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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BioShock_Cover_4436.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[LightningBruiser In Rapture, Bubbles pop YOU.]]]]
->''I am Andrew Ryan, and I'm here to ask you a question: "[[MemeticMutation Is a man not entitled]] to the sweat of his brow?"''\\
''"No," says [[StrawCharacter the man in Washington]], "It belongs to the poor!"''\\
''"No," says [[HolierThanThou the man in the Vatican]], "It belongs to God!"''\\
''"No," says [[DirtyCommunists the man in Moscow]], "It belongs to everyone!"''\\
''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney I rejected those answers]]. Instead, [[TakeAThirdOption I chose something different]]... [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair I chose the impossible]]... I chose...'' [+'''[[RuleOfSymbolism RAPTURE]]'''+]. ''A city where the artist would not fear the [[MediaWatchdog censor]], where [[ForScience the scientist]] would [[AboveGoodAndEvil not be bound by petty morality]], where [[{{UsefulNotes/Objectivism}} the great would not be constrained by the small!]] And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become'' '''''your''''' ''city as well.''

%%Stop right there. Putting "Would you kindly..." at the beginning of this article is not particularly clever, and you're not particularly witty for thinking of doing that. And it hints towards plot spoilers, even ones that have reached memetic levels. So don't do it.

'''''[=BioShock=]''''' is a 2007 {{first person shooter}} with {{survival horror}} elements produced by Irrational Games, then known as "2K Boston" and "2K Australia". It is a {{spiritual successor}} to the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games produced by the same company, and the first game in the ''Franchise/BioShock'' series.

It is the year 1960. Beneath the surface of the Atlantic Ocean, there lies an underwater city, Rapture, founded in 1946 by industrialist Andrew Ryan. Built by individuals tired of the oppressive hands of church and state, it is populated by the greatest minds of the world. It was to be a {{utopia}}, but the discovery of ADAM, a [[PsychoSerum powerful but addictive mutagen]] that can give the user incredible powers at the eventual cost of their sanity, coupled with Ryan's own draconian policies and basic refusal to place any restrictions on ADAM's sale and use, turned it into a nightmare. Now Rapture is infested with homicidal mutants, fighting each other for the scraps of civilization left standing after a disastrous civil war.

''[=BioShock=]'' features a retro-futuristic hellhole for players to escape. They take the role of Jack, a [[FeaturelessProtagonist seemingly nondescript]] man who stumbles across Rapture after the commercial flight he's on crashes near the surface entrance to the undersea city.

Jack soon finds his only way out is to fight through hordes of "splicers", the deranged and [[UncannyValley hideously mutated]] citizens of Rapture, using anything he can get his hands on to survive. His arsenal includes both traditional and not-so-traditional firearms (a revolver, a shotgun, etc.) and "[[AppliedPhlebotinum Plasmids]]", special [[LegoGenetics gene-modifying injections]] that give the user [[PsychicPowers incredible powers]] such as telekinesis and pyrokinesis. Jack can also hijack Rapture's own security cameras, robotic drones and turrets and use them against the splicers.

Aside from its complex story and jaw-dropping setting, part of the draw of the game is the ability to use the environment, weapons, and plasmids in interesting ways: one can light a splicer on fire, then electrocute the poor soul after he or she leaps into the nearest body of water. Or the player can use the grenade launcher to stick proximity mines onto an [[ExplodingBarrels explosive barrel]], then throw it at a group of enemies with Telekinesis for a huge explosive attack.

----
!! [=BioShock=] contains examples of these tropes:
* AccentRelapse: [[spoiler:Fontaine goes from an Irish accent to a Bronx one when he reveals himself.]] ItMakesSenseInContext.
* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Fontaine]], after [[spoiler: TheReveal]].
* AlignmentBasedEndings: You get different endings depending on how many Little Sisters you killed, if at all.
* AmazingFreakingGrace: Rosebud Splicers can sometimes be heard singing this as they are idly walking around.
* AnachronismStew: Despite Rapture's advanced biotechnology, its architecture and ads hark back to an earlier era. As for its conventional weapons:
** The Pistol is a Webley Mk VI, introduced in 1915 during WorldWarOne.
** The Machine Gun is a Thompson M1921, designed during WorldWarOne and introduced in 1921. Both this and the revolver are not that anachronistic-likely, Fontaine sold them en masse to Rapture as World War 2 surplus, as both were used in the Second World War and afterwards. The shotgun made in 1882 however, is a straight example. Given the time, and Fontaine's business practices, a Winchester 1897 trenchgun or Model 1912 might make more sense.
* ApologeticAttacker: Poor Pigskin insists that he's only attacking you because his bosses are making him, and he'd rather go to bed.
* ArcWords:
** ''"A man chooses. A slave obeys."''
** [[spoiler:"Would you kindly..."]]
* TheAtoner: Dr. Tenenbaum.
* BadassBoast:
-->'''Andrew Ryan''': "Here's the news: Rapture isn't some sunken ship for you to plunder. And Andrew Ryan isn't some giddy socialite who can be slapped around by government muscle."
* BadassPreacher: The Waders splicer model, who spouts religious rantings as he attacks you with an electrified pipe or a set of meat hooks.
* BarbieDollAnatomy: [[spoiler:Fontaine in his [[FinalBoss final]], [[SculptedPhysique end boss form.]]]] Apparently, [[spoiler:hulking yourself up with ADAM]] causes your privates to wither away.
* BlowYouAway: Literally with the Sonic Boom Plasmid. Cyclone Trap uses wind to spring enemies up in the air.
* BodyHorror: Almost all plasmids cause visible mutations on Jack's arm, ranging from glowing electric veins to pheremone-filled pustules that are thrown like water balloons. [[BeeBeeGun Insect Swarm]] takes the cake, though; [[{{Squick}} the bees spawn from honeycomb growths on his forearms]].
* BossBanter:
-->'''Steinman''': "Look at you! '''HIDEOUS!'''"
* BossInMookClothing: Some of the machine gun-wielding Splicers in Apollo Square have even more health than the game's major bosses, but are otherwise completely indistinguishable from the regular, significantly less durable machine gun-wielding Splicers.
* BullfightBoss: The final boss of the original. You can try it against the Bouncer class Big Daddies in either game, but [[LightningBruiser it's pretty risky]].
* ButThouMust: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. You've actually [[spoiler: been under mind control the whole time.]] This is played straight in one particular instance. Early on, Ryan traps you in a small room with Splicers trying to break the windows to reach you. Atlas unlocks it and urges you to run, which takes you to the next level. This is pointless. Wait long enough and the game just shunts you to the next level anyway. The Splicers aren't actually a threat.
* CatScare: Common in the first few levels (of course, sometimes the [[RuleOfThree third one]] is ''real''). Additionally, each level contains a dead cat. Which you can then kill people with.
* ChekhovsGun: The conspiracy theorist-style bulletin-board that has [[spoiler: "Would you kindly..."]] written on it in big red letters. Bonus points for [[spoiler: being part of the TwistEnding.]]
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Hacking practically requires having high-end gene tonics to reduce their difficulty, depending on the level. In the later stages, overload and alarm tiles can make them downright unwinnable without skill reduction/tile changing tonics, and heaven help you if you don't have a slow tonic to keep the water at bay. The later levels have Splicers playing possum. Shoot them all you like; they won't take damage until they decide to get up. Thankfully, there are ways around this. Insect Swarm will get them up (and kill them), and cameras can tell the difference.
* CursedWithAwesome: [[spoiler: near the end of the game, your ability to use Plasmid was screwed, and which Plasmid you can use was randomized every so often. However, this randomization allowed you to use Plasmids you didn't have, and every time it gets re-randomized, it will refill your EVE bar to full.]]
* CutsceneBoss: Deconstructed, like many other {{But Thou Must}}s. [[spoiler: Andrew Ryan]] is leaving this world on his own terms, not [[spoiler:Fontaine]]'s. Less reviled than most usages of this trope, for [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome some reason]].
* DeadGuyOnDisplay: The main hall outside Ryan's office is lined with corpses impaled onto pillars, all unsuccessful saboteurs or assassins. There are also a number of strung-up corpses around Rapture, particularly in Neptune's Bounty.
* DeadlyDoctor: The Dr. Grossman enemy types. "I don't want to hurt you, but sometimes, I have to." Reigning over them all, however, is Dr. Steinman, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL6EAGMVzKI psycho plastic surgeon]]. 
--> "I want to make them beautiful, but they always turn out wrong! That one, too fat! This one, too tall! This one, too ''symmetrical!'' What's that, goddess? An ''intruder''?! [[LargeHam He's UGLY! UGLY!!]] '''''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis UGLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!]]'''''"
* DeathByIrony: If the player [[spoiler:kills Sander Cohen and takes a photograph of the body]] in the Xbox 360 or [=PlayStation 3=] version, they will earn the "Irony" [[CosmeticAward Achievement/Trophy]]. Dr. Suchong's [[spoiler:aforementioned unexpected and spectacular success in eliciting a [[PapaWolf defensive response]] in a Big Daddy test subject when their Little Sister is threatened. Right after he expresses frustration about their lack of response]]. Doubles as a KarmicDeath.
* {{Deconstruction}}: Mainly of ButThouMust and MissionControl, though the setting turns the game into a deconstruction of "Galt's Gulch" from ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''.
* {{Defictionalization}}: [=NECA=] is making an EVE Hypo Replica and a Big Daddy Doll, just in case your normal Little Sister wasn't creepy enough.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:Rapture Control/Andrew Ryan's office in Hephaestus.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: In one area of [[spoiler: the little sister daycare]], you find a corpse [[NoKillLikeOverkill pinned to the wall by little sister needles]], it's left unsaid if it's an unlucky splicer or one of the scientists transforming them. It could be subverted if it was a corpse that they used to test the Little Sisters.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Mariska and Samuel Lutz by overdoing drugs after finding out their daughter has became a Little Sister.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: An audio diary from Suchong in the first game makes a passing reference to coworkers named "Sinclair and Alexander", who became fully fleshed-out characters in the sequel. (Although ironically, said sequel would also retcon Sinclair's role.)
** When Fitzpatrick is playing the piano, you can hear a noise that sounds suspiciously like Songbird from ''BioshockInfinite''. [[spoiler: If it's intentional, it gives the ending of that game a solid timestamp.]]
* EmptyRoomUntilTheTrap: You never know when picking up that item or searching that safe might spawn a splicer (or two, or four) right behind you.
* EscortMission: The leadup to the boss battle has one. [[spoiler:Having dressed up as a Big Daddy, you have to follow and protect a Little Sister so she can let you into the boss room.]]
* EverythingsWorseWithBees: The Insect Swarm Plasmaid. [[ThisIsGonnaSuck For the enemies.]]
* EvilerThanThou: Ryan and Fontaine.
* EvilLaugh: [[spoiler:Atlas]] rips a good one when he [[spoiler: reveals himself as Frank Fontaine]].
* EvilVersusEvil: It wouldn't be inaccurate to say that pretty much everyone in Rapture, bar the Little Sisters, is evil in some way or another. [[BlackAndGrayMorality This does not exclude the player.]]
* FamousLastWords:
** "[[spoiler:A man chooses, a slave obeys. ''Kill!'' A man... chooses! A slave... obeys! '''Obey!''']]"
** "[[spoiler:I had you built! I sent you topside, I called you back, showed you what you was, what you was capable of! Even that life you thought you had, that was something I dreamed up and had tattooed inside your head! [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint Now if you don't call that family,]] [[EvilCannotComprehendGood I don't know what is!]]]]"
* {{Fauxreigner}}: Since Rapture is full of people of multiple nationalities with various accents, it's easy to get fooled by [[spoiler: Atlas, actually a persona cooked up by Frank Fontaine, a New York mobster.]] You get little hints every now and then [[spoiler: when the Irish accent slips on certain words (in particular, the description of the research camera), or when he uses distinctly American phrases like how Nitro Splicers are "sounding off like it's the 4th of July," Cohen being "Section 8" (US Army terminology for being judged [[AxCrazy mentally unfit for service]]), and an American football allusion. After TheReveal, Fontaine himself even taunts Jack's gullibility by putting on the voice again with even more exaggeration than before.]]
* FireIceLightning:
** The Incinerate!, Winter Blast, and Electro Bolt Plasmids respectively.
** Also the napalm, liquid nitrogen, and electric gel ammo for the Chemical Thrower.
* FissionMailed
* FisticuffsBoss: Peach Wilkins, sort of. You can legally cheat to use weapons here by [[CrazyPrepared looking for guns and ammo lying around the level, using Telekinesis to carry them to the Pneumo Tube, and picking them up after you drop off your current weapons]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The audio logs, aside from giving background information, hint at some of the bigger plot twists. In particular, there is one log that explains how [[spoiler:Ryan had the Bathyspheres locked so that they'd only work for himself and whoever else he wanted, but anyone in the "genetic ballpark" could use them]].
* GambitRoulette: Though Fontaine's plan was ultimately successful (at least up to the point [[spoiler:his creation killed him]]), it ''does'' seem a bit needlessly complicated and dangerously susceptible to bad luck.
* GenreDeconstruction: The first game is a deconstruction of Shooter/RPG hybrids like ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' and the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' series, both of which prided themselves on the freedom they gave to the player.
* GenreSavvy: You as a player get smart pretty quickly to how no matter how scared or happy somebody sounds, they're going to attack you even if they're cowering on the floor. But you go along with it because if you didn't, it would be like spoiling your own surprise birthday party.
* GetBackHereBoss: One of the mini-bosses in Fort Frolic sends you on a nice merry chase to kill him... all the while, he's lobbing fiery explosives behind him to hurt you.
* GiveMyRegardsInTheNextWorld: The gist of it. Fontaine [[spoiler:tells you to say hello to the dead Ryan for him]] as he sends security bots over you.
* GoshHornet: In the Farmer's Market you have to collect some bee enzymes from a hive, provoking an angry swarm of stinging insects whenever you search one.
* [[spoiler:HappyEnding: The good ending of the first game is a textbook example, with characters in the sequel even calling it a "happily ever after" moment. Actually, though, both endings are totally happy...for Jack.]]
* HissBeforeFleeing: The first Spider Slicer you meet once hit by a security spotlight.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** You can invoke this by hacking healing stations. Doing so causes them to hurt enemies if they try to heal themselves. Even bosses will fall for this trick.
** [[spoiler:Jack, the LaserGuidedTykebomb made in order to kill Fontaine's rival, and the Little Sisters whose creations Fontaine was primarily responsible for, destroy Fontaine in the end.]]
** As a corollary to this, Fontaine developed Lot 192 because he wanted a counter to [[spoiler:the mental control plasmid he had developed to control Jack. Jack retrieves the serum to free himself from Fontaine's control]].
** Averted with [[spoiler: Andrew Ryan, who knew that Jack was his son and was sent to kill him. However knowing he will die, he forced Jack to kill him, dying on his own terms.]]
* IgnoredEpiphany: In one audio diary, Ryan actually wonders if [[HeelRealization he might be wrong.]] However, he promptly decides that he can't afford to doubt himself, or Atlas will beat him.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Your first weapon is a [[WrenchWhack monkey-wrench]], while Thuggish Splicers carry pipes and garden tools. Some later weapons are also improvised: the grenade launcher has some sort of food can as its breech and fires tin cans packed with high-explosives, and the bowspring part of the Crossbow is a metal ruler. Look closely at the turrets, and you'll see that they're all basically diesel motors bolted to swivel chairs.
* InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou:
--> '''Ghost 1''': "Fuck Fontaine!"\\
'''Ghost 2''': "You don't fuck Fontaine... Fontaine ''[[PrecisionFStrike fucks]]'' you!"
* IronicNurseryTune: Some splicers sing "Jesus Loves Me", a popular children's hymn, over and over. Not exactly a nursery rhyme, but it fits. The first Little Sister you see sings a song to the tune of "Frère Jacques".
* {{Irony}}: The name of an Achievement/Trophy that you can get in the Xbox 360 and [=PlayStation=] 3 version by [[spoiler:taking a picture of Sander Cohen's body]].
* ItemCrafting: The U-Invent machines.
* JustAddWater: Potentially justified, in that since you're putting components into a machine, which then dispenses a finished item, it presumably adds the stuff you didn't. But when you're turning distilled water and brass tubing into heat-seeking rockets... that's some machine.
* KarmaMeter: There are two endings, both narrated by Dr. Tenenbaum, depending on how you interact with the Little Sisters. See MultipleEndings below.
* KarmicDeath:
** [[spoiler:Dr. Suchong]], in what has to be the most satisfyingly appropriate recording ''ever''. He really ought to have known better.
** Killing [[spoiler:Fontaine in the good ending. Fontaine constantly taunts Jack about his lack of family. He gets one. Who stab Fontaine. Many times.]]
* KickTheDog: More like [[spoiler:break the adorable puppy's neck under the influence of mind control while sobbing and begging to be stopped]]. Here, as in many other cases, the kicker is Suchong, since he set it up.
* KingMook: Other than the final boss and the Big Daddies, all of the game's bosses are simply normal Splicers with much more health and better resistance to elemental Plasmids.
* LargeHam: 
** Dr. Steinman when you confront him. Big time.
** Martin Finnegan as well. When he confronts you, he says "Guess the old grape finally sent someone, huh?" in a normal voice. Then he suddenly shifts his tone to something deeper and more ominous while saying "Son of a bitch...left me to ''freeeeeeeeeeeeeeze''".
** Plenty random Splicer battle cries count as well. "GET OUT OF MY FUCKIN' OFFICE!"
* LetsYouAndHimFight: It's possible to engineer a one-on-one Big Daddy battle to the death by taking advantage of three facts: 1: Enemies are not immune to damage from other enemies. 2: A Big Daddy that has been attacked will not stop pursuing the unfortunate soul that attacked it until one of them is dead. 3: Hypnotize Big Daddy applies the same logic to anything that attacks you, no matter who started it. Done properly, it's possible to stand back and watch the two of them go at it, complete with a Little Sister shouting "Hit him, Mr. B!" and such in the background, then [[CriticalExistenceFailure finish off the survivor with a single hit from your wrench]].
* LightningBruiser: Those Big Daddies might ''look'' big and slow, but so much as look at a Little Sister wrong and they'll swoop in and nail you to the freaking ''wall''.
* [[spoiler:{{Line of Sight Name}}: In Fort Frolic, you'll find posters for the play "Patrick and Moira" by Sander Cohen, the same names as Atlas' murdered son and wife, making the posters subtle hints that Atlas is lying to you. And just to make it even more obvious, his deserted headquarters has the same posters.]]
* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Jack is the illegitimate, growth-accelerated son of Andrew Ryan and his stripper mistress]]. Furthermore, [[spoiler:he was raised/conditioned by Suchong and Tenenbaum to be a slave for Fontaine/Atlas]].
* MacGyvering: Thanks to the U-Invent machines, you can turn three bottles of distilled water, two cans of kerosene, and a single brass tube into a pair of heat-seeking rocket-propelled grenades.
* MadArtist: Sander Cohen, Dr. Steinman. The former was so effective that just seeing his name on a billboard in the sequel was enough to spook some players.
* MadnessMantra: Splicers tend to mutter to themselves as they wander the halls of Rapture.
** "They make me hate everything I see, they make me hate everything I see, they make me hate everything I see..."
** "We thought we could hide from the light down here... we were wrong... we thought we could hide from the light down here..."
** "We serve His commandments. W-we serve His commandments. (''sobbing'') We serve all His commandments!"
** "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so; little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong."
** "I'm just lonely, an-and I'm just ''lonely''..."
** "I traded you, O Lord, for Mammon, and ''what did it bring me?''"
** "Mr. Ryan's gonna notice me, and I'm gonna be a star! It's not too late, ''not too late!''"
** "Ugly... ugly... UGLY!"
** "Mom? Dad? Could you come and get me? (notices Jack) I ''AM'' GOOD ENOUGH!!!"
** "I hear 'em when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake, when I'm asleep, when I'm awake! AHHH!"
** '''[[PreMortemOneLiner YOU'RE FIRED]]!!!'''
** You can sometimes hear these from Little Sisters, as well. "Chocolate is better than pain, chocolate is better than pain..."
** "Three too many, [[RunningGag three too many]], [[RuleOfThree three too many]], [[OverlyLongGag three too many]]!"
* MissionControl: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. [[spoiler:The guy on the other end of the radio telling you what to do? [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds He isn't helping you]], he's ''[[MindControl controlling your actions]]'' and ''your choices are illusory''.]] After TheReveal, Tenenbaum serves as this.
* MultipleEndings: There are two endings, based on how you interact with the Little Sisters.
# [[spoiler:If you save all the Little Sisters, it shows them returning to the surface with Jack, living full lives under his care, and ends heartwarmingly with all five with him at his deathbed.]]
# [[spoiler:If you harvested one or more of the Little Sisters for ADAM, Jack will turn on the remaining Sisters and attack and take over a submarine with Splicers (which is revealed to be carrying nuclear missiles). Dr. Tenenbaum's voice is more severe if only some Sisters were harvested than if all were harvested for some reason.]]
* NewGamePlus: This feature gets added through the Challenge Rooms DLC. Originally the DLC was exclusive only to [=PlayStation=] 3, but as of the ''[[CompilationRerelease BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition]]'' re-release of the game and its sequel, it became available for the Xbox 360 version specifically through the ''Ultimate Rapture Edition''.
* NothingIsScarier: Surprisingly, there are moments like this in the game, particularly near the beginning. After surviving the plane crash and swimming up to the dark and gloomy lighthouse, new players might find it a bit daunting to move forward. 
* NoticeThis: Flashing pick-ups kinda take the challenge out of a scavenger hunt. Of course, it becomes part of the big DeconstructedTrope after TheReveal.
* OfficeGolf: Andrew Ryan does this [[WhileRomeBurns while Rapture collapses around his ears]].
* OffscreenTeleportation: A few splicers somehow manage to do this in scripted events. One is revealed to have actual teleportation powers; the others... well, it wouldn't be a surprise if you expected them to be able to do it, would it?
* PlayingPossum: [[OhCrap "We tricked you, monster."]] Also, upon entrance to Fort Frolic, the player discovers a number of "statues" that when hit, start bleeding. As creepy as this is, the player gets used to it rather quickly. When Sander Cohen sends you out on your sidequests you start to see more... and then you might notice that some of them are in different places each time, and wasn't that hallway empty just a minu-- [[OhCrap OH SHIT!]] Cue scythe wielding splicers. Of course this too loses effectiveness once you take to [[ProperlyParanoid loading your pistol with anti-personnel rounds and headshooting every statue you come across]]. Special mention goes to the statues that look like little girls and don't bleed, just like the Little Sisters (which are de facto invulnerable because the ADAM inside them and probably are still alive because of it).
* PlayingTennisWithTheBoss: Peach Wilkins, since you're down to your plasmids and Telekinesis is quite effective (unless you smuggled some guns in). For more generic foes, both Nitro Splicers and Houdini Splicers can have their bombs/fireballs tossed back at them with Telekinesis. This can be done with the FinalBoss, too, but it's fairly pointless.
* PlayingThePlayer: The first game does this ruthlessly as part of the {{deconstruction}} of choice in video games.
* PlayingWithPuppets: [[spoiler:Ryan does this to you when you confront him.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: See InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou for one of them.
** Ryan delivers one during a radio message in Hephaestus.
* ProperlyParanoid: Peach Wilkins, though you don't find out that he was right until much later. Also, Ryan [[spoiler: correctly accuses you of being an assassin at the end of Smuggler's Hideout and asks who "sent you"]]. A lesser example from the first game: while the Splicer model Ducky is mostly just a paranoid, unhinged maniac, he does get one thing right: [[spoiler:"Fontaine's dead? No, he's not, he's living it up and he's laughing at me!" While Fontaine is not laughing at Ducky exactly, he is still alive.]]
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "She '''WON'T. STAY. STILL!!!!!!'''"
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Both Andrew Ryan and [[spoiler:Frank Fontaine]] give you one, and in fact, the entire last third is one prolonged sequence where the voice on the radio taunts you with just how much you suck.
* TheReveal: 
** "I chose the impossible... I chose...'''RAPTURE.'''" The projector screen moves away and you see the city in all its glory.
** The moment you realize why Atlas and Ryan keep asking you [[spoiler:"Would you kindly...?"]]
* RoomFullOfCrazy: 
** The Medical Pavilion, the walls of which are covered with patchwork plastic surgery plans, graffiti like "beauty is a moral imperative" and "above all else do no harm," or warnings such as "Steinman kills" and "stay away." Naturally, [[CouldntFindAPen all the writing is done in blood]].
** Played straight with an actual room in Hephaestus, the room that [[spoiler: [[TheReveal reveals the details of your mental restraints]]]]. There's the typical conspiracy layout pinned to the wall with clippings, scribblings, the dealings of the ones involved layed out as photos, linked to each other by colored yarn -- [[spoiler:with its main feature the code phrase to your mental leash, "Would You Kindly" scrawled across the whole of it]].
* ScenicTourLevel: Seeing Rapture for the first time as you travel down to it in the bathysphere.
* SchmuckBait: The shotgun lying on the floor under a spotlight, in an otherwise dark room, just waiting for some idiot (i.e., you) to pick it up.
* SequenceBreaking: If you're very fast and lucky, it is possible to hit a flaming trashcan downstairs and use it to melt the ice in the basement of the Medical Pavilion, thus letting you play through the entire game without the Incinerate! plasmid. (The ice in Fountain Fisheries can be solved by telekinesising along a corpse with exploding buck, and then looting it after your weapons are confiscated).
** The reason the Teleportation Plasmid was removed was due to this.
** Extra Little Sisters can be spawned in certain levels through abuse of scripted sequences and Big Daddy behavior. Specifically, in certain instances a Little Sister must be spawned for a scripted sequence. However, if there's a Big Daddy before this point, it will keep respawning when killed (if you move far enough away) and keep summoning Little Sisters until you reach the cap. The scripted Little Sister will spawn anyway, giving you a extra.
* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: The shotgun, for a long time, is arguably the game's best weapon apart from your trusty wrench. Four-round clip, high damage, and specialized rounds that tear through Big Baddies in the earlier levels. Unless you get the chemical thrower, it is your very best friend.
* ShoutOut: A number of them, in particular to ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'':
** Firstly, and most obviously, there is a character named Atlas.
** Secondly, in one audiolog, Andrew Ryan refers to himself as And Ryan, the letters of which can be rearranged to form Creator/AynRand. Andrew Ryans full name can be rearranged to spell We R Ayn Rand.
** Thirdly, there are a number of posters throughout the game saying "Who is Atlas?", referencing the DrivingQuestion of AtlasShrugged, "Who is John Galt?".
* StringTheory: Ryan has a conspiracy board in his office.
* StylisticSuck: A quick glance at the lyrics to "Rise, Rapture, Rise," Cohen's paean to Ryan, shows that the song is absolutely execrable. Adds a new wrinkle to his contemporaries' accusations that Cohen only rose so high because he was in Ryan's good graces.
* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:Andrew Ryan, the "cop" being Jack, who was destined to kill him either way.]]
* TakenForGranite: MadArtist Sander Cohen doesn't actually petrify people, but he does the next best thing by covering their bodies in plaster and posing them. Almost everyone in his domain is either a dead statue, or a person ''pretending'' to be a statue. One of his "students" took to using his ice powers, rather than plaster, to freeze people in poses.
* TakingYouWithMe: Ryan rigs Rapture to self-destruct when he realizes he can't prevent you from reaching him. Nitro Splicers may also light their grenade case and blow themselves up if you damage them enough. They also drop a grenade on death out of spite.
** "A man... CHOOSES. A slave... OBEYS. OBEY!"
** "Ain't that Just. Like. RYAN?!"
* TheArtifact: The pipe-based hacking system is a holdover to when the vending machines had human operators on a drip-feed of [=ADAM=], ands he'd spot you some goodies for increasing the flow to him. However, considering the vending machines are now purely mechanical, this makes no sense.
* TheCavalry: At the end of the original final boss fight, [[spoiler: the spliced-up musclehead slams you across the room, stalks over, and is about to pound you into mush, when a Little Sister jumps on Fontaine from behind and stabs him with her [=ADAM=]-collecting syringe. After he throws her off, a small horde of Little Sisters jumps him and stabs him to death.]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Triple-whammy: not only are you a test-tube baby conditioned to be the perfect obedient assassin, but you're also Ryan's bastard child, ''and'' you've been under mind control for the entire game.]]
* [[spoiler:TriggerPhrase]]: Factors into TheReveal, as well as a lot of the story's third act.
* TwentyBearAsses: Some of your goals in the game will ask you to get X amount of a certain item. This is especially used in Arcadia and Hephaestus.
* TwistEnding: The first one has a triple twist; the first two happen simultaneously ([[spoiler: Atlas is Fontaine, who's manipulating you with a prompting phrase]]) and the third happens soon after that ([[spoiler: you are Andrew Ryan's son]]).
* UsualSuspectsEnding: A rare case of a Usual Suspects...four-fifths of the way through...sorta thing.
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:You ''are'' helping the bad guy, though [[MindControl you never actually had a choice in the matter]]. "[[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice work]], ''[[TheReveal boyo]]!''"]]
* VendorTrash: The stuff you use for ItemCrafting is sometimes literally found in garbage cans.
* VideogameFlamethrowersSuck: The chemical thrower is a mixed case -- while it is quick on the ammo and long on the reload, it is very very damaging. With full electric gel and the reduced ammo usage upgrade, it can even kill a Big Daddy with no effort. It also has quite a realistic range, especially after the pressure hose upgrade.
* VillainousBreakdown: 
** The closer you get to penetrating Ryan's defenses, the more foaming-at-the-mouth delusional his rants become. Once you actually make it into his office, he seems to settle into a sort of suicidal calm, however.
** It also happens with [[spoiler: Fontaine. He is fairly calm at first, though he does start gloating after TheReveal. However, once he realizes that Jack is out of his control, he begins raving on about how he sees Jack as family and starts Splicing. [[OneWingedAngel A lot.]]]]
* WackyWaysideTribe: The entire Fort Frolic/Sander Cohen section of the game, which has the player forced into acting as a hitman of sorts for a [[MadArtist loony artist]], is a [[TropesAreTools positive example]]. Sure, it could be neatly excised from the plot without changing anything, but it's one of the most memorable and disturbing parts of the game.
* WaxMuseumMorgue: A variant. [[MadArtist Sander Cohen]] has decorated Fort Frolic with incredibly lifelike plaster sculptures, all posed and lit for maximum effect. Plaster sculptures with terrified expressions on their crumbling faces and bright arcs of blood around their wrists or throats. [[ParanoiaFuel Or plaster sculptures who aren't there when you turn around]]...
* WeDoTheImpossible: Deconstructed with Jack.
* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "A man chooses... A slave obeys... OBEY!!"]]
** And the more memetically popular: [[spoiler:"Would you kindly... powerful phrase. Familiar phrase?"]]
** Also:
-->[[spoiler:"It's time to end this little masquerade. There ain't no Atlas, kid. Never was. Fella in my line of work takes on a variety of aliases. Hell, once I was even a Chinaman for six months. But, you've been a sport, so I guess I owe you a little honesty. The name's Frank Fontaine."]]
* WhyWontYouDie: Ryan's question to Jack about a third of the way into the game.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The automated public address system throughout Rapture reminds citizens to use [=ADAM=] in moderation. "Remember, a careful splicer is a ''happy'' splicer!" Obviously, they didn't listen.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Fontaine plays a mean game of Speed Chess. When his initial plan (get the entire city spliced up to the point where he is effectively in charge) breaks down with Ryan blowing up part of his smuggling operation and seizing his legitimate assets, he fakes his death, [[spoiler:reinvents himself as "Atlas"]], and triggers a city-wide civil war by pointing out that Ryan became everything he (and by extension, the hardcore Objectivists who followed him into the ocean) hated in the process of fighting Fontaine. During the fighting, everyone got spliced to the gills, resulting in crippling Adam addiction, and the conditions for peace included handing Fontaine's seized assets over to Atlas.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Judging from the surplus of corpses and ghost sequences, it seems that during the final phases of Rapture's descent into madness both feuding factions took a heavy-handed approach to discipline. Andrew Ryan even has a collection of cadavers impaled on columns in his office foyer, all of whom were suspected (rightly or not) of being traitors or assassins. Fontaine would just splice your ass to next Sunday, or [[CementShoes worse]].
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6th Apr '13 2:22:14 PM jemas42

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4th Apr '13 3:32:41 PM tytoman

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