This page covers the franchise as a whole. If you're looking for the original BioShock game, see: YMMV.Bio Shock 1.
- Alternate Aesop Interpretation: Accidentally, the game can serve as a critique of Israel,
in that wanting to find a safe space free of oppression, the founders then proceed to oppress those they see as beneath them, as represented by the Ambiguously Jewish founders. Andrew Ryan was a just a boy when his family fled the Russian Empire during the Pogroms and made his fortune in the U.S., despite hating the fact that his business was subject to government regulation; Tenebaum was an inmate in a concentration camp but was recruited by the Nazis due to her intellect, and wanted to find a place where she could pursue her scientific curiosity unimpeded; and Sander Cohen was an artist who found societal norms too prudish for his artistic style. When Rapture was founded they found relief that they could be free to pursue their passions, however: Ryan, a critic of government censorship, felt threatened whenever anyone who spoke against him or Rapture, and censored them; Tenebaum conducted a number of inhumane medical experiments on numerous subjects; and Cohen praised himself as an artistic genius, and demanded anyone that disagreed to be censored, and his artistic style aside from being bizarre often included the torture or murder of others. - Aluminum Christmas Trees:
- The idea of creating an undersea city isn't too far fetched, and there are in fact underwater hotels. In fact, the tech has been around for quite a while, as early as when the game is actually meant to take place, in fact. As for Rapture and Columbia, there's been an idea to combine the two, basically traveling ocean countries that goes via Libertarian principles, such as Laissez-faire. See here.
- Building an objectivist (or in this case Libertarian) haven in the middle of the ocean has been attempted before with micronation of Minerva. Minerva was a plan to build a city on top of the Minerva reefs, which may or may not be in international waters. Before the project got under way it was shut down by Fiji who claims the reefs as their own.
- The design for the Splicers in BioShock 1 and 2 was based on the real life work of Dr. Harold Gillies, a post World War I surgeon who practiced many surgeries on disfigured veterans. His intentions were to make them feel less ostracized by society, to do so he created a face from the remaining tissue as well as prosthetics. His work was revolutionary for his time, getting him hailed as "the father of plastic surgery." However, his works seem pretty primitive and borderline macabre now. A gallery is available but fair warning; it's fairly Squick-y [1]
- The idea of creating an undersea city isn't too far fetched, and there are in fact underwater hotels. In fact, the tech has been around for quite a while, as early as when the game is actually meant to take place, in fact. As for Rapture and Columbia, there's been an idea to combine the two, basically traveling ocean countries that goes via Libertarian principles, such as Laissez-faire. See here.
- Anvilicious: The series isn't subtle in its imagery, which unfortunately means that the messages that are subtle are easily overwhelmed. The message of extremism in any human endeavour is bad, represented with all of the major villains and settings. Critics argue that such tendencies to paint in extremes, or see the main focus on extremism itself, ultimately makes the concept cheap and not a true exploration of any idea. For instance, if the message of the first game is that Objectivism taken to the extreme is bad, does that mean that "moderate" Objectivism is good? Likewise, if Zachary Comstock an extreme of white nationalism and manifest destiny, does that mean moderate versions of that are good or tolerable? As noted by critics and historians the point about these ideas, or any other contentious ideas, is not about the most extreme version, but about the fact that ordinary people can buy into it, nor is it any real critique or exploration of concept (many critics for instance argue that any Objectivism is bad and academically it is not considered a valid idea at all).
- Awesome Art: One of the most praised aspects of the series is its Bio Punk visual style, with the first two games going Diesel Punk in its Art Deco environments, and the third retroceding a bit to Steampunk.
- Complete Monster: Frank Fontaine, Dr. Yi Suchong, Dr. J. S. Steinman; Stanley Poole; Father Zachary Hale Comstock; Pat Cavendish. See those pages for details.
- Contested Sequel:
- Infinite is either the best or the worst game in the series. Although many fans consider Infinite to be a worthy, if still gameplay-wise inferior, sequel to BioShock, you can expect opinions to range broadly on this subject.
- Some think BioShock 2 is a cash grab that is not as good as the original, but others argue it's a good game in its own right.
- Enjoy the Story, Skip the Game: Many critics had this reaction to every entry in the franchise, sans the second game which is closer to the opposite trope, praising their respective stories and settings but criticizing for their relatively simple gameplay, particularly in comparison to their spiritual predecessor System Shock 2.
- Fanon Discontinuity: A large number of fans loathe Infinite's Burial At Sea DLC for it's cheap attempts at retcon, making every character seem like an idiot so Elizabeth can look smart, and making Suchong into even more of a racial stereotype than he already was, and they refuse to acknowledge it as part of the series.
- Friendly Fandoms: With Dishonored, due to both of them being seventh generation Immersive Sim games. It helps that the games they are spiritual successors to (System Shock and Thief) were both done by Looking Glass Studios, with both franchises' creators having worked at Looking Glass Studios on those games.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Ken Levine's promise of BioShock on the Play Station Vita, which not only never happened, but ended up living on through the Trilogy's release on the Nintendo Switch.
- Love to Hate: There are many despicable characters in the franchise, from Andrew Ryan to Sofia Lamb to Sander Cohen to Zachary Comstock to Jeremiah Fink — and that's not even mentioning the undisputed heavyweight champion of evil BioShock villains, Frank Fontaine. But damn if they don't tend to be great orators.
- Nausea Fuel: The sheer description of how Little Sisters produce Adam. According to an audio recording from Tenenbaum, they put the slugs in their stomachs and the girls literally regurgitate the substance. Ew.
- Nightmare Fuel: Lots. Between claustrophobia, hydrophobia, Body Horror, deadly doctors, mad artists, deadly doctors who ''think'' they're artists, fear of surgical implements, fear of needles, fear of the dark, Mind Control, child cruelty, creepy children, Soundtrack Dissonance, animal cruelty, fear of being hunted through a decaying city by gene-spliced psychopaths, and seafood allergies, there's something in the series to terrify everybody. All three games have their own pages.
- Ugly Cute: The Big Daddies in a way. They are Gentle Giants, and their relationship with their Little Sisters (as protective guardians whom the Sisters call "Mr. Bubbles" and play with) can be endearing... unless you dare trigger them by harming a Little Sister.
