Happy birthday to Bioshock, which came out 15 years ago today!
Bioshock is a first-person shooter series published by 2K Games and developed by a myriad of different internal studios within 2K. The series itself is a classic, and the first game is widely considered the best one. However, when it comes to Bioshock, I’ve always found that everyone has a different favourite when it comes to choosing between the three: Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock Infinite.
For a special occasion like this, I thought it would be nice to turn to you all and ask a simple question: What’s your favourite Bioshock game?
Of course, this can also apply to anybody that has never played a Bioshock game, as I ask you specific folk this: Why did you never play a Bioshock game?
I’m going to go first with what many consider a ‘hot take’. My favourite Bioshock game is Bioshock 2. After replaying both Bioshock and Bioshock 2 (including the Minerva’s Den DLC for the first time) this year, I still consider Bioshock 2 to be my favourite.
I didn’t replay Bioshock Infinite as I already remembered it well enough, and I stand by the fact that the Buried At Sea DLC was my favourite part of that game. This might even be a hotter take than the first hot take, but I stand by it.
Funnily enough, I actually probably played my first Bioshock game when I was 15. It was a preowned copy of Bioshock 2 for Xbox 360 that I bought at EB Games, and I thought it looked sooooo cool. It’s one of the very few games that I had bought with my own money, and I’m pretty sure it was followed by Alice: Madness Returns (a bit of a pattern here).
I loved that you played the Big Daddy. I loved that you went around finding Little Sisters and helping them collect human juice while also protecting them from yucky folks. I loved the Little Sister redesign and getting to see Rapture through their eyes. I loved saving them. I loved the Mark Meltzer side story. I loved the characters you meet along the way. The twists and turns? I loved them. It’s my favourite Daddy Simulator.
Then looking at more recent times, when I finally played the Minerva’s Den DLC this year after only having the base game when I was a teenager, I have to say that it’s one of the best DLCs I’ve ever played. God damn, what an addition to an already great game.
Of course, I can still say with confidence that Bioshock is a fantastic game, and can definitely see why people would prefer the first to the second. Not only is it where it all started, but the story with Atlas is definitely a highlight in video game storytelling as a whole.
For me, I think it was both the fact that I played the sequel first and the fact that I enjoyed playing a character that was integral to Rapture’s creation. Not to mention, when you play the sequel before the original, you can see what the developers changed to improve playability.
But hey, that’s just my opinion. Every experience of a game series is unique, and my experience and ultimate opinion can definitely be a product of circumstance. And to make this confession a little easier, I thought we could all look back and talk about it in a nice, normal way.
So we come back to the start. What’s your favourite Bioshock game? Or, on the other side of the coin, what made you stay away from the series? Let us know!
Leave a Reply