| 1 | [[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bioshock_collection.png]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:300:''"There's always a lighthouse, there's always a man, there's always a city..."'']] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''"No Gods or Kings. Only Man."'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Andrew Ryan''' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | ''[=BioShock=]'' is a {{video game}} series developed by Creator/IrrationalGames (also known as 2K Boston for a short while before reverting back to the old name). The series acts as a SpiritualSuccessor to the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games, and as such are technically [[FirstPersonShooter First Person Shooters]] with StatGrinding and SurvivalHorror elements. In addition to guns, players also have access to a range of element-themed mutant abilities. |
| 8 | |
| 9 | ''[=BioShock=]'' games take place in alternative history realities built heavily on BioPunk and DieselPunk. As with ''System Shock'', plots unfold in a SoiledCityOnAHill, now under the control of a lunatic with a God complex. The general backstories of the cities and characters are elaborated on in ApocalypticLogs scattered about. The games delve deep into heavy ethical and philosophical themes: the first two games (as well as their DLC and the DLC of the third game), set in the underwater city of Rapture, meditate on the ethics of gene editing, UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} versus Collectivism and the dangers of extreme ideologies, especially when combined with hypocrisy and the natural tendency to compromise our values in the pursuit of power. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | The third game, ''Infinite,'' wrestles with forgiveness, redemption, free will, American Exceptionalism, interventionism, fundamentalism, secularism, and a great many more "isms", plus the tendency of revolutions to replace one tyrant with another. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | An UpdatedRerelease of ''Infinite'' containing all [=DLCs=] came out in November 2014. Another rerelease compiling all three games (minus the multiplayer elements of ''[=BioShock=] 2'') came out on September 13, 2016 for the Platform/XBoxOne and Platform/PlayStation4, September 15 for PC and May 28th, 2020 for Platform/NintendoSwitch. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | 2K games confirmed in 2019 that a fourth game is in the works at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_Chamber_(company) Cloud Chamber,]] but little else is known besides that. |
| 16 | ---- |
| 17 | !!''[=BioShock=]'' media: |
| 18 | [[index]] |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[AC:Video games]] |
| 21 | * ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' (2007): After his plane crashes over the Atlantic Ocean in 1960, our protagonist, Jack, stumbles upon the underwater city of Rapture: an Objectivist utopia that has descended into chaos after the residents began mining a PsychoSerum from the ocean floor. With the help of RebelLeader Atlas and a defector scientist, Brigid Tenenbaum, Jack must stop Rapture's Mayor and his army of mutant "Splicers". To do this, Jack will have to harness the Splicers' power, which can only be harvested through [[HumanResources morally dubious means]]. |
| 22 | * ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' (2010): Eight years after the events of ''[=BioShock=]'', in 1968, Rapture has been taken over by Sofia Lamb, a staunch Collectivist who has declared [[TheEvilsOfFreeWill war on free will]] and set up a cult centered around her daughter Eleanor. The player controls a RogueDrone named Subject Delta (one of the Big Daddy mooks from the previous game), who is reprogrammed by Eleanor to rescue her from her mother. Of course, no ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' yarn would be complete with a malevolent [[DistaffCounterpart female counterpart]], Big Sister. |
| 23 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShock2: Minerva's Den'' (2010): A [[DownloadableContent DLC]] epilogue-of-sorts to the second game which, among other things, deals with the fate of major supporting character Brigid Tenenbaum. You play as Subject Sigma, another Big Daddy. Sigma is trapped in Rapture Central Computing, an area of the city that has been cut off from Lamb's domain due to a tunnel collapse, and is now in the midst of its own civil war between RCC founders Charles Milton Porter and Reed Wahl. Sigma is aided by Tenenbaum and Porter in his attempt to reach The Thinker, a computer invented by Porter to process all of Rapture's automated systems that may provide their only way out of the city. |
| 24 | * ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' (2013): This game is set in a [[AlternateUniverse different universe]] than the first two previous games (a point which [[HistoryRepeats comes into play later]]). A down-and-out detective named Booker [=DeWitt=] is sent to the floating city of Columbia to rescue a girl named Elizabeth. Easy money, right? Unfortunately the city has erupted in a massive civil war between the Ultranationalist Founders and the rebellious Vox Populi, and Elizabeth is guarded by the giant clockwork Songbird. |
| 25 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfiniteBurialAtSea'' (2013): A {{crossover}} [[DownloadableContent DLC]] which introduces Booker and Elizabeth to the Rapture universe. This alternate version of Booker is still a private eye, now of the [[HardboiledDetective hard-boiled]] variety. He's itching to leave town, but Andrew Ryan's strict isolationist policy prohibits it -- That is, until he accepts a case from Elizabeth (now a classic FemmeFatale). Just don't [[JustBeforeTheEnd look at the calendar]]. |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[AC:Literature]] |
| 28 | * ''Literature/BioShockRapture'' (2011): A {{prequel}} novel to the first two games. |
| 29 | * ''[=BioShock=] Infinite: Mind in Revolt'' (2013): A prequel short story to the third game. |
| 30 | |
| 31 | [[AC:Tabletop games]] |
| 32 | * ''Bioshock Infinite: Siege of Columbia'' (2013): A game where you can play as the Founders or the Vox Populi and will build up an army to fight for control of Columbia. |
| 33 | |
| 34 | [[/index]] |
| 35 | [[AC:Film]] |
| 36 | * A live action film has been in DevelopmentHell at Creator/{{Universal}} for a number of years, with filmmakers like Creator/GoreVerbinski and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo attached at different points. Most recently, Creator/{{Netflix}} [[https://deadline.com/2022/08/bioshock-francis-lawrence-michael-green-netflix-1235099488/ announced]] that they had picked up the rights and brought aboard Francis Lawrence (''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'', ''Film/TheHungerGamesMockingjay'') to direct and Michael Green (''Film/{{Logan}}'', ''Film/JungleCruise'') to write. |
| 37 | ---- |
| 38 | !!Tropes found across the series: |
| 39 | * AdamSmithHatesYourGuts: |
| 40 | ** Justified, since Rapture's regulation-free economy means that shopkeepers can charge people for weaponry to defend themselves during a civil war. Subverted, since you can hack most of the game's vending machines to get yourself greatly reduced prices. In an audio diary, Andrew Ryan even complains that hacking of the vending machines undermines Rapture's capitalist values. It also shows up in places where businesses ''will'' rip-off their customers, [[{{Snacksploitation}} like a fancy theater or lounge]] - a snack bar, even when hacked, sells for the "low, low" price of $80. Also justified in that there are no shopkeepers in the desolate Rapture, so there is no economy to begin with. Player characters can buy anything only by using vending machines that have predetermined prices. |
| 41 | ** One of the loading screens in the first game has a quote from the owner of Circus of Values (the vending machines) that pretty much sums up the entire concept of a monopoly in a nutshell: "Do we overcharge the suckers? Sure we do. Where else are they gonna go?" |
| 42 | ** Also in Columbia, since, barring the beginning of the game, Booker is seen as TheAntichrist, so the vending machines could quite literally hate his guts. [[CharmPerson Possession]] fixes that. |
| 43 | ** In ''Literature/BioShockRapture'' it is explained that when you come to Rapture, you exchange your money for Rapture Dollars, which of course can never be changed back since Rapture is a secret city, which is another reason nobody can leave. |
| 44 | * AlcoholHic: When you grab two beverages in quick succession and, as a result, get momentarily drunk. |
| 45 | * AntiFrustrationFeatures: Enemies will always miss their first few shots in ''Bioshock 1''. This is both to alert you to their presence, and to ensure the player isn't instantly killed by an enemy they didn't even know was there. |
| 46 | * ApocalypticLog: Scattered throughout both Rapture and Columbia are audio journals by the city's inhabitants. The information revealed within ranges from the useful (lock combinations) to the informative (who the main characters are and how Rapture got this way) to the disturbing (the reason why there are two corpses embracing on a bed next to a bottle of pills) to the unreliable (Cohen's rantings probably shouldn't be read too literally). |
| 47 | * TheApunkalypse: Rapture in a nutshell. Failed [[DieselPunk anachronistic 1940's]] [[OceanPunk civilization under the sea]]? Check. Said civilization sparsely populated by marauding mutant junkies looking for a fix from a [[BioPunk genetic wonder drug]]? Check. One man forced to fight against these junkies and avoid an [[BigBrotherIsWatching Orweillian Surveillance Government]]? You bet. |
| 48 | ** Columbia, though still a SoiledCityOnAHill, partially averts this by appearing at least superficially functional. However, when [[spoiler:Booker and Elizabeth enter the third tear into a universe where the Vox Populi's revolution is successful,]] this trope is in full effect. |
| 49 | * {{Autodoc}}: Automatic medical machines. They charge you cash, but will heal you completely; however enemies can also use them. You can also hack them so they'll give you a discount and kill any enemies who try to heal with it. Destroying them causes them to drop first aid kits. |
| 50 | * AxCrazy: Almost everyone in Rapture, and a fair number of people in Columbia. |
| 51 | * BigBad |
| 52 | ** In the first ''[=BioShock=]'', Andrew Ryan, followed by [[spoiler:Frank Fontaine]]. |
| 53 | ** In the second, Sofia Lamb. Despite player suspicions and audio recordings of him basically stating he's about as ruthless as Frank Fontaine ''and'' an unscrupulous company, [[spoiler:Sinclair isn't this.]] |
| 54 | ** In ''Infinite'', it's between [[BigBadEnsemble Zachary Comstock and Daisy Fitzroy]], [[spoiler:though Daisy leaves the picture pretty early]]. |
| 55 | * BigBrotherIsWatching: |
| 56 | ** Rapture is dotted with security cameras, and if one gets a long enough glimpse of you it dispatches combat drones to put you down. On the upside you can hack said cameras so that enemies trigger the drone attacks. ''[=BioShock 2=]'' features this trope even more directly as it sometimes has voices warning you over the loudspeaker that "Big ''Sister'' is Watching You!", along with graffiti warning that "LAMB IS WATCHING". |
| 57 | ** Columbia is similar, since the people ''are'' that paranoid and jingoistic. It's why the Motorized Patriot has a GatlingGood gun. |
| 58 | * BigEater: Disposable food items are used instantly and there are no consumption limits. This is okay for, for example, a Pep Bar, but reaches the point of "grotesque superpower" when Delta, Booker, or Jack manages to bolt down an entire chocolate cake or drink a whole bottle of moonshine, three Arcadia Merlot bottles and a shelf of vodka roughly one second per bottle, or chew their way through an entire storeroom full of supplies just because they can - especially Delta, who's wearing a ''sealed diving helmet''. Mitigated somewhat by any sort of alcoholic drink, if you drink two or more in quick succession you'll experience some serious beer goggle effects. |
| 59 | * BigGood: |
| 60 | ** Dr Brigid Tenenbaum plays this role in ''[=BioShock=]'' and ''[=BioShock 2=]'', as well as the ''Minerva's Den'' [=DLC=] for the latter. |
| 61 | ** [[spoiler:Robert and Rosalind Lutece]] provide a more unexpected example in ''Bioshock Infinite'': initially they come across as morally ambiguous at best, but it turns out they're genuinely out to help Booker and Elizabeth oppose the BigBad. |
| 62 | * BioAugmentation |
| 63 | ** Plasmids and gene tonics in Rapture. |
| 64 | ** Vigors and Infusions in Columbia. |
| 65 | * BioPunk: But of course! The turrets and cameras also have a DieselPunk vibe. |
| 66 | * BittersweetEnding: The sequels seem to like to give these out to its protagonists: |
| 67 | ** Subject Delta [[spoiler:will always die no matter what ending you get. The upside is that his "daughter" will finally see the surface, alongside with whatever lessons she learned from him... good or bad.]] |
| 68 | ** Booker [[spoiler:successfully kills Comstock and rescues Elizabeth... but that means he has to let her drown him in order to prevent him from becoming Comstock. Though after the credits he's shown waking up in his office, possibly letting him learn from his mistakes.]] And in ''Burial in Sea'', Elizabeth [[spoiler:gets her skull caved in, but dies with a smile, knowing she set in motion the downfall of Atlas and the rescue of the Little Sisters.]] |
| 69 | * BlatantItemPlacement |
| 70 | ** Averted. Much of the weapons and ammo you pick up are either scattered around as a result of a civil war, or found in stashes in offices or weapons lockers. Other things like your {{improvised weapon}}s are constructed out of mundane materials. |
| 71 | ** Played straight in ''Infinite'' where you can find ammo for your guns in places like inside picnic baskets on a crowded beach. |
| 72 | * BloodyHandprint |
| 73 | * BodyHorror |
| 74 | ** Splicers are marred by bloated tumors or lesions or twisted limbs, and looking at some of the Big Daddy suits it's impossible to imagine a normal person fitting in them. This is because the person in question has [[{{Squick}} had their flesh removed and organs welded into the inside of the suit.]] Spider Splicers have decayed even further in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' and barely look human anymore, while the new Brute Splicers are so beefed up on gene tonics that skin and muscle grew over their clothing. |
| 75 | ** Vigors in Columbia have similar effects to ADAM use, and that's not even getting into [[TragicMonster the Handymen]]. |
| 76 | * BrandX: Concept art for the creme-filled cake boxes has the cakes looking exactly like Twinkies. The final in-game art reduces the resemblance, possibly to reduce risk of trademark lawsuits. |
| 77 | * BrassBalls: Two of the games use this as a name for an achievement in some way. The first game has 'Brass Balls' which requires you to finish the game on Hard difficulty without using any Vita-Chambers. The second game has 'Big Brass Balls' which only requires you to complete the game without using any Vita-Chambers. |
| 78 | * BrainwashedAndCrazy: Hardcore Objectivist Andrew Ryan, desperate to win Rapture's civil war, resorted to pheromones to control his population, with the justification that if Atlas won they'd be no better off than slaves anyway. |
| 79 | * BribingYourWayToVictory: A bizarre in-universe example. Thanks to the hyper-capitalist nature of Rapture, you can literally buy the security systems that are supposed to be keeping you out and use them on enemies instead. |
| 80 | * CannedOrdersOverLoudspeaker: From the corny "Rapture Reminders" and other {{Public Service Announcement}}s in the first game to Sofia Lamb's unnerving "inspirational" speeches in the second game. |
| 81 | * CapRaiser: |
| 82 | ** ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'': Researching the Thuggish Splicer will raise the maximum amount of money Delta can hold by 200, and the cap starts at 600. |
| 83 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': Infusions are pickups that boost the player's choice of limits: health, [[{{Mana}} salts]], or shields. |
| 84 | * CatchAndReturn: Telekinesis lets you pitch most projectiles back at the one that threw them. This is harder to do in some cases; Rosie mines, for example, anchor themselves to the floor when they land. |
| 85 | * CentralTheme: The dangers of extremism and utopianism. [[SpaceWhaleAesop And of wanton genetic modification]], but mostly extremism. |
| 86 | * ChainsawGood: ''Infinite'' had its version to provide amusing incidents of bloody decapitations and such. And then the DLC (back in Rapture) had to add its own strange equivalent - as if the giant Big Daddy drill was no longer good enough. |
| 87 | * CharmPerson: Hypnotize type plasmids, and the Possession Vigor. |
| 88 | * ClingyCostume: The Big Daddies are grafted into their diving suits, though fortunately for two characters who voluntarily don similar outfits it doesn't appear to be necessary to wear them. Handymen, on the other hand, ''are'' their suits to some degree. |
| 89 | * ClosedCircle: Rapture is under the sea, so it's pretty inescapable except for the one bathysphere. Columbia is the same in the sky. |
| 90 | * CompilationRerelease: |
| 91 | ** In preparation of ''[=BioShock=] Infinite''[='=]s release, 2K released the ''[=BioShock=]: Ultimate Rapture Edition'' for Xbox 360 and [=PlayStation=] 3, compiling the first two games and their respective [=DLCs=]. This collection also gave Xbox 360 players access to the then [=PlayStation=] 3-exclusive Challenge Rooms DLC. |
| 92 | ** ''[=BioShock=]: The Collection'' consists of all three games and their DLC in a single package. In the case of the physical release, the first two games are in a single disc, while ''Infinite'' gets its own separate disc instead. |
| 93 | * ConceptsAreCheap: The Bioshock games are against extremism and utopias but never quite define coherently what particular ideas are utopian in relation to, or what ideas are extreme in relation with, mostly because it categorizes extremism as a separate notion rather than a point on a particular spectrum. |
| 94 | * ConvenientColorChange: When you successfully hack a turret. |
| 95 | * CracksInTheIcyFacade: Dr. Brigid Tennenbaum started as a former Nazi collaborator who helped Mengele in Auschwitz due to scientific curiosity and only complained because Nazis didn't do interesting things in these experiences. In Rapture, while working with Little Sisters, her heart awoke to the atrocities visited on them and, by the end, fled to protect and save the [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Little Sisters]]. The first time Jack meet her is when she shoot a splicer attempting to murder a Little Sister for her ADAM. |
| 96 | * CrapsackWorld: Rapture has gone to hell. Columbia is more of a CrapsaccharineWorld (at least before the Vox uprising). |
| 97 | * CreatorCameo: Ken Levine provides the voices of the vending machines. |
| 98 | * CreepyOldFashionedDivingSuit: |
| 99 | ** The first game introduces the iconic [[https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Daddy Big Daddies]], men who were heavily spliced with the ADAM mutagen and outfitted in unique, heavily-armored and intimidating diving suits to be protectors for the Little Sisters in the underwater city of Rapture. This turns them into massive imposing armored monsters/mutants that have superhuman strength, endurance and speed, "speak" only in low creepy moans (almost sounding like whales), and typically carry weapons like [[ThisIsADrill drills]] and [[NailEm rivet guns]] (other Big Daddy armaments would be introduced in the sequel). While we never see the Big Daddies without their suits, StoryBreadcrumbs indicate that their creation involved a lot of BodyHorror, so that's probably for the best. |
| 100 | ** Its sequel, ''VideoGame/Bioshock2'' introduces Subject Delta of the Alpha Series, two new types of Big Daddies (The Rumbler which has a [[ShoulderCannon shoulder-mounted rocket launchers]] and the Lancer which is armed with the Ion Laser cannon), it also introduces the [[https://bioshock.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Sister Big Sisters]], Little Sisters from the first game who weren't rescued by Jack, all grown up in the eight years since. They're a lot more nimble, acrobatic, and aggressive than the Big Daddies, making liberal use of Plasmids as well as their supersized arm-mounted ADAM syringes, but are outfitted in diving suits all the same. They're responsible for kidnapping little girls from the surface to act as the newer generation of Little Sisters. |
| 101 | * CruelAndUnusualDeath: Getting shot to pieces by a machine gun or taking a wrench to the frontal lobe are probably the least painful ways to die in Rapture. At least they beat being burned, drilled, electrocuted, drowned, telekinetically hurled, and/or beaten to death. |
| 102 | * CueTheSun: The better endings take place as dawn breaks. |
| 103 | * DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: A light slap at that thanks to the Vita-Chambers scattered throughout the levels. Unlike most other games, respawning doesn't even cost any resources. The sequel acknowledges this when the villain admits that the best she can do is slow you down [[spoiler:and attempts to get rid of you permanently by destroying all the Vita-Chambers in the area via crush depth.]] Unless, of course, you turn them off for an achievement run. This also applies in ''Infinite'', and in most cases it will show Elizabeth reviving you. |
| 104 | * DejaVu: One of Andrew Ryan's taunts over the radio hints at [[PlayerCharacter Jack]] experiencing this. [[spoiler:Rapture is oddly familiar to Jack because he's a LaserGuidedTykeBomb grown in the city and sent to the surface, programmed to return and kill Ryan.]] |
| 105 | -->''"So far away from your family, from your friends, from everything you ever loved. But, for some reason you like it here. You feel something you can't quite put your finger on. Think about it for a second and maybe the word will come to you: nostalgia."'' |
| 106 | * DestroyTheSecurityCamera: You can do this in Bioshocks 1 & 2 to prevent cameras from sending hostile [[AttackDrone Attack Drones]] after you. Or you can hack the camera to make it target enemies instead. |
| 107 | * {{Dystopia}}: Both Rapture and Columbia, each one in a different way. |
| 108 | * EldritchAbomination: The "luminescent biomass" beneath the Persephone Prison Colony has shades of this. In addition to apparently giving the sea slugs in the area the ability to produce ADAM, [[spoiler:a diary found on the body of a suicidal prisoner states that he felt like ''things'' were watching him from outside in the light coming off of it]]. |
| 109 | * ElectricityKnocksYouOut: In all games where [[ShockAndAwe electric attacks]] were present, they had the propriety of knocking out enemies, allowing for combos involving melee attacks against weakened adversaries. |
| 110 | * EnclosedSpace: Mostly of the Underwater Base variety. |
| 111 | * EvilVersusEvil: Andrew Ryan versus Frank Fontaine. Andrew Ryan versus Sofia Lamb. Daisy Fitzroy versus Zachary Comstock. |
| 112 | * EvolvingAttack |
| 113 | ** The original let you upgrade your elemental plasmids to deal more damage, but the sequel really expands on it - your Electro Bolt, for example, becomes a chargeable {{chain lightning}} attack at level 2, and at level 3 the charge becomes its normal function while the new charge lets you spray a torrent of electricity from your fingertips. |
| 114 | ** ''Infinite'' instead has each Vigor upgraded separately according to user preference, with an "aid" or a lowered Salts cost, though both can be learned. |
| 115 | * EyeCam: Used to dramatic effect in both games, after the main character in each has been knocked unconscious and is coming to. |
| 116 | * FalseUtopia: Rapture and Columbia. |
| 117 | * FantasticAesop: ZigZagged. The narrative offers up a lot of perfectly valid points for why each games' respective [[FalseUtopia "ideal"]] utopian society cannot ultimately sustain itself, but Rapture's also heavily depends on the proliferation of genetic modifiers and performance enhancers that drive their users violently insane; something that would eventually cause ''any'' kind of political or economic system to collapse. |
| 118 | * FlashyTeleportation: How all teleportation that is seen, works, with puffs of smoke and flashes of light on appearing and disappearing: |
| 119 | ** Houdini Splicers, who appear and disappear in puffs of smoke and flashes of light, Fiery red, or Icy blue, depending on their element. |
| 120 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'': There's an Unstable Teleport plasmid that needs to be used multiple times, and leads to the player to an otherwise inaccessible location. Its teleports of itself and the player are red smoke and light. |
| 121 | * FlushingEdgeInteractivity: The toilets, sinks, and bathtub fixtures all work, and are equally pointless. |
| 122 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: The games are loaded with foreshadowing. See their entries for more. |
| 123 | * GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: Gene Tonics let you turn invisible, teleport, recharge health by hacking machinery, or [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking take better pictures]], while Plasmids and Vigors allow you to hurl energy, toss objects with your mind, or [[BeeBeeGun turn your hand into a hornet nest]]. |
| 124 | * GeniusBruiser: All three protagonists have good hacking and puzzle-solving abilities, in addition to being good with firearms. |
| 125 | * GenreMashup: This game is {{Zeerust}} ScienceFiction, SurvivalHorror, Art Deco, and Anarcho-Capitalistic Dystopia all put in a blender. |
| 126 | * GoryDiscretionShot |
| 127 | ** A form of ''Non''-Gory Discretion Shot in the form of all-concealing green mist is used the moment you actually harvest a Little Sister. |
| 128 | ** Interestingly, in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', you have an opportunity to see what happens when somebody else attacks and harvests a Little Sister, and they too are surrounded by an evil-looking pea-green fog. |
| 129 | * GreenRocks: The sea slugs gained the ability to generate ADAM from a large, [[SicklyGreenGlow glowing]] biomass. It can be seen under Persephone. |
| 130 | * GreyAndGrayMorality: And how. While you may find it hard to justify the actions of Lamb, Ryan and Fontaine (as well as many other characters), you can make a case that most characters have a FreudianExcuse (or are just [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans deluded into achieving their philosophy with any means possible]]). The 2K Forums in particular are filled with many debates on the morality of characters. |
| 131 | * HackingMinigame: The vending machines (among other things) can be hacked. |
| 132 | * HairRaisingHare: Some splicers wear bloodied bunny masks, while Sander Cohen is ''fixated'' on rabbits, using rabbit masks in his tableaux and rabbits in his... poetry. See [[MadArtist the page]] for his work. |
| 133 | * HealingBoss: Dr Steinman has a healing station built into the room he fights Jack in, and will use it to recover after taking damage. It's possible for the player to [[HackingMinigame hack it]] and turn it against him so it will kill him instead. |
| 134 | * TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Every game in the series (including DLC) ends with the death of the protagonist. The only exception is Subject Sigma from the Minerva's Den DLC to ''Bioshock 2''. At least Jack in ''Bioshock 1'' does get to live peacefully for a decent number of years before apparently dying of old age, whereas every protagonist from ''Bioshock 2'' onwards dies immediately and messily at the end of their adventure, with the exception of Sigma as stated above.]] |
| 135 | * HarderThanHard: The Platform/PlayStation3 port, in addition to the Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulties, has Survivor, which is described on the difficulty selection screen as "every bullet counts." They mean it. In this mode, enemies can do some serious damage to you and nearly all of your plasmids consume a lot more EVE. And to add to the fun, two of the trophies force you to play the game on this difficulty. The first trophy requires you to simply finish the game. The second trophy requires you to finish the game '''without''' using Vita-Chambers. Said trophies are respectively called [[IronicEcho "A Man Chooses" and "I Chose The Impossible"]] Though not the same difficulty, the Platform/Xbox360 version similarly has Achievements for just finishing the game on Hard ("Seriously Good At This") and without using any Vita-Chambers ("Brass Balls"). |
| 136 | * HatePlague: The Enrage plasmid lets you throw a squishy, organic ConflictBall at foes, turning them into berserk team-killers. |
| 137 | * HealingFactor: The Little Sisters, justified due to the [=ADAM=] in their system. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BMmUEaAKSI Deconstructed in the second game:]] overly fast healing of broken bones often means [[RequiredSecondaryPower they don't set properly]], so they have to be re-broken several times to be put back into place. |
| 138 | * HeroicMime |
| 139 | ** Jack, the protagonist of the first game, has exactly two lines in total, both in the opening cutscene. Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', with one of Father Wales' audio diaries describing Jack as a silent and mysterious Messiah figure; "Then, though he spake not a word..." The second game's protagonist, being a Big Daddy, straddles the line between this and TheUnintelligible; distorted but vaguely-human grunts and roars, and not much else. |
| 140 | ** Averted in ''Infinite'' where Booker frequently talks to himself and other characters throughout the game. |
| 141 | * HiddenElfVillage |
| 142 | ** Deconstructed. If Andrew Ryan's fear of discovery by the surface nations hadn't made Rapture into one of these, there would have been no black market for Frank Fontaine to control. For a captain of industry, Ryan [[ArtisticLicenseEconomics was blind to basic economics]] - demands ''will'' be supplied, laws only make them more expensive. |
| 143 | ** Averted in ''Infinite''. Everyone knows about Columbia, as it was designed as a showcase of American ingenuity, and therefore ''meant'' to be showed off. It was only after the Boxer Rebellion and its subsequent secession from the United States that it closed itself to the rest of the world. [[spoiler:Booker not knowing about the existence of the city is an early clue to his true nature.]] |
| 144 | * HideYourChildren: Pointedly averted; whether to kill the Little Sisters is the primary moral decision the player is given. There are no other children around though, meaning no boys at all. The closest thing are the Pigskins, who resemble scared teenage boys wearing football gear. |
| 145 | * HighVoltageDeath: Throughout the series, any enemies hit by electricity in water are instantly killed. |
| 146 | * HollywoodCB: Sort of. Your radio, which everybody can tap into (or jam) at the proper time. |
| 147 | * HumanPopsicle: Courtesy of the Ice plasmids, which can lead to a case of IceBreaker. |
| 148 | * HumanResources: ADAM, when harvested from dead bodies. |
| 149 | * HydroElectroCombo: Water significantly amplifies electric attacks. On its own, "Electrobolt!" stun-locks enemies for a few seconds but when transmitted through water puddles will instantly kill any enemy short of a Big Daddy. |
| 150 | * HyperactiveMetabolism |
| 151 | ** There are a number of comestibles that will restore your health and [[ManaMeter EVE]] meters, but only by a very small amount. Eating snacks such as potato chips and cream-filled cakes gives you health, while drinking coffee gives you EVE, and eating a "pep bar" gives you a smidgen each of health and EVE. Meanwhile, smoking cigarettes will give you a bit of EVE at the cost of some health, while drinking alcohol will give you a bit of health at the cost of some EVE. The gene tonic Extra Nutrition will give you more health from consumables, and while you'll still have to deal with some drunken wobbling, the gene tonic Booze Hound causes you to gain EVE instead of losing it when drinking booze. |
| 152 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' superficially expanded the set of consumable items, adding not only more mundane food items like canned goods and cola but vitamins, aspirin, fresh water, and something called "Doc Hollcroft's Cure-All", which restores both health and EVE despite being, as an audio diary on the website reveals, a placebo. |
| 153 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' expands this even more and you rely on the food since you can't store medkits any more. Some drinks restore Salt, smoking restores some Salt at the cost of health, drinking alcohol has the opposite effect. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXv4vsbIMts And of course]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4sTH2SSlxk there's absolutely no limit]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3DHGGBCSdw to how much you can eat or drink.]] |
| 154 | * HyperspaceArsenal |
| 155 | ** Maybe there's a gene tonic that gives people personal pocket dimensions. |
| 156 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' averts this, as the player can only carry two guns at once. |
| 157 | * {{Hypocrite}} |
| 158 | ** Andrew Ryan. ''Nominally'' an [[UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} Objectivist]], but he ends up nationalizing industries, restricting free speech, killing ideological opponents and ultimately (according to Diane [=McClintock=]) believing more in power over others than his nominal philosophy. As Anya says in one of the recordings, "I believed in this place. I believed in Ryan. But when it got hard, Ryan didn't believe in Rapture..." |
| 159 | ** In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', Sofia Lamb practices her philosophy [[{{Deconstruction}} in a brutally consistent fashion]] [[spoiler:until the end of the game, where she's quite happy to doom The Family to a watery grave while she makes her escape on a submersible]]. Also justified, as [[spoiler:she had no intention of actually saving the people of Rapture, only in stabilizing it long enough to extract all the ADAM she could]]. |
| 160 | ** As you start getting closer to [[spoiler:Fontaine]], he starts complaining about your "betrayal", insisting that "nobody told you nothing but lies" and referring to himself as "family". |
| 161 | ** Comstock is this in so many ways. First he is an ultra-nationalist who seceded from the very nation that he claims to love (claiming, of course, that they betrayed ''him''). Second, though he professes to champion all that is White, Anglo-Saxon and Protestant in the face of heathen Catholics and/or foreigners, he fills Columbia with images of angels and the Founders to the point of idolatry. In one audio log, he rages about [[spoiler:being accused of having Native American ancestry... apparently, he was so desperate to deny this that he burned hundreds of Native American families alive.]] |
| 162 | * HypocriticalHumor / {{Irony}} - many of the splicers really don't know what they have become: |
| 163 | --> '''Brute Splicer:''' You ain't natural!\ |
| 164 | '''Female Splicer:''' Freak!\ |
| 165 | '''Another Female Splicer:''' YOU'RE INSANE! |
| 166 | * IconicSequelCharacter: Elizabeth is the franchise's most recognizable character after the rumbler big daddy and little sister combo. Booker [=DeWitt=] and Subject Delta are also more popular in cosplay than most of the first game's characters (very few of which even have unique models). |
| 167 | * AnIcePerson: Martin Finnegan, and the ice-element Houdini Splicers found later in the game. You can turn an enemy into a HumanPopsicle in either game with [[FreezeRay Winter Blast]] and other attacks. |
| 168 | * ImAHumanitarian: If you find a kitchen, odds are good that there's a human body on the table or counter. Probably necessary due to Rapture's food production breaking down, plus it's a way to recycle that sweet, sweet [=ADAM=]. Spider-splicer hearts can also be used as medpacks. |
| 169 | * InterfaceScrew: |
| 170 | ** Walk under a leak and your screen will go funny for a moment. |
| 171 | ** A more gameplay-related variety occurs late in the first game when [[spoiler:you drink the first dose of the antidote to Fontaine's mind control]]. |
| 172 | * IntoxicatedSuperpowerSnag: Both [[VideoGame/BioShock1 Jack]] and [[VideoGame/BioShock2 Subject Delta]] find that alcohol drains their EVE bars, leaving them with progressively less energy to use on plasmids... but on the upside, [[BoozeBasedBuff alcohol restores their health bars]], so it's useful if you don't have any health kits and don't mind squandering mana. By contrast, nicotine regenerates the player characters' EVE bars but damages their health bars. |
| 173 | ** IntoxicationMechanic: Drinking multiple alcoholic beverages in quick succession will cause the screen to become blurry, in addition to [[BoozeBasedBuff slightly boosting the player character's health]] and slightly depleting his reserves of EVE (in ''VideoGame/BioShock1'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock2'') or Salts (in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''). Certain gene tonics or Vigors will change the effects of alcohol consumption. |
| 174 | * InterfaceSpoiler: Your suspiciously empty weapon wheel and equally empty level menu can give away that YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle. |
| 175 | * ItemAmplifier: The game has the plasmids Booze Hound and EVE Link, which add [[{{Mana}} EVE]] regeneration with the use of health items (though you still get blurred vision from drinking too much). The Medical Expert and Extra Nutrition plasmids give more traditional boosts to the effects of health items. |
| 176 | * ItemCrafting: The first game lets you do this with "U-Invent" machines. |
| 177 | * ItsAllAboutMe |
| 178 | ** Andrew Ryan. Frank Fontaine. Pretty much everyone in Rapture, really. [[Creator/AynRand That's kinda the point, though]]. |
| 179 | -->'''Andrew Ryan''': In the end, all that matters to me... is me. And all that matters to you... is you. It is the nature of things. |
| 180 | ** As regards Ryan in particular, it's hinted by the audio diary "Fontaine Must Go" and the fact that his name is plastered all over the city's signage that his motives in building Rapture were less to do with creating a haven for the world's elite, and more to do with creating a haven for ''himself'' where he could milk the inhabitants for all they're worth... one way or another. |
| 181 | * {{Irony}}: The games tend to show how the various ideological utopias shown become both their own antithesis and similarly screwed-up in practice. |
| 182 | ** The Rapture of Andrew Ryan is initially shown as a libertarian paradise that would make Ayn Rand proud. Yet Ryan himself isn't above nationalizing businesses or resorting to prattle like the binding "chain of industry" when things go his way. Though then again, that may simply be him looking out for himself. |
| 183 | ** The Rapture of Sofia Lamb is presented as the ultimate collective not too dissimilar to late-stage communism. Yet in the end, Lamb herself proves to be as selfish and self-centered as Ryan was. |
| 184 | ** Comstock's Columbia tries to be a nationalist showcase of American Exceptionalism. In practice, it becomes a warped mirror of America at its worst, not to mention an utter perversion of everything the Founding Fathers fought for. |
| 185 | ** Columbia under the Vox Populi is on paper free of its people's oppressors. Except that the Vox prove to be just as tyrannical and zealous to a fault as Comstock and his supporters. |
| 186 | * KarmaMeter: The first one attempted it with the Rescue/Harvest choice for dealing with Little Sisters, and even the game's director admitted the black or white choice was a poor implementation. It was also incredibly harsh; you bave to make your choice about what you want to see almost at the beginning, because harvest just two out of 21 Little Sisters and you turn into some kind of baby-eater. The sequel seems to go through the motions by giving you the same choices again, just twice, ''but'' there are also three characters whom you can choose to kill or spare, which also affects the ending, giving a total of four; Mother Theresa, baby-eater, ComicBook/JudgeDredd, and IDidWhatIHadToDo (ie, baby-eating at the weekend). |
| 187 | ** The impact of these choices is the game ending (at which time it won't effect play), and the rewards for 'harvesting' or 'rescuing', which in the end result in equivalent rewards (no cost for doing the "right thing"). There is a third option to play through without interacting with the Little Sisters (when possible), and a fourth is to not finish the game and just inhabit areas indefinitely living off the respawning Splicers/Big Daddies for resources. |
| 188 | ** [[spoiler:Subverted]] in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' - there are several opportunities to make choices (moral or otherwise), some of which will result in payouts, but [[spoiler:none have any impact on the ending. It's always the same because it has to be.]] |
| 189 | * LagCancel: Fire your crossbow, switch to a plasmid, then switch back to your crossbow and fire it again. Doing this cancels the lengthy animation after firing and lets you spit out your whole clip of bolts in short order. |
| 190 | ** In ''2'', the lengthy animation is characteristic of the spear gun, but since both your plasmid and weapon hands are out at the same time, this trope is averted. |
| 191 | * LargeHam: Some audio diaries come to mind. For example, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQls88y-i6w/ Pierre Gobbi is practically chewing on the scenery when expressing his unhappiness about the watered-down wine.]]''. Of course, to a Frenchman wine is SeriousBusiness. |
| 192 | * LastChanceHitPoint: On Easy or Normal, any attack that should kill you (i.e. taking a rocket to the face with only about 10 health left) only bumps you down to 1 health, and you have to take an additional hit to die. ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' takes it even further by [[MercyInvincibility making you invincible for about 1 second after being brought down to 1 health]]. This is disabled on the highest difficulty, however, which makes things a lot harder. |
| 193 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The entire "[[spoiler:Would You Kindly]]" bit in the first game makes you realize that you were blindly obeying ''the game itself'', not just the command phrase. Though most people who play these games figure out that the doors leading OFF the Yellow Brick Road just don't open. |
| 194 | * LegoGenetics: There's simply no way that all those superpowers Jack gains could interface with his DNA so easily. The same with all the splicers, but they certainly went crazy enough. |
| 195 | * LighthousePoint: Where Jack and Booker start out and where the second game ends. [[spoiler:As with the recurring concept of 'a man, a lighthouse, and a city' in BioShockInfinite, the game's GainaxEnding involves lighthouses. Lots of lighthouses.]] |
| 196 | * LightningBruiser: It's quite a shock to discover just how fast a Big Daddy can [[BullfightBoss charge across a room]] and flatten you. On the bright side, you get to play as one in the sequel and are just as swift and brutal when you lower your drill and charge. This trend is continued in Infinite: the Handymen's cumbersome-looking metal bodies belie their agility, and even the Motorized Patriots are pretty quick-footed. |
| 197 | * LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair |
| 198 | ** Rapture, what was to be an Objectivist utopia, and now is decidedly not. |
| 199 | ** Even more so in the sequel, which in addition to the ever-encroaching decay emphasizes the hubris of Andrew Ryan's ambition... and its fate of eventually being swallowed up by the sea forever. |
| 200 | * LovecraftianSuperpower: Plasmids - [[spoiler:injectable potions made from the stem-cells of sea-slugs]] - can bestow people superpowers and can be used for things like mind-control and cosmetic surgery. Because of the objectivist system of Rapture however, the addictive qualities of plasmids turned the population into freakish, mutant addicts, giant, diving-suit cyborgs and inhuman little girls that mass produce it. |
| 201 | * MadArtist: Sander Cohen. |
| 202 | * MadScientist |
| 203 | ** Dr. Suchong et al. Tenenbaum skirts the line mainly by [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realizing what she's doing]] and becoming TheAtoner. |
| 204 | ** Played with in the case of Gil Alexander who was sure that his next experiment will render him insane. [[spoiler:He's right.]] |
| 205 | ** Sofia Lamb is a rare example of a Mad Social Scientist. |
| 206 | * MadnessMantra |
| 207 | ** Practically almost all enemy NPC, not to mention Sander Cohen's "The Wild Bunny" audio diary: "''I want to take the ears off but I can't! It's my curse! It's my fucking curse! I want to take the ears off! Please! Take them off! Please!''" |
| 208 | ** A notable example are the [=NPCs=] singing "Jesus loves me this I know", since Christianity was supposed to be banned in Rapture, and there are smugglers crates full of nothing but tons and tons of Bibles (UNSOLD - so the smugglers must've been idiots to keep importing them). |
| 209 | * MagicByAnyOtherName: There's a plasmid/vigor equivalent of just about every standard RPG magic power, as long as you have the [=EVE=]/salts. |
| 210 | * MagicGenetics: There probably isn't a real "shoot lightning from your hand" gene, and ''[=BioShock=]'' shows why we should be thankful for that. |
| 211 | * MalevolentMaskedMen: Splicers often wear Mardi Gras-ish masks. Possibly justified, as it's stated in Audio-Logs that everything really went to hell in Rapture on New Year's Day. And considering some of their appearances otherwise... |
| 212 | * MamaBear: The Rosebud Splicer's main reason for the descent into madness and the violence that follows appears to be her search for her missing daughter. |
| 213 | * {{Mammon}}: Some of the lower-class Splicers mention Mammon in their mad ravings, in the context of how Rapture went horribly wrong. |
| 214 | * ManaMeter: EVE, which is used to power plasmids. In ''Infinite'', it's salts, used to power vigors. [[spoiler:They are pretty much one and the same, due to a scientific 'collaboration' between Columbia and Rapture, though salts are a less efficient version.]] |
| 215 | * ManipulativeBastard: [[spoiler:Frank Fontaine. And Mommie Dearest bastardess Sofia Lamb]] |
| 216 | * MasterOfUnlocking: All three protagonists, having mastered respectively the specific arts of plumbing and stopping a needle in the right place. |
| 217 | %%* MayContainEvil: ADAM. |
| 218 | * MeaningfulName: ''All over the place.'' |
| 219 | ** "Andrew Ryan" may not be an anagram of "Ayn Rand", but it's as close as it needs to be, and "Atlas" is a reference to the novel ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''. However, WordOfGod claims that "Fontaine" being a reference to ''Literature/TheFountainhead'' is just a coincidence. |
| 220 | ** Rapture gets bonus points for a [[strike: double]] [[strike:triple]] ''quadruple'' meaning. |
| 221 | *** By itself, the word refers to a state of elevated bliss. |
| 222 | *** Nitrogen narcosis, a psychological condition occasionally experienced by deep-sea divers, is often called "rapture of the deep." |
| 223 | *** Christian belief in the end-times event called the Rapture, which canonically is followed by a thousand-year period of heaven on Earth. |
| 224 | *** Finally, the original meaning of 'rapture', which is "kidnapping" or "snatching", from Latin ''raptus'' -- in the first and second senses, one is caught up or transported by ecstasy, while the third connotes being swept up by God into the Kingdom of Heaven.[[note]]Also potentially of interest, though not of direct significance here: 'rapture' is cognate to 'rape', which originally meant obtaining a wife via kidnapping, and 'raptor', denoting predatory birds which swoop down upon their prey and snatch it up into the sky.[[/note]] Ryan himself chose the name as a BlasphemousBoast (due to his dislike of religion) and in reference to the fact that he was "rapturing" the world's best and brightest. |
| 225 | ** Additionally Andrew means 'manly' (from Greek ''andros'', 'man') and Ryan means 'king' (from Gaelic ''rÃ'', 'king', cognate to Latin ''rex''). |
| 226 | ** Atlas [[spoiler:after taking a massive dose of ADAM physically resembles his namesake]], although [[spoiler:Fontaine]] doesn't otherwise fit the John Galt mold all that well. |
| 227 | ** [[spoiler:The 'jack' is a playing card which takes the place of the prince in a card deck. Fitting for the Ace in the Hole, who is the son of the ruler of the city.]] |
| 228 | ** 'Sofia' is a direct cognate of Greek ''sophia'', 'wisdom' -- and also of 'sophistry', which is deception by means of specious argument. Lamb is a rather fitting name for someone starting a religious movement originally intended to be benevolent and pacifistic -- and also a homonym of 'lam', as in the old phrase 'on the lam' meaning a fugitive from the authorities.[[note]]'Lamb' is also a good name for someone whose political views are modeled on those of the original communist, more commonly known as the 'Lamb of God', and whose movement originated in the cause of bringing equality for all, but gained power only to be corrupted by it and end up not only perpetuating injustice but exacerbating it.[[/note]] |
| 229 | ** Booker [=DeWitt=] = A blank book, fitting of a game protagonist. |
| 230 | ** Zachary Comstock combines both a Biblical name and the surname of a number of 19th century U.S. politicians and judges, including moral crusader Anthony Comstock. |
| 231 | * MetropolisLevel: All of the games in the series took place in cities; however, due to hubris from the leaders, they were decaying and suffering mass unrest. |
| 232 | * MindOverMatter: The Telekinesis plasmid. "Pick up big stuff with your mind. Throw them at your enemies. What else do you need to know?" |
| 233 | * MirrorCharacter: |
| 234 | ** There's no real difference between Fontaine and Ryan by the time ''[=BioShock=]'' takes place as [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope both of them have gone far off the deep end to achieve their goals]]. |
| 235 | ** In the sequel, Lamb's version of "the greater good" is ultimately as monstrous and terrible as Ryan's philosophy, [[spoiler:and she's just as willing to cast those ideals aside (and screw the rest) when it comes to saving herself]]. Interestingly both Ryan and Lamb were partially driven to their respective extremes by the Hiroshima bombing: Ryan saw the bomb as a corruption of science and industry into making a weapon that allowed "parasites" to destroy what they couldn't seize (a la [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Project X]]) while Lamb was outraged at the United States using her "for the greater good" philosophy to justify the bombing. Both also ultimately thought that the "corrupt" surface world was doomed to destroy itself. |
| 236 | ** Many of Comstock's qualities, such as a [[{{Determinator}} relentless sense of determination]] and a [[PapaWolf deep, protective impulse towards a daughter figure]], can be found in Booker as well. [[spoiler:There's a good reason for that--Booker ''is'' Comstock.]] |
| 237 | * TheMobBossIsScarier: One log can be found next to an electrified corpse that belonged to a smuggler. Play it and you'll hear the dead smuggler refusing to give Ryan's goons any information because he claims that Fontaine will do worse. |
| 238 | * MonsterAndTheMaiden: One of the game's iconic enemies are the [[LightningBruiser Bouncers]] (also known as Big Daddies), hulking suits of armor who protect [[CreepyChild Little Sisters]], human girls who are tasked with collecting [[{{Unobtanium}} [=ADAM=]]]. |
| 239 | * MonsterClown: "Fill your ''Cravings'' at the Circus of ''Values!'' ''[[EvilLaugh Hahahahahaaaa]]!!''" |
| 240 | * TheMovie: Originally to be directed by Gore Verbinski of ''Pirates of the Carribean'' fame, replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (''Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater''), written by John Logan (''{{Film/Gladiator}}'', ''Film/TheAviator'', ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''), [[http://www.computerandvideogames.com/395628/ken-levine-killed-bioshock-film-following-budgetdirector-issues/ eventually killed]] by Ken Levine himself. |
| 241 | * MST3KMantra: According to the ''Making of [=BioShock=]'' DVD, one of the early difficulties in designing Rapture was that, being on the sea floor, the city would have to be designed in a certain way to cope with the natural spreading and movement of the sea floor. Eventually, [[WordOfGod the artistic developers]] simply ignored the issue and designed it as any normal city would be. They do say, however, that the final design is apt because like their idea of a Objectivist-run city, a city built on the seafloor just isn't feasible. |
| 242 | * MultipleEndings |
| 243 | ** In the original, if you rescue all the Little Sisters you find rather than harvest them, [[spoiler:you bring them up to the surface with you, where they live normal lives before all returning to comfort you on your deathbed.]] If you instead harvest them all, after beating the last boss [[spoiler:you gorge yourself on [=ADAM=], lead an army of Splicers to the surface, and seize a submarine armed with nuclear weapons. The number of Little Sisters harvested determines the tone of Tennenbaum's otherwise identical voice-over in these endings: harvesting most of them causes her tone to be spiteful and accusatory, while harvesting only a few of them leads to a more disappointed tone from her]]. As a nod to the choice, the Splicers in the sequel argue over which path Jack took. |
| 244 | ** There's a lot more permutations in the sequel's endings (six, to be precise), depending on whether you again chose to harvest or save the Little Sisters, but also if you chose to kill or spare [=NPCs=]]. Variables include the presence or absence of Little Sisters as well as [[spoiler:whether or not Eleanor saves her mother, watches her drown, or actively kills her]]. After morally-ambiguous paths, [[spoiler:Delta intentionally dies rather than have Eleanor follow his example, leaving her to wonder if anyone can be redeemed or who will guide her now]]. In the ''worst'' ending, [[spoiler:Eleanor follows your example and harvests you for [=ADAM=], and declares that her desires are all that matter and [[OhCrap the world is going to change.]]]] |
| 245 | ** In ''Infinite'', [[spoiler:this is thoroughly averted. Several moral choices present themselves in your path but the plot is unaffected and there is only one ending.]] |
| 246 | * TheMultiverse: How Columbia and Rapture connect, as well as possible other games. Shown overtly for the two of them in ''Infinite'' with not only [[spoiler:the WhamEpisode in Rapture]], but also the "Burial at Sea" DownloadableContent. |
| 247 | ** TheConstant: In ''Infinite'' it is revealed that the lighthouse is this, as there is a man to go to one in each universe, in one form or another. |
| 248 | * MundaneUtility: Throughout the series you use superpowers not just for fighting but also for puzzle solving with things like electrokinesis to jump start machinery or a small artificial gravity well to unplug cables that are out of reach. This is even invoked in-universe with plasmid advertisements that suggest everyday uses for your powers such as pyrokinesis to light a cigarette or a fireplace. |
| 249 | * {{Mutants}}: The splicers were originally ordinary people who deliberately purchased injectible upgrades for their DNA, buying anything from good looks to superpowers... only to find just how debilitating ADAM can be if used carelessly. |
| 250 | * MyDadCanBeatUpYourDad |
| 251 | ** The chatter from the Gatherer's Garden kiosks. More specifically, "My daddy's smarter than Einstein! Stronger than Hercules! And he can make fire with a snap of his fingers! Are you as good as my daddy, mister? Not if you don't come to Gatherer's Garden!" |
| 252 | ** The Little Sisters you adopt "I got the best Big Daddy" from ''VideoGame/BioShock2'': "Daddy's giving you [[CirclingBirdies stars and birdies!]]" |
| 253 | * NamedAfterFirstInstallment: NumberedSequels style. The series started with ''VideoGame/BioShock1''. and its entries all involve biological enhancement superpowers. |
| 254 | * NecessaryDrawback: Frozen enemies are very easy to kill, but drop no loot upon death (because you shattered them to bits!) |
| 255 | * NeuralImplanting: Wouldn't you know it, The PsychoSerum ADAM does that too! |
| 256 | * NeverGetsDrunk |
| 257 | ** While it's possible to get "drunk," (a) the effect lasts about twenty seconds and (b) it typically takes ''multiple entire bottles of hard liquor'' to produce even this. |
| 258 | ** All the protagonists are in some weird alcoholic limbo between this and CantHoldHisLiquor. They all get equally drunk after two drinks in quick succession- whether those drinks were both single beers, or both whole bottles of vodka, or anything in between. |
| 259 | * NightmareFuelColoringBook: The cells that Little Sisters grow up in, covered in drawings of dead people and morbid-looking stick figures of Big Daddies. Saved children draw happier, sunnier drawings. |
| 260 | * NoCanonForTheWicked: The ending to [[spoiler:Burial At Sea part 2]] reveals that [[spoiler:the canon ending of the original ''[=Bioshock=]'']] was indeed the good one. Though at the same time, [[spoiler:it took place in one out of an infinite number of possible universes where the reverse could be true]]. |
| 261 | * NoiselessWalker: The Wrench Lurker tonic has this effect, as it completely silences your footsteps, no matter whether you're walking, crouching or running full tilt. It also increases the [[WrenchWhack wrench]]'s [[BackStab damage to unaware targets]]. |
| 262 | * NonDamagingStatusInflictionAttack: The series has mind-control attacks which only affect their targets' mental states, and doesn't harm them directly, instead using them to attack others and get harmed by it: |
| 263 | ** The first game, ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': Certain plasmids: |
| 264 | *** "Enrage", toss a chunk of red goo at an enemy to get them hunting for something to kill, instead of just pacing about. |
| 265 | *** "Hypnotize Big Daddy": Gets Big Daddies to defend the user, instead of not caring when the user's hurt. |
| 266 | ** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'': The "Possession" vigor, turns enemies to the user's, a.k.a Booker's, side. An upgrade causes the possessed to kill themselves once the effect wears off. |
| 267 | * NoOSHACompliance: Justified, in that Andrew Ryan built Rapture specifically to get away from pesky things like workplace safety laws. In his city something like OSHA would be thought of as a statist effort to destroy capitalism. You can even find [[XDaysSince "X days since last accident" signs]] in various places, but the number is ''never'' very high. Also, there's little point since the whole city is literally falling apart anyways. |
| 268 | * ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife: The Lady Smith splicers embody this trope, with several quotes complaining about servants ("Charles! I think the negro cook's been stealing. It's always like that with the coloreds. Take, take, take"), poors ("They talk talk talk, but in the end they've got nothing to offer society. Just more mouths to feed") and her predicament ("The times may be unkind, but did you have to take our home? I raised my children there! Bastards!"). |
| 269 | * OffhandBackhand: Big Daddies will sometimes slap an obstructing Splicer (or you) across the room without looking. |
| 270 | * OhCrap: Many examples whether from the player, splicers or the current antagonist. One occasion of particular note is early in the sequel where, after several brief encounters with a Big Sister [[spoiler:you enter a large room with a massive window just in time to see her running along its wall, cutting the glass with her extra-long ADAM needle as she goes. With the cracks spreading you have just enough time to think "oh crap" before the glass caves in and you're hit by several thousand gallons of high pressure seawater.]] |
| 271 | ** That Big Sister goes up to eleven - Delta can't smash the windows with any amount of [[ThisIsADrill drilling]], [[{{BFG}} gunfire]], [[ExplodingBarrels explosives]], or [[MagicGenetics Plasmids]]. |
| 272 | ** Or how about when Delta and Eleanor are running down a corridor to make their escape. Eleanor goes to take the corner ahead of you. [[spoiler:Then everything slows down, and you see her starting to skid to a stop. You see a cloud gather around her to signal that she's trying to teleport out as you come around the corner only to find crates and crates of explosives. Which promptly blow you to kingdom come.]] |
| 273 | ** The plaster splicer mannequins. At one point in Fort Frolic, you'll pass through a corridor lined with 5 on each side. After exploring the rooms beyond you come back the same way, and now they're all gone.... |
| 274 | * OneWayVisor: Rosies and Alpha Series. |
| 275 | * OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Fontaine, who until this point has apparently only used the SuperStrength gene tonic, is spooked by the player's progress and uses all the ADAM he's stockpiled at once, transforming into a ten-foot-tall grotesquely-muscled brute - which incidentally looks like [[SculptedPhysique a giant statue of Atlas.]]]] |
| 276 | * OrganDrops: Spider Splicer Organs can be used as med-kits, if one has researched them enough. Whether or not it's cannibalism depends on [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman how human you think the Splicers are]]. |
| 277 | * OriginalPositionFallacy: Frequently comes up. In the first game, talented and hard-working people come to Rapture hoping to be captains of industry, only to get shuffled in menial labor. The second game highlighted how the massive poverty resulting from Ryan's capitalist dream created a backlash with nasty consequences for everyone involved. And while it isn't as prevalent, part of the reason so many foreign workers had to be brought into Columbia (who eventually became the Vox Populi) was because none of the Founders were willing to do the menial work needed to maintain the flying city. |
| 278 | * PapaWolf: The Big Daddies, of course. |
| 279 | ** Fighting off all the splicers while gathering [=ADAM=] can become a bit chaotic, especially in wide open areas and when dealing with teleporting Houdini splicers you have to move around a lot. But when the Little Sister screams and calls for help, you '''will''' turn around and charge back instantly to beat whatever poor splicer is attacking her into a dark smear on the ground. |
| 280 | ** Likewise, your first encounter with a Little Sister in [=BioShock=] 2 has you entering a room to hear her begging "Mr. Bubbles... please get up..." while crying in terror with a splicer advancing menacingly on her. At that point most players fly into an [[UnstoppableRage righteous fury]] and [[FoeTossingCharge bullrush]] the splicer and [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice drill]] [[NoKillLikeOverkill the ever loving crap out of him]]. The Little Sister will then turn to face you and with such genuine happiness say "Mr. Bubbles, you're all better." Dawww... Sadly, this can also be horrifically subverted if you choose to harvest the Little Sisters instead. |
| 281 | ** Booker ends up becoming this for Elizabeth. [[spoiler:Makes sense, considering she's his daughter]]. |
| 282 | * ParentalIssues: Interpretations of family and their role in ideological inheritance are a recurring theme, and are central to TheReveal of every game. In some ways, every game asks "What responsibilities does a parent and child have to each other? Which are realistic, which are worthwhile, and which are just egotistical?" |
| 283 | * PersonalSpaceInvader |
| 284 | ** Just try to run from a spider splicer. You'd be astounded at how quickly they'll close the distance once your back is turned. |
| 285 | ** Big Sisters aren't afraid to get up close and personal either. |
| 286 | ** Bouncers' only attacks are this. Subject Delta can replicate it, too. |
| 287 | ** While the Handyman has a wide array of attacks, they seem fond at charging at you full-speed. |
| 288 | * PhlebotinumDependence: One of ADAM's properties that got Fontaine excited was how addictive it was; it got Ryan hot and bothered as well, prompting him to take over Fontaine's business and pump ADAM onto the market with no restrictions whatsoever. Too bad one of the side-effects of combined overuse and withdrawal is, you know, ''turning into a flame-throwing psychopath''. |
| 289 | * PinkIsErotic: |
| 290 | ** The Eve's Garden cabaret features pink lights. |
| 291 | ** Likewise, in ''Burial At Sea'', "Cupid's Arrow", which sells erotic materials, such as books, has pink lights too. |
| 292 | * PleaseWakeUp: The Little Sisters sob this sometimes after you kill their Big Daddy. |
| 293 | * PlotCouponThatDoesSomething: ADAM, and the Little Sisters who produce it. |
| 294 | * PosthumousCharacter: You learn a lot about some characters from all the plentiful audio diaries you recover, hearing about their life in pre-crapsack Rapture, their hopes and dreams, their role during the civil war... and then you find their corpse. In the sequel, certain characters from the first game manage to cast their shadow over everything despite being dead for 10 years or more. |
| 295 | ** In ''Infinite'', the long-dead Lady Comstock is frequently mentioned by other characters and is hailed as a saint by the ruling faction of Columbia. Then [[spoiler:she gets resurrected with RealityWarping technology, and becomes an active (and very hostile) character in her own right...]] |
| 296 | * PoweredByAForsakenChild: The Little Sisters (originally children of about 5-8 years old) were set up as mobile factory-reservoirs for ADAM by implanting ADAM-producing sea slugs in their stomachs, and brainwashing them into gathering additional ADAM from corpses. Now, the scientists who set up this whole grisly situation harvested non-lethally by making the Little Sisters regurgitate the ADAM and sending them back into the streets to continue gathering, but apparently, that's not enough for the Splicers, because their perferred method (and yours, if you take the evil path) is to rip it from their forsaken bodies and kill them just to earn a little extra juice. |
| 297 | * PowerPerversionPotential |
| 298 | ** The world of ''[=BioShock=]'' incorporates body-altering tonics that can do anything from beef up your fighting ability to allowing you to shoot fire out of your fingers, and can all bought and sold on the open market. Imagine what other kinds of tonics must have been feasible. And given Andrew Ryan's insistence that the market be completely free and unregulated, some of them most certainly ''did'' become available to the public. |
| 299 | ** Medpacks heal anything from skinned knees to STD's. |
| 300 | ** In the Burial at Sea DLC, there's the Peeping Tom plasmid. It makes you invisible, muffles your footsteps and allows you to see through walls. Think on that for a moment. In fact, nearby where you find it is an audio diary where the proprietor of the establishment selling it responds to a woman who is complaining about constantly being peeped on by Peeping Tom users with, [[BystanderSyndrome "Tough luck, it's a free market."]] Though he was kind enough to direct her to a business that sold material that could block the x-ray effect. |
| 301 | * PowerUpgradingDeformation: Taking Plasmids isn't necessarily this... that is, if you manage to maintain a steady supply of EVE, which no one can thanks to the civil war in Rapture. |
| 302 | * PsychoSerum: Once again, ADAM. |
| 303 | ** The only ones not affected are the Little Sisters, who are instead hallucinating a luxurious dream world instead of the corpse-strewn, decaying madhouse they're wandering through. |
| 304 | ** And it is revealed in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' that even they are being affected, but at a slower rate. Hence, Big Sisters. |
| 305 | * PsychoStrings |
| 306 | ** Most of the score consists of stringed instruments, which can flip from melancholy to maddening in an instant. |
| 307 | ** Background music in ''2's'' [[RedLightDistrict Pink Pearl]] consists entirely of this. |
| 308 | * PublicServiceAnnouncement: Some deliciously cheesy dialogues occasionally kick in on Rapture's P.A. system, usually excusing security measures. |
| 309 | --> '''Mary:''' Capital punishment! In Rapture! This isn't what I signed up for!\ |
| 310 | '''Jim:''' Now hold on there, pretty lady! The only people who face capital punishment in Rapture are smugglers. And that's because they put everything we've worked for at risk. Imagine if the Soviets found out about our wonderful city, or even the U.S. government! Our secrecy is our shield.\ |
| 311 | '''Mary:''' A little capital punishment ''is'' a small price to pay to protect all of our freedoms.\ |
| 312 | '''Jim:''' ''Now'' you're talking, Mary! |
| 313 | * PunkPunk: Each setting exemplifies a mishmash of "-punk" ideas. The setting of the first two games has shakes of late DieselPunk (in the era as well as the more mechanical devices), BioPunk (in the cavalier attitudes the populace of Rapture has regarding modifying their own - and each others' - genetics and body structures), and OceanPunk. The setting of ''Infinite'' is a dark take on SteamPunk and ClockPunk in both technology and its effect on the world around it, with some FantasticNoir trappings. |
| 314 | * PunchClockVillain: |
| 315 | ** In ''[=BioShock=]'' the splicers are only after you because of the bounty Ryan put on your head; they aren't real villains and care very little about you. They are just consumed and driven by a drug addiction. Ryan also pumps pheromones throughout Rapture so that they do his bidding. |
| 316 | ** And in ‘’2’’, they are only after you because they think you're trying to kill or corrupt their messiah. [[spoiler:Which, from their perspective, you pretty much are.]] |
| 317 | ** Most of the people who attack you in ''Infinite'' are just working for Comstock. |
| 318 | * RagdollPhysics: Telekinesis lets you use debris, furniture, even dead bodies as weapons. You can even use the plasmid to yank a Splicer's mask off and beat them to death with it. In ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', the speargun's reusable ammo can be TK'ed out of an attacker and thrown right back in. |
| 319 | * RagnarokProofing: For a run-down shell of its former glory, Rapture in the first game still more or less looks as it did when all hell broke loose, although a good chunk of it ''is'' shown falling apart. The sequel on the other hand shows just how far it's decayed in eight years, with rust, moss and sea life creeping ever more into what's left. |
| 320 | * {{Railroading}}: The games are more or less linear, and there is a very spoilerriffic justification why they are so for each entry: |
| 321 | ** Bioshock 1: [[spoiler:Jack is a biological weapon with no real free will, controlled by the phrase "Would you kindly", sent back to Rapture by Fontaine to seize control of Rapture from Andrew Ryan]]. |
| 322 | ** Bioshock 2: Subject Delta is bonded to Eleanor Lamb, thus his mission revolves around securing Sofia Lamb's daughter, or he will never be able to escape Rapture. [[spoiler:Augustus Sinclair has ambitions that will benefit them both should they succeed, but Sofia Lamb ends up putting a wrench in that plan]]. |
| 323 | ** Minerva's Den: [[spoiler:The man in the radio wasn't actually C.M. Porter, but The Thinker impersonating his voice. Subject Sigma is the real Porter, and The Thinker is using Porter's alias to jog his memory and goals]]. |
| 324 | ** Bioshock Infinite: [[spoiler:The multiverse is an arithmetic equation incarnate with constants and variables. The Luteces sent Booker to Columbia in an infinite cycle to reclaim his daughter from Comstock]]. |
| 325 | * RecycledInSpace: ''[=BioShock=]'' is ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' [[InvertedTrope not]] [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]]! |
| 326 | * RedLightDistrict: |
| 327 | ** [[MeaningfulName Eve's Garden]] in Fort Frolic. "Come bite the apple!" |
| 328 | ** The sequel has Siren Alley, which bears a strong resemblance to [[TheBigEasy New Orleans']] French Quarter. The area is a battlefield between the Wales brothers, one of which manages a hotel-turned-whorehouse, while the other has [[BadassPreacher found religion]] and put up some religious murals depicting events from ''[=BioShock=]''. |
| 329 | * RespawningEnemies |
| 330 | ** Each level is slowly repopulated with Splicers over time, but the respawn rate is low enough that it's not too annoying. On the other hand, the Big Daddies respawn almost immediately, which would be more annoying if they weren't totally harmless when left alone, not to mention useful with the right plasmids. |
| 331 | ** In the sequel, the enemies respawn more quickly, and enemies can spawn in locations that would be impossible to reach without OffscreenTeleportation. |
| 332 | * TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: |
| 333 | ** The attack-you-on-sight, mutated, insane Splicers that follow Fontaine are indistinguishable from the attack-you-on-sight, mutated, insane Splicers that are loyal to Ryan, or the [[OverlyLongGag attack-you on sight, mutated, insane Splicers]] that belong to the Family. Though at least the latter are well-behaved regarding the Little Sisters. |
| 334 | ** The Rebellious Vox Populi in Columbia are quick to lose all control and become hostile towards anyone that isn't one of them. |
| 335 | * RichBitch: One sort of female splicer has a snooty upper-class accent, complains about the quality of the tenderloin (which doesn't exist), and threatens to "send the boy out to give you a good thrashing". It's creepier (and at times funnier) than it sounds. |
| 336 | * RightHandVersusLeftHand: |
| 337 | ** Several of Rapture's citizens have tried to assassinate Andrew Ryan, two of which were Anya Andersdotter and the engineer Kyburz. When Anya turned up in Kyburz's office in an attempt to pry information from him, Kyburz believed she was a spy trying to trick him into revealing his own plot and turned her in to Ryan's men. In an audio diary he admits that he isn't sure about her, but can't take the risk this far into his own plans. |
| 338 | ** On the other side of things, the Head of Rapture's security forces failed to convince Peach Wilkins to report Fontaine's crimes, because even though Wilkins hated Fontaine, he had no way of knowing that Rapture's security didn't secretly work for Fontaine. |
| 339 | * RuleOfSymbolism: Lots of religious symbols show up in the game. |
| 340 | ** The most obvious example is the name of the city, [[CaughtUpInTheRapture Rapture]], supposedly a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrogen_narcosis "Rapture of the Deep"]]. |
| 341 | ** There's also a few [[CrucifiedHeroShot crucified corpses]] to be found, either in Ryan's foyer for his "spy collection," in medical facilities pinned to operating tables, or near the docks with a smuggler strung up just right. The last case was probably intentional, since he was smuggling religious contraband. |
| 342 | ** Also the substances you need to use the plasmids are called Adam and Eve. Adam is used to buy them and Eve is used to repower then. |
| 343 | * ScareChord: The soundtrack has random ones thrown in to mess with you (bordering on [[PlayingWithATrope playing with]] MusicalSpoiler). Also, your plasmids have specific noises they make when you switch to them, and Electrobolt's is a scare chord. |
| 344 | ** In ''Infinite'', executions with the Skyhook are accompanied by these. |
| 345 | * SceneryGorn: Rapture. ''All of it.'' |
| 346 | * SceneryPorn: The bathysphere ride into Rapture in the first game, and the underwater strolls in the second. |
| 347 | * SchizoTech |
| 348 | ** Rapture has genetic engineering without the computers that would make genetic information intelligible... which would explain a ''lot'', actually. |
| 349 | ** As of the Minerva's Den, they may have had those too. And an [[ArtificialIntelligence AI]]. And an Ion Laser. Also, the automatic doors, the miniguns, the audio tapes (which were invented on the surface five years later), the security bots, the Hack Tool for aforementioned computers, (which has no real life equivalent but appears to be a projectile USB drive launcher that works on something that I assume to involve radio waves) and a lot more. And this is the sixties. |
| 350 | * SchoolSettingSimulation: Common in the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' series: |
| 351 | ** Both Jack in the ''[[VideoGame/BioShock1 1]]'' and Delta in the ''[[VideoGame/BioShock2 2]]'' are able to visit Little Wonders Educational Facilities, where [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Little Sisters]] are trained to do their role. |
| 352 | ** In 'Burial at Sea'' the heroes are able to visit the Ryan the Lion Preparatory Academy, where children are indoctrinated into following Ryan's ideology. |
| 353 | * SecondHourSuperpower: The plasmids from both games. |
| 354 | * ShoutOut: |
| 355 | ** The helpful automated voice in Fontaine Futuristics stutters and sounds like a [[VideoGame/SystemShock very familiar AI]]. |
| 356 | ** Speaking of said A.I, one of the achievements for ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' is called 'Look at You, Hacker.' |
| 357 | ** Also, one of the Big Daddy classes is called a Rumbler, which was also the name of the {{Giant Mook}}s from ''System Shock 2''. |
| 358 | ** "[[VideoGame/DeadRising 53,596 zombies were killed in the making of this game.]]" |
| 359 | ** "Grab a [[VideoGame/HalfLife crowbar]] or somethin'!" |
| 360 | ** The 'Baby Jane' splicers, are most probably a reference to the novel/1962 film ''Film/WhateverHappenedToBabyJane'', which involved an aging, psychopathic ex-child star, trying to get back into show business. The splicer even quotes one of the lines from the film: |
| 361 | --> '''Baby Jane:''' I used to be beautiful, what happened to me? |
| 362 | ** It was probably unintentional, but Dr. Suchong sounded a little like a villain from ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' in not just his ethnic origin, but in that he inadvertently [[spoiler:causes his own demise...]] |
| 363 | ** The Little Sisters' glowing [[Film/VillageOfTheDamned1960 eyes]]. |
| 364 | ** The "Would you kindly" conspiracy board you see just before meeting Andrew Ryan is a reference to the movie ''Film/TheUsualSuspects''. |
| 365 | ** "[[VideoGame/{{Portal}} Bring Your Daughter To Work Day]]". Oh, she gets tested, alright. |
| 366 | ** Certain splicers can be heard shouting "[[Film/PulpFiction ... and you shall know my name is the LORD!...]]" when idle. |
| 367 | ** From the ride down to the city in the bathysphere, the film starts with an ad: "Fire at your fingertips!", for the incinerate plasmid. That was how [[Creator/AynRand Dagny]] [[Literature/AtlasShrugged Taggart]] described cigarettes. And the ad shows a man lighting a cigarette for a woman who looks very much like a young Creator/AynRand. |
| 368 | ** The credits for ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' include the message [[Manga/AzumangaDaioh "Go Team Sea Slug!"]] |
| 369 | ** When you use Incinerate while carrying a Little Sister, she will sometimes misquote the [[Film/TheWizardOfOz Wicked Witch of the West]]. |
| 370 | ** There is a keycode opened by a code 0047. You learn of this from the recording made by certain [[VideoGame/{{Hitman}} Tobias Riefer]]. |
| 371 | ** Along the same vein is a keycode 0451- the first lock and keycode you encounter, actually. This is a reference to a long-running number that dates back to the VideoGame/SystemShock days, used in both the original and the Irrational-developed sequel as the first door codes you find, as well as VideoGame/DeusEx (both the original and the sequel- again, the first door codes you find.) The number itself is a reference to Looking Glass Software's old office door code, which in turn was a reference to ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''. ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' inverts the number, but it's still the first lock you encounter. |
| 372 | ** Danny Wilkins, one of the playable characters from ''[=BioShock=] 2'''s multiplayer, is a football player. He wears a purple jersey bearing the number 4, like Brett Favre as a Minnesota Viking during the game's development. |
| 373 | ** One of the books lying around in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' is titled [[{{Literature/Discworld}} Applied headology]]. |
| 374 | ** Little Sisters are in a so-called symbiotic, but really mostly parasitic relationship with a worm-like thing living inside them that enhances their regeneration, causes their eyes to glow and deludes them to do things they would not otherwise do. [[Franchise/StargateVerse Sounds familiar?]] |
| 375 | * SinisterScrapingSound: The sound Splicers makes when they drag their weapons. And the sound the Spider Splicers make whenever they move. |
| 376 | * TheSixties: ''[=BioShock=] 1'' takes place in 1960 while the sequel is set around 1967-68. |
| 377 | * SmokeOut: Nitro Splicers carry smokebombs to do this, whenever the player gets too close to them. |
| 378 | * TheSociopath: Quite a few denizens of Rapture fit the criteria, including Sander Cohen, Sofia Lamb, and Andrew Ryan himself. |
| 379 | * SoundtrackDissonance: |
| 380 | ** Some of Rapture's jukeboxes or public speakers still function, allowing you to fight for your life to the tune of old-timey big band hits like "[[SuspiciouslyAproposMusic Beyond the Sea]]." Of course, some of these devices are just ''barely'' functioning: "How much is that dog-gy in thedog-gy in thedog-gy in thedog-gy in the..." |
| 381 | ** Some of the Splicers evidently made contact with those missionary smugglers, and will sing "[[IronicNurseryRhyme Jesus Loves Me]]" while idle, or moan AmazingFreakingGrace to themselves when they're lurking out of sight. |
| 382 | ** Columbia also has some cheery music playing, but not as much (the game is set half a century earlier and thus with not as many radios and such). |
| 383 | * SpannerInTheWorks: |
| 384 | ** No matter how clever your plots are, no matter how totally you control everyone in Rapture, and no matter how {{magnificent|Bastard}} you are, never underestimate a swarm of Little Sisters' ability to screw you and your plans up. |
| 385 | ** Early in the sequel, a Thuggish Splicer literally sticks his lead pipe (no pun intended) into a set of gears to jam a door, and you have to pull it out with Telekinesis to proceed. |
| 386 | * SpiritualSuccessor: To ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''. Almost all of the game mechanics are identical to the latter. In fact, in interviews with Gamasutra [[WordOfGod developers have stated]] their starting plan was "''System Shock 2'' did pretty well, let's make ''System Shock 2'' again." |
| 387 | * StatusInflictionAttack: The series has its powers do this so they're special, instead of just being basically a magic gun using different ammo: |
| 388 | ** The first game, ''VideoGame/BioShock1'': Every attack plasmid other than [[MindOverMatter Telekinesis]], which deals physical damage by hitting enemies with objects, and there's some Gene Tonics that affect other attacks as well: |
| 389 | *** "Electro-Bolt" can stun enemies. |
| 390 | *** "Incinerate" can set enemies on fire, dealing DamageOverTime. |
| 391 | *** "Winter Blast" can freeze enemies in place. |
| 392 | *** The "Frozen Field" series of Gene Tonics imbues the Wrench with cold damage and a chance to freeze enemies with its attacks. |
| 393 | * SuperiorSpecies: While not a distinct species, the citizens of Rapture fit, due to plasmids and gene tonics. Or at least they did, until they [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity started overdoing it.]] |
| 394 | --> '''Gatherer's Garden machine:''' My daddy's smarter than Einstein, stronger than Hercules, and can light a fire with a snap of his fingers. Are you as good as my daddy, mister? |
| 395 | * TakeThat |
| 396 | ** There is a lot of debate over whether the game is a giant TakeThat to Objectivism. [[WordOfGod The developers]] have said that it was a TakeThat to extremism, using Rand as an example. Whether our 'enlightened' society could survive the threat that ADAM posed (the addiction's insanity coupled with 'powers' that require effectively nuking your own population) - The "Bio" "Shock" the game's title refers to, should be considered. Instead of any failure of Ryan's philosophy, which is really not far off from America's long ago. |
| 397 | ** ''Bioshock 2'' in turn makes a giant TakeThat to extreme Collectivism, Personality Cults, and Extreme Anti-Self Communism like that seen in Communist China under Mao Zedong and the Taiping Rebellion and Utilitarianism in the name of a Contrived Greater Good. Best summed up by Eleanor after she sees what her mother's monstrous experiments have done to Gil Alexander in order to create a perfect Utopian devoid of self-interest. |
| 398 | -->'''Eleanor Lamb:''' Mother's philosophy is just as corrupt as Ryan's. By her standards, it would be better to have the entire world equally miserable than to allow us to strive in our own behalf. |
| 399 | ** The Waders model Splicer is a parody of Evangelical Christians that criticizes their questionably excessive worshipping. |
| 400 | ** ''Infinite'' seems to be, partially, a TakeThat to both right- and left-wing extremism. The ultra-religious and nationalistic Founders are portrayed as vile, racist, xenophobic hypocrites, while the anarchist revolutionaries of the Vox Populi are vengeful, merciless, sadistic killers who gleefully massacre helpless Founder civilians once their revolution gets underway. |
| 401 | ** When looking for Steinman, one of Ryan's ads say that people should shop or else the bandits win, mocking George W. Bush's encouraging of a cash-strapped post-9/11 America to shop or the terrorists win. |
| 402 | * TeleportationWithDrawbacks: As all plasmids need EVE and Teleportation is always because of plasmids: |
| 403 | ** A Teleport plasmid was planned, but due to {{sequence breaking}} concerns was never implemented. |
| 404 | ** The novelization prequel explains why there aren't any Teleport plasmids left around for you to find: it was the first plasmid Ryan agreed to ban (also the first time he went against his "free market" philosophy), because it was ''just that dangerous'' to have teleporting drug addicts running around. Fontaine actually agreed with Ryan (probably the only time they agreed about anything) about its danger and stopped producing it. However, there were still plenty of splicers who'd already used it... |
| 405 | * TeleportingKeycardSquad: If you crawl through an air duct or unlock a door to a supply cache, chances are there's a Splicer or two waiting for you when you return. |
| 406 | * ThemeNaming: ADAM, EVE, Rapture - all especially ironic given Ryan's style of militantly anti-religious Objectivism. Most of the city's locations are also named after an appropriate Greco-Roman deity. And, of course, the references to Ayn Rand. |
| 407 | * ThirdPersonPerson: Dr. Suchong |
| 408 | * ThisIsADrill: The "Bouncer" type Big Daddy. ''2'' gives the player one as a melee weapon, and it doesn't take long to learn a devastating (and highly-satisfying) drill charge. With proper tonics and tactics it quickly becomes the most effective weapon around. In conjunction with [[FreezeRay Winter Blast]] it is almost a GameBreaker. To clarify - while the drill isn't that great for defending against multiple enemies, and it uses limited fuel for the drilling attack, with all upgrades, skill and freeze tonics, the drill can go right through the Big Daddies without causing you to lose any health. |
| 409 | * TragicMonster: Rapture is a city full of them, in both games. |
| 410 | ** The splicers. It's surprisingly gut-wrenching (no pun intended) to beat to death someone who sobs "I'm sorry... It was just an accident... c'mon, get up, I was just fooling around!" when they best you. They'll even beg for their lives if you freeze them (though they'll get back to trying to kill you if they thaw, so...). |
| 411 | ** Exemplified in the Big Daddies, who live only to protect the Little Sisters. They will ''never'' start a fight. [[PapaWolf They're happy to]] [[LightningBruiser finish]] [[BullfightBoss one]], though. Though they will freak out and try to kill you if you get too close to their Little Sister. Or cause them even a slight amount of damage by accident. It's ''possible'' to get a Big Daddy to start a fight, though it's by no means hard to avoid doing it. |
| 412 | ** Thanks to Sofia Lamb's propensity for brainwashing and genetic manipulation, this pops up a ''lot'' in the sequel. [[spoiler:Mark Meltzer and Sinclair both get turned into Lamb-controlled Big Daddies, and Gil Alexander ends up as an insane, megalomaniacal BrainInAJar.]] |
| 413 | * TrickArrow: The crossbow's second alt-fire are bolts attached to electrified wires called "trap bolts". |
| 414 | * {{Tuckerization}}: Many characters are named after 2K or Irrational staffers, and might even be voiced by the namesakes. Most are minor, but there's also two big names in ''2'', Augustus Sinclair and Gil Alexander (after two visual artists from the first game). |
| 415 | * UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective: Used in every game in the franchise. |
| 416 | * UncannyValley |
| 417 | ** Intentionally invoked in the original, where everything from the Splicers to the Little Sisters just looked ''wrong'' even if they weren't horribly mutated. The sequel discards it, making the Little Sisters more adorable (since, after all, you're conditioned to protect them) and the Splicers less inhuman - which only makes them ''more'' horrifying by accentuating their mutations and deformities. |
| 418 | ** There's an in-universe example in the sequel's Journey to the Surface ride at Ryan Amusements; in an audio diary, Andrew Ryan himself notes the uncanny valley quality of the animatronics used to dissuade children from wanting to leave Rapture. |
| 419 | --->'''Andrew Ryan''': I know this facility is vital to the preservation of secrecy in Rapture. But seeing myself transformed into that... ''lurching, waxen nightmare''... Do children truly respond to this? Still, I spoke to a young man exiting the park after the grand opening, asking him what, if anything, he had learned here. He said his chores didn't seem so bad anymore - as long as mother wouldn't send him to the surface. |
| 420 | * UnderTheSea: The first game somehow avoided a [[DownTheDrain water level]]. The sequel lets you tromp around in your big old diving suit, but mostly to see some scenery and as a [[BreatherLevel breather]] between action sequences. |
| 421 | * UnderwaterCity: Rapture, though by the sequel the ocean is making a comeback. |
| 422 | * TheUnintelligible: Big Daddies, having vocal modulators surgically implanted directly into the larynx, can't really talk all that well, nor do they have the brainpower for speech. As such, they primarily communicate in very deep (and very creepy) moans, grunts, and roars evocative of whalesong. Not that they have problems making their feelings clear about, say, your proximity to their Little Sister. They have handy lights for that:] [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience yellow if they don't care, red if they're mad, and green if they're helping you.]]. |
| 423 | * UnusualEuphemism: The ways the Little Sisters refer to their Big Daddies' violence against enemies. |
| 424 | ** ''Unzip him Mr B! UNZIP HIM!'' Given that Big Daddies have their organs grafted to their suits it is more morbid than it appears. |
| 425 | ** [[WingdingEyes X his eyes!]] |
| 426 | ** Daddy's giving you [[CirclingBirdies stars and birdies!]] |
| 427 | ** [[ShockAndAwe It's dancing, daddy, it's dancing!]] |
| 428 | * UnusableEnemyEquipment |
| 429 | ** [[spoiler:Towards the end of ''[=BioShock=]'', the player has to dress up like a Big Daddy. Jack has to walk around the level collecting scattered parts of their outfit. He cannot take more than one intact part of the suit from the dead Big Daddy he starts the level near, and for good reason: Big Daddy parts are permanently fused to the body.]] |
| 430 | ** In the sequel, Alpha Series' use upgraded weapons. You can only loot them for ammo, not trade your vanilla grenade launcher for one with the shield or a two-shot shotgun for a six-shot one. |
| 431 | * TheUnreveal: We never actually see what Big Daddies look like under their helmets; as if taunting us with this trope, ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' begins from the POV of a Big Daddy prototype who is commanded at one point to remove his helmet, and he complies[[spoiler:, right before ''shooting himself in the head''.]] |
| 432 | * UnwinnableByDesign: The hacking mini-game can become unwinnable, especially further on, as a consequence of the increasing difficulty. This is especially true in the first game, where overload and alarm slots can appear in unavoidable patterns. The idea is to force you to use hacking tonics to dial them back down to a winnable state. |
| 433 | * UpdatedRerelease: The ''[=BioShock=]: The Collection'' re-release of the first two games are remastered for the 8th generation consoles and [=PCs=] while bundling their respective single-player [=DLCs=]. Unfortunately for ''[=BioShock=] 2 Remastered'', it does not have its multiplayer mode. |
| 434 | * UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Ironically, Ryan is forced to turn Rapture into a police state in order to protect his Objectivist Libertarian dream city. Meanwhile Sofia Lamb of the sequel is an even greater believer in this trope, being a collectivist taken up to eleven, desiring to do "good" for a people she views mainly as tools. |
| 435 | * VideogameCaringPotential[=/=]VideogameCrueltyPotential |
| 436 | ** Set Splicers on fire! Watch as they run toward a pool of water, then electrify them! Bash their faces repeatedly with a wrench! Freeze them, ignore their pleas for help, and shatter them into chunks of icy flesh! Toss them like ragdolls! Rig medical stations to poison them! Lure them into waiting turrets! Impale them to scenery through their faces! This is ''encouraged'' with the sequel, where you progress faster with [[EnemyScan enemy research]] by killing foes with new and inventive applications of your weapons and plasmids. |
| 437 | ** The Little Sisters are the only completely harmless enemies in the game. You can rescue them and turn them back into little girls... or kill them for [=ADAM=]. The potential for both is ramped up in the sequel while you play as a Big Daddy - you can "adopt" another Daddy's partner, run around the level with her riding on your back, protect her while she harvests some [=ADAM=] for you, and finally rescue her from her living nightmare, or viciously betray her trust. |
| 438 | ** The game presents the Little Sisters as a moral choice, but the way it reacts to those choices makes it less moral and more practical - if you harvest one, you get more ADAM right now. If you rescue one, you get less ADAM immediately - but for every three Little Sisters you rescue, you get a gift at the nearest plasmid vendor containing only a little less ADAM than you would have gained by harvesting, plus a couple plasmids or gene tonics, including a few you can't get any other way. So the only real reason to harvest Little Sisters is just because you're a bastard. The sequel is mildly better in this regard: you get a fair bit more ADAM for harvesting than rescuing, about three entire rescued Sisters worth. |
| 439 | ** In the last level of ''VideoGame/BioShock2'', there are many splicers that are so far gone they just rock side to side. You can still kill them. [[MercyKill Why wouldn't you?]] |
| 440 | ** The turning point in Columbia's introduction in ''Infinite'' involves deciding whether or not to throw a baseball at [[spoiler:a tied up mixed race couple.]] |
| 441 | * ViolationOfCommonSense: The camera's EnemyScan ability rewards more points for action shots (enemies are attacking or affected by your powers in some way) and multiple subjects (more than one enemy in shot), leading to the ridiculous notion of a massive firefight becoming the ''ideal'' time to take some photos. The game at least helpfully pauses the actions between shots. The sequel fixes this by having you start recording first, then attacking. |
| 442 | * WallCrawl: Spider Splicers just skip the walls and go straight to crab-walking on the ceiling, which is just as freaky as it sounds. Scratch, scratch... ''scratch''... |
| 443 | * WateringDown: This is Pierre Gobbi's main complaint with Rapture; watered down wine to rip off customers (who obviously have no other choice to get wine, and thanks to lack of regulation, no one to put a stop to them for it). Judging by the nature of ADAM and the fact homemade Plasmids became increasingly common, it would not be surprising if more illicit sources of ADAM were cut with other stuff or watered down. |
| 444 | * WhamEpisode: Rapture Central Control in the original, or the sequel's Persephone Penal Colony. |
| 445 | * WhatTheHellHero |
| 446 | ** The bad ending of the original has Tenenbaum chew you out for being such an amoral monster, which shouldn't bother you if you made the decisions to earn it. |
| 447 | ** Sofia Lamb attempts to invoke this tirelessly throughout the course of the sequel, but for the most part her accusations are ineffectual. Although, if Delta's been a particularly abusive father, it can hit pretty hard. |
| 448 | * WhiteMaskOfDoom: One of [[MadArtist Sander Cohen's]] {{motif}}s. Additionally, the New Year's Eve 1959 party was a masquerade, and some Splicers still wear creepy animal masks. |
| 449 | -->'''Atlas:''' Why do they wear those masks? Maybe there's a part of them that remembers how they used to be, how they used to look. And they're ashamed. |
| 450 | * WhyIsntItAttacking: You, potentially. |
| 451 | * WithUsOrAgainstUs: Ryan's take on the civil war. "Innocents? If they haven't chosen to defend Rapture, they've chosen to side with Atlas and his bandits. So there are no innocents. There are heroes, and there are criminals." |
| 452 | * WorldOfHam: But justified in-universe because: 1) almost anyone who would want to live in Rapture would already be something of MagnificentBastard even before going down there; and 2) by the time the player gets there, everyone has pretty much gone insane. |
| 453 | * WreakingHavok: No obnoxious stacking puzzles are present, though this may be the only reason [[AwesomeButImpractical moderately-useful]] plasmids like Cyclone Trap or Sonic Boom were included. On the other hand, it's a nice touch to allow you to use Telekinesis to break a shop's windows and steal some stuff, even if it summons the security bots. |
| 454 | * WrenchWhack: The first weapon you acquire is a wrench. With the right gene tonics, it's a viable weapon against any enemy at any point in the game. |
| 455 | * YouAllLookFamiliar |
| 456 | ** Only two characters in the original had unique character models, and even some major cast members had to make do with un-deformed versions of Splicer models. Happily averted in the sequels, where even minor named characters with only a few seconds of screentime have unique and detailed models. |
| 457 | ** They avoid making it too obvious in the first game by making sure you see every named NPC from behind (Johnny, Julie), from very far away (Atlas at Smuggler's Hideout, Tenenbaum in the Medical Pavillion), or obscured by a mask or scenery (Steinman, Wilkins, Tenenbaum at Mercury Suites), saving the unique character models for the two characters you actually converse with up close. |
| 458 | * YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness |
| 459 | ** An audio diary titled as such in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' explains that [[spoiler:not only did the rest of the Alpha series meet this fate, but Gil Alexander himself has also been abandoned by Sofia]]. |
| 460 | ** Ryan to Professor Langford after she decides to help Jack restore Arcadia with the Lazarus Vector. The specific reason is that her contract made all her intellectual discoveries Ryan's property. Considering Ryan's AuthorTract about "owning the sweat of one's brow", and how she's one of the few sane, helpful and (if a bit amoral) nice people in Rapture, her death is a big PlayerPunch moment. |
| 461 | ** [[spoiler:After Jack has killed Ryan and shut down the auto-destruct, ending Ryan's control of Rapture, Atlas/Fontaine sends security bots after him, and when that doesn't work, activates Code Yellow.]] |
| 462 | ** [[spoiler:In ''Infinite'', after Comstock realised that the Lutece twins were in a position to reveal Elizabeth's true origins due to the role they played in obtaining her in the first place, he had Fink murder them by sabotaging their Tear device in a staged accident.]] It didn't exactly work out as planned: though their bodies died, their consciousnesses survived, and they were turned into PhysicalGods who eventually [[spoiler:orchestrated the destruction of Comstock and Columbia]]. |
| 463 | * {{Zeerust}}: Invoked intentionally with Rapture's art design. |
| 464 | * ZombieApocalypse |
| 465 | ** Replace "walking undead" with "insane psycho psychic pseudo-zombies" and you get the idea. |
| 466 | ** They're a lot less decayed and mutated in the sequel, however, but still deformed. |
| 467 | ---- |
| 468 | ->''"We all make choices, but in the end, our choices make us."'' |
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