The original Bioshock still holds up to this day

For anyone who enjoyed the game, I’d highly recommend reading the prequel novel, BioShock: Rapture, written by John Shirley. It provides so much more context to characters who don’t get a lot of screentime in the game (like Tenenbaum and Bill McDonagh), and you get to actually witness (in written form at least) events that were only alluded to in the game, like the New Year’s Eve party where the bombs go off or who Fontaine was before he became Fontaine.

The novel also gets really into the political dynamics of having Ryan, Atlas, and Sophia Lamb all vying for power, and how all their plotting and scheming plays a large part in Rapture’s eventual doom. The novel even incorporates a few characters and plot points from BioShock 2 (like Lamb and Sinclaire and what they were both up to during the events of the first game), making it the perfect “bridge” between the first game and the second game if you were thinking of replaying them both.

“Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow? ‘No!’ says the man in Washington, ‘it belongs to the poor.’ ‘No!’ says the man in the Vatican, ‘it belongs to God.’ ‘No!’ says the man in Moscow, ‘it belongs to everyone.’ I rejected those answers; instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose… Rapture. A city where the artist would not fear the censor; where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality; where the great would not be constrained by the small! And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city as well.”

Yup, surely a great reminder that Ayn Rand was the inspiration for this series and she rejects any concept of the social contract. This banner is everything the 1% believes in.

The low light setting really helps the immersion and overcome the graphical limitations of the time. Your brain fills in a lot of gaps.

Why wouldn’t it? It’s not even that old, it only came out… 18 years ago. Jesus christ.

I’ve only played the first one. Are the others worth it?

This has been my only screenshot on steam for like 20 years.

The plot yes, gameplay not so much.. I bought the remastered version and it’s soo janky. I guess I didn’t notice it when I was younger, or the writing was so good that it carried it.

Still in my all time top ten.
The graphics and gameplay still strong.
I play it again every few years or so.
In fact I liked it so much I bought the book…which is surprisingly good for a video game adaptation.

I just did it 2 months ago and oh boy how wonderful this game is. I’ve never suspected it to be that good. It is truely a gem

if you never played this… would you kindle do so? Great game

As an overall experience, most definitely. But heavily carried by the setting and atmosphere. The gunplay wasn’t amazing when it came out, and it really hasn’t aged particularly well.

I only ever really played the first few minutes of any of the Bioshock games. Basically just got into the underground area and was immediately Beat to Death by some giant scuba man. Is it actually worth trying again?

That’s correct sir, all great art is timeless.

“What is the greatest lie every created? What is the most vicious obscenity ever perpetrated on mankind? Slavery? The Holocaust? Dictatorship? No. It’s the tool with which all that wickedness is built: altruism. Whenever anyone wants others to do their work, they call upon their altruism. Never mind your own needs, they say, think of the needs of… of whoever. The state. The poor. Of the army, of the king, of God! The list goes on and on. How many catastrophes were launched with the words “think of yourself”? It’s the “king and country” crowd who light the torch of destruction. It is this great inversion, this ancient lie, which has chained humanity to an endless cycle of guilt and failure. My journey to Rapture was my second exodus. In 1919, I fled a country that had traded in despotism for insanity. The Marxist revolution simply traded one lie for another. Instead of one man, the tsar, owning the work of all the people, all the people owned the work of all of the people. So, I came to America: where a man could own his own work, where a man could benefit from the brilliance of his own mind, the strength of his own muscles, the might of his own will. I had thought I had left the parasites of Moscow behind me. I had thought I had left the Marxist altruists to their collective farms and their five-year plans. But as the German fools threw themselves on Hitler’s sword “for the good of the Reich”, the Americans drank deeper and deeper of the Bolshevik poison, spoon-fed to them by Roosevelt and his New Dealists. And so, I asked myself: in what country was there a place for men like me – men who refused to say “yes” to the parasites and the doubters, men who believed that work was sacred and property rights inviolate. And then one day, the happy answer came to me, my friends: there was no country for people like me! And that was the moment I decided… to build one.”

I miss the good old days when games weren’t political! /s

Played it semi-recently. Great atmosphere and story. Shit gameplay. Stupid mini game you have to play way too much.

Would you kindly go play it again.

Had my first playthrough on an emulator a few months ago, truly an amazing game, so many cool Easter eggs too!

It’s a classic

True indeed. A man chooses; a slave obeys.

Just replayed the OG last month in the Deck, and it’s still a great time. Moved on to BioShock 2 Remastered on my main PC, and I was harsh on when it came out but it’s still great as well. After that I’ll have to jump back into Infinite and see if it’s better than I remember. I think it’s pretty telling that going back to these games feels like a breath of fresh air compared to the shit we have now.

I’ve just started to play it again.
Usually I don’t like shooter and I don’t like to play story game’s multiple times but Bioshock is different.

The world, story immersion and also the graphics are still great to this day.

I wish I could play the games for the first time again.