. You may know him from his work on the Bioshock series which includes BioShock, & Bioshock Infinite. Judas isn’t a linear story like past games that Ken & the team have worked on, in Bioshock the villains are locked in from the start, those being Andrew Ryan & Frank Fontaine. With Judas, your choices decide who becomes the villain of your playthrough. 

Any one of the big 3 could become the villain of your story! So who exactly are the Big 3? Today we will be talking about them and the ground breaking Villainy system. This is what lets the Big 3 turn on you at any given point during your journey in Judas.

This is all from official dev logs and previews as of May 2026.

Let me give you a quick backstory of what the premise of Judas is.

The Mayflower is a utopian ship went wrong - think of it like the underwater city of Rapture from the Bioshock series. There is still isolation, but this time its space. There are what feels like endless rooms to explore and enemies spawning from every corner due to your actions.

You play Judas, an outsider stirring up trouble on the Mayflower but you don’t know why. There are over 100 characters who have voices, but the Big 3 are the ones you will hear predominantly throughout the game. They start out as your allies, helping you in fights, supplying you with resources, talking through comms & more. However, they're ambitious with their own goals.

So who are the Big 3?

The Big 3 (Tom, Nefertiti, and Hope) are the robotic leaders who rule the city-sized spaceship known as the Mayflower. Together, they control the population through a strict social hierarchy, though they were completely unaware they were machines until the protagonist, Judas, hacked them and revealed their true nature.

They also play the role of a dysfunctional family. Tom and Nefertiti were formerly married, and Hope is their adopted daughter. Following the collapse of the ship's society, they now greatly dislike one another and they end up leading competing factions.

Tom

Tom is the Head of Security for the Mayflower.

You can expect him to help you in combat, pull you out from bad situations, hand over weapons or ammo as bribes when you need them & more.

Tom's 'quirk' is that he hates chaos. If you play too reckless, he will start to question you & your methods. You’ll hear him trash talking the others of the Big 3 as you dive further into the game.

Tom's main motive is to help preserve humanity. He wants to keep the Mayflower's original mission on course to reach the star Proxima Centauri.

Nefertiti Okeke

Next up we have Nefertiti. She is the chief science officer and head of life support on the Mayflower.

She can hack doors for you, give you supplies for crafting and more. If you're into crafting gadgets or stealth, you two will get along. But if you end up ignoring her? You can expect her to neglect you whenever you truly need her help and she will start plotting against you in ways you won’t expect. 

Nefertiti wants to evolve humanity into pure machinery. She believes human flaws are a weakness and wants to transform civilization into perfect robots without any defects.  

Hope Jimenez

Finally, there's Hope. Hope is the emotional core of the 3. She is the Ship Counselor & Matchmaker on the Mayflower.

You can expect her to patch you up when you need it, boost morale when things are getting tough & more. Hope will be the one to whisper doubts about the others to you as she is trying to keep your trust all to herself.

Hope wants her own total self deletion. Having suffered a severe existential breakdown upon realizing her memories are artificial, she wants to completely erase her code from existence, not humanity.

In Judas, every kill, every hack, every time you pick one over the others, you will create consequences that will be felt throughout your playthrough.

Unlike BioShock Infinite where Elizabeth observes Booker silently, the Big 3 react, compete, and evolve over time. Ken Levine said they're "courting" you, like rivals in a messed up love triangle. If you lean too much into one, the others will get jealous. For example, if you save Tom in a fight but ditch Nefertiti? You can expect her to retaliate.

Villainy System Deep Dive

The core of the game is the Villainy System. Your actions build invisible meters for each of the Big 3. Spread your attention even across them? They will stay allies for a short while. If you focus on just two of them and starve the third of attention, that one will snap on you & become the villain for your run. With this, it will unlock unique opportunities for them to screw you over, specific to their personality & their role on the Mayflower.

• If Tom gets pissed? He will override Rent A Deputy machines to spawn enemy cops on you in the middle of a fire fight, turning safe zones into hostile ones.
• If Nefertiti loses it? You can expect her to sabotage you through hacks. She will lock doors, fry your gear remotely & more.
• But if Hope turns on you, she will manipulate audio throughout the ship, summon illusions to mess with your head & more mind bending ways to get at you.

Ken Levine says "player actions determine who becomes the villain." This is inspired by Shadow of Mordor's Nemesis system, but with a more personal touch. Playtests that were held in 2025 showed players being devastated when they chose to ditch their Big 3 member. This in turn transformed the whole story arc.

Nobody is pure good or evil here. Motivations shift based on your actions and neglect of the Big 3 and other characters in the world. Dialogue trees, resource shares, even how you treat minor NPCs will feed the villainy system & change your story appropriately.

Ken Levine refers to all of this as being “Narrative Legos” where things will actually happen based on your actions so each new playthrough should feel different from other players. 

Ties to Gameplay & Replay Value

The Villainy System weaves into your exploration, combat, & crafting on the procedurally shifting Mayflower. If you beat the game with Tom as the villain? Try replaying the game but this time side with him instead. This will unleash new powers, new taunts, & new endings. If BioShock was a haunted house with set ghosts, Judas is the house fighting back based on who you piss off.

You'll have to wait a little longer for the pleasure of doing that, though, as Judas has no set release date currently. One thing's for certain though: Levine may have been gone for over a decade, but his next game is shaping up to feel as though he's never left.