BioShock is a first-person shooter video game released in 2007. It was created by 2K Boston, which later became Irrational Games, and 2K Australia. The game was published by 2K. The first game in the BioShock series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in August 2007. A version for PlayStation 3 was released in October 2008 by Irrational Games, 2K Marin, 2K Australia, and Digital Extremes. The game follows a character named Jack, who discovers the underwater city of Rapture. Rapture was built by businessman Andrew Ryan as a self-sufficient utopia. The discovery of ADAM, a genetic material that gives people superhuman abilities, led to the city’s downfall. Jack tries to escape Rapture while fighting its mutated and mechanical enemies, meeting the few remaining survivors, and learning about the city’s history. Players can defeat enemies using weapons, special powers called plasmids, or by using hacking to turn Rapture’s defenses against its enemies.
The game’s concept was developed by Ken Levine, the creative lead at Irrational Games. It was influenced by ideas from 20th-century thinkers like Ayn Rand, George Orwell, and Aldous Huxley, as well as real people such as John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Walt Disney. The game includes role-playing elements, allowing players to approach enemies stealthily or make moral choices about saving or killing characters. It also uses ideas from the survival horror genre, such as those found in the Resident Evil series. BioShock is considered a spiritual successor to the System Shock series, on which many of Irrational Games’ team, including Levine, had worked before.
BioShock received universal praise from critics, who especially praised its story, themes, visual design, setting, and gameplay. It is often called one of the greatest video games ever made and is seen as an example of video games as an art form. Two sequels, BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite, were released in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Later, the game was made available for macOS and mobile devices. A remastered version was released on Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch as part of BioShock: The Collection.
Synopsis
BioShock takes place in Rapture, an underwater city built in the 1940s by Andrew Ryan, a wealthy businessman who wanted to create a perfect place for the wealthy to live without government control. To keep Rapture safe and separate from the world above, Ryan banned all contact with the surface. As Rapture grew, differences in wealth increased. Frank Fontaine, a man who tricked people, used his influence over poor workers to start illegal businesses and gain power that matched Ryan’s. With doctors Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong, Fontaine created a company to study plasmids and gene tonics. As demand for ADAM, a substance that gives special abilities, increased, Fontaine secretly made ADAM by implanting slugs in the stomachs of orphaned girls, who were called "Little Sisters." Fontaine was killed during a gunfight with police, and Ryan took control of Fontaine’s assets, including the Little Sisters.
In the months after, a poor man named Atlas led a violent fight against Ryan. Both sides used humans with plasmid abilities, called "Splicers," to battle each other. To protect the Little Sisters, Ryan created "Big Daddies," large humans in diving suits who helped the girls collect ADAM from dead bodies. Tensions worsened on New Year’s Eve in 1958 when Atlas attacked Ryan and his followers. The fighting turned Rapture into a ruined city, causing society to fall apart, many deaths, Splicers becoming mentally unstable from ADAM use, and survivors hiding from the chaos.
In 1960, a man named Jack was the only survivor of a plane crash in the Atlantic Ocean. He reached a nearby lighthouse, where a bathysphere took him to Rapture. Jack was contacted by Atlas, who guided him through the ruined city. Atlas asked Jack to help save his family, who he claimed were in a bathysphere. When Jack met the Little Sisters, Atlas told him to kill them to take ADAM from them. Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum stopped him and gave Jack a plasmid to remove the slugs from the Little Sisters’ bodies, freeing them from being controlled. Jack traveled to the bathysphere, but Ryan destroyed it before Jack could reach it. Angry, Atlas forced Jack to fight through Rapture’s districts toward Ryan’s home, where he faced dangerous people like doctor J.S. Steinman and artist Sander Cohen.
Jack entered Ryan’s office, where Ryan revealed that Jack was his illegitimate son, sold as an embryo by Ryan’s lover to Fontaine. Fontaine used Tenenbaum and Suchong to rapidly age Jack into an adult and make him an obedient assassin who could access Rapture’s systems. Jack was sent to the surface with fake memories of a normal life, waiting to be called back to Rapture. Ryan controlled Jack by saying, "Would you kindly?" a phrase that made Jack obey without question. Jack also learned he caused the plane crash by reading a letter with the same phrase.
Ryan chose to die by his own hand and forced Jack to kill him with a golf club. Atlas revealed he was actually Fontaine, who had faked his death and used the name "Atlas" to inspire the poor. After Ryan’s death, Fontaine took control of the city and left Jack to be killed by security drones. Dr. Tenenbaum saved Jack by removing Fontaine’s mental control, including a command that would have stopped Jack’s heart. Jack chased Fontaine to his home, where Fontaine turned into a large creature by injecting himself with ADAM. The Little Sisters helped Jack drain ADAM from Fontaine, who was eventually killed.
The ending depends on how the player treats the Little Sisters:
– If the player saves all Little Sisters, Jack takes them to the surface and adopts five as his daughters. Tenenbaum shares a story about them living happy lives and surrounding Jack on his deathbed.
– If the player takes ADAM from any Little Sisters, Jack turns on them and leads Splicers to take over a submarine with a nuclear weapon. Tenenbaum’s story becomes more sad or angry depending on how many Little Sisters are harmed.
Gameplay
BioShock is a first-person shooter game that lets players customize their character and use stealth tactics. It is similar to System Shock 2. The player controls Jack, a silent protagonist, as he moves through Rapture to complete objectives. Jack fights enemies using traditional weapons and special abilities called plasmids, which can create fire or electric attacks. Players can upgrade weapons at stations scattered throughout the environment, improving their range or reducing recoil. Weapons can also use different types of ammo to better fight specific enemies. Plasmids require EVE, a resource similar to mana, which can be refilled using EVE hypos or certain foods and drinks. Jack has a health meter that decreases when he takes damage. Health can be restored using food or medical packs found in Rapture. If Jack’s health reaches zero, he will respawn at a nearby Vita-Chamber, which acts as a checkpoint. A game patch allows Vita-Chambers to be disabled, forcing players to restart a saved game if Jack dies.
Players can also collect or buy tonics, which provide passive benefits like increased strength or better EVE efficiency. Only a limited number of plasmids and tonics can be active at once, and they can be swapped at stations throughout Rapture. Plasmids and tonics are purchased using ADAM, which is obtained by harvesting or saving Little Sisters. Harvesting gives more ADAM but kills the Little Sisters, while saving them gives less ADAM but earns Tenenbaum’s help. To access Little Sisters, players must defeat armored Big Daddies. Avoiding attacks on them keeps them neutral.
The game offers multiple ways to handle challenges. Players can fight directly, use plasmids to trap enemies or turn them against each other, or use stealth to avoid detection. Players can hack automated systems through a mini-game that requires connecting two points on a grid using pipes within a set time. Failing to complete the task quickly can cost health and trigger alarms. Early in the game, players receive a research camera, which helps them learn about enemies by taking photos. This knowledge improves attack effectiveness against those enemies later. Players earn money by exploring Rapture and collecting items from defeated enemies. Money can be used at vending machines to buy ammo, health, EVE, and other items. Vending machines can also be hacked to reduce the cost of items.
Development
Ken Levine and other members of Looking Glass Studios started Irrational Games in 1997. Their first game was System Shock 2, a follow-up to Looking Glass's earlier game System Shock. The game received good reviews but did not sell well. Levine tried to convince Electronic Arts to make a sequel to System Shock 2, but the company refused because the first game had low sales. Irrational later created other games, including Freedom Force, Tribes: Vengeance, Deep Cover (which was canceled), and The Lost (which was never released due to legal issues). At this time, Levine wanted to create a game with a strong story and more freedom, similar to System Shock 2.
By 2002, the team had developed a basic idea for a game based on three groups: drones that carried a valuable resource, protectors that guarded the drones, and harvesters that tried to take the resource. These groups later became the Little Sisters, Big Daddies, and Splicers in the final game. The team worked on creating a setting to show publishers, and at one point, they considered a ruined Nazi laboratory. A 2002 version of the game used the Unreal Engine 2 for the Xbox. This early version was set on a space station overrun by genetically mutated creatures, and the main character was Carlos Cuello, a "cult deprogrammer"—someone who helps people leave cults and return to normal life. Ken Levine explained that a deprogrammer might help a parent rescue a child from a harmful relationship. This story was meant to be political, with the character working for a senator. However, the team decided this was not the game they wanted to make and struggled to find a publisher. Levine noted that publishers were hesitant to support immersive simulation games because they did not sell well. The team considered stopping the project, but after articles about their work appeared in gaming magazines and websites, they decided to continue and made major changes to the game.
By 2004, 2K Games, a part of Take-Two Interactive, agreed to publish the game based on the drone/protector/harvester concept. The company allowed Irrational to create the story and setting freely. At this point, the story and setting had changed significantly. The game was now set in a Nazi laboratory from World War II that had been recently discovered by scientists. Over time, genetic experiments in the lab had formed an ecosystem centered on the three groups. This version included gameplay features that would remain in the final BioShock, such as the use of plasmids and EVE, the need to use stealth or other methods to avoid security systems, and story elements delivered through audio recordings and "ghosts" of dead characters. The funding from 2K Games in 2004 was described by Levine as a "modest budget." When Irrational was bought by 2K Games in 2006, the publisher provided more money to finish the game.
Although the gameplay from 2004 was similar to the final BioShock, both the design and story changed, as Levine emphasized the importance of focusing on game design. These changes were also influenced by internal disagreements and poor communication between teams, which happened as the team grew from six to sixty members. The environment was considered too plain, and artists struggled to create a consistent vision that matched the level designers' goals. A key moment came when level designer Jean Paul LeBreton and artist Hoagy de la Plante worked together to create a level that became part of the "Tea Garden" area in the final game. Levine praised this collaboration as an example of how different departments should work together. Levine noted that the team had previously rejected a cyberpunk theme due to earlier issues with System Shock 3, which led them to choose the underwater setting of Rapture.
Tensions continued throughout development. According to LeBreton, Levine was distrustful of some newer team members and often argued with them to ensure his vision for BioShock was followed. 2K Games was concerned about rising costs and asked Levine to market the game more as a first-person shooter rather than a hybrid of first-person shooter and role-playing game. As the release date approached, Levine ordered the team to work around the clock, causing more stress. Paul Hellquist, the lead designer, was often left out of key meetings, which he believed was because he questioned Levine's choices. He focused his energy on improving the Medical Pavilion level. Near the end of development, 2K Games gave the team three more months to refine the game, increasing the already heavy workload.
A major playtest in January 2007 received mostly negative feedback. Players said the setting was too dark, and they felt lost. Testers did not trust the character Atlas, who was initially voiced with a southern accent described as "lecherous Colonel Sanders." The team responded by adjusting the lighting, adding a quest marker, and changing Atlas's voice to an Irish accent to make him seem more trustworthy. During another late-stage playtest, testers disliked the game because they felt no connection to the main character, Jack. Levine noted that the game had few cutscenes, as he opposed them. However, he and the lead team added a cutscene showing Jack on a plane and a crash, which helped set the story and character. Levine compared this to the opening scene of the TV show Lost, which quickly introduced characters and setting. Total development costs were about $25 million. In a 2016 interview, Levine said the game could have used six more months to improve gun combat and fix technical issues. Many team members left Irrational after BioShock was released due to the difficult development process.
BioShock uses a version of the Unreal Engine 2.5 that was heavily modified, including advanced features from Unreal Engine 3. Irrational had experience with modifying the Unreal Engine in SWAT 4 and continued this work in BioShock. A major improvement was the water system, which required hiring a programmer and artist to focus on water effects. The game also uses the Havok Physics engine, which allows for realistic movement and interactions, such as ragdoll physics.
Release and promotion
After a fan petition asking for a special edition of the game reached 5,000 signatures, 2K Games announced a limited edition version. This edition included a Big Daddy figurine, behind-the-scenes materials, and the game's soundtrack. Before the special edition was released, the planned soundtrack CD was replaced with The Rapture EP.
BioShock was released on August 21, 2007, in North America, and August 24 in Europe and Australia for Windows and Xbox 360 platforms. A demo version released the week before the game’s launch became very popular, causing Xbox Live servers to crash. The Windows version used SecuROM copy protection, which required activation through 2K Games’ servers. Problems with these servers caused the midnight release in Australia to be canceled. Player complaints led 2K Games to increase the number of copies that could be installed at the same time from two to five. After the game’s release, the activation limit was removed, but other copy protection methods remained. Levine admitted the initial activation process was poorly designed, which hurt the company’s reputation during the launch. The original game also limited the player’s view by cutting the top and bottom of the screen to fit widescreen monitors, resulting in a narrower vertical view compared to 4:3 monitors.
A first patch for the Xbox 360 version was released about two weeks after the game’s launch to fix stability issues reported by players. However, this patch caused new problems, such as game freezes, poor frame rates, and audio issues. Irrational Games provided solutions using the console’s cache system. In December 2007, a common patch was released for both the Xbox 360 and Windows versions. This patch added new Plasmids, achievements for the Xbox 360 version, and a FOV lock that allowed widescreen players to see more of the screen without losing vertical details. It also included an option to disable Vita-Chambers, a feature requested by players to make the game harder, and an achievement for completing the game on its hardest setting without using Vita-Chambers. In 2014, 2K Games released a version of BioShock without digital rights management (DRM) in the Humble 2K Bundle. A DRM-free version was later released on GOG in 2018.
In 2008, 2K Games confirmed that a PlayStation 3 version of the game was being developed by 2K Marin. On July 3, 2008, 2K Games announced a partnership with Digital Extremes, stating that the PlayStation 3 version was being developed by 2K Marin, 2K Boston, 2K Australia, and Digital Extremes. Jordan Thomas directed the PlayStation 3 version. While the PlayStation 3 version did not improve the game’s graphics compared to the Xbox 360 version, it included a widescreen option called "horizontal plus," which was later added to the Xbox 360 version through a patch. Cutscene videos on the PlayStation 3 version had higher resolution than the DVD version. Additional content, such as "Survivor Mode," was released exclusively for the PlayStation 3 version. In Survivor Mode, enemies were stronger, and Vita-Chambers provided less health, requiring players to use less common Plasmids. The game also supported Trophies and PlayStation Home. A demo version was released on the PlayStation Store on October 2, 2008. The PlayStation 3 version was released internationally on October 17, 2008, and in North America on October 21, 2008. An update for the PlayStation 3 version was released on November 13, 2008, to fix graphical issues and improve stability. This update also added "Challenge Rooms" and "New Game Plus" features. BioShock was bundled with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as a double pack for PC and Xbox 360 on July 7, 2009. A version for OS X systems was developed by Feral Interactive and released in October 2009.
In early 2008, IG Fun secured the rights to develop and publish a mobile phone version of BioShock. This version was a top-down, two-dimensional platformer that aimed to recreate the story and gameplay of the original game. IG Fun worked with Irrational Games to decide which story elements to include. They planned to split the game into three "episodes" but only released the first one. Another mobile version, called BioShock 3D, was developed by Tridev and released in 2010. Due to mobile phone limitations, the game used low-resolution graphics and simple models. A version for iOS devices was developed by 2K China and released on August 27, 2014. This version included all the content from the original Xbox 360 and Windows versions and supported touch-screen controls or Bluetooth controllers. The iOS version was later removed from the App Store in September 2015 because it became unplayable on iOS 8.4 devices. While a patch was discussed, 2K stated the removal was decided by the developer. 2K later said they would work on fixing compatibility issues and re-release the game once completed. However, by January 2017, 2K confirmed they would no longer support the game on newer iOS systems.
The Xbox 360 version was the third best-selling game in August 2007, with 490,900 copies sold. The Wall Street Journal reported that shares in Take-Two Interactive increased nearly 20% after the game received strong early reviews. Take-Two Interactive announced that over 2.2 million copies of BioShock had been shipped by June 5, 2008. In a June 10, 2008 interview, Roy Taylor, Nvidia’s VP of Content Business Development, stated the PC version had sold over one million copies. According to Take-Two Interactive’s chairman, Strauss Zelnick, the game had sold around 3 million copies by June 2009. By March 2010, BioShock had sold 4 million copies, with the release of its sequel, BioShock 2, helping boost sales of the original game.
Reception
BioShock received very high praise from critics. On Metacritic, it had an average score of 96 out of 100 for Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows, and 94 out of 100 for PlayStation 3. Mainstream media highlighted the game’s immersive experience and its exploration of political themes. The Boston Globe called it "a beautiful, brutal, and unsettling computer game … one of the best in years" and compared it to a 1957 book titled Big Sister Is Watching You. Wired noted a connection to Ayn Rand, a writer whose name is partially an anagram of the game’s character Andrew Ryan. The Chicago Sun-Times said, "I never thought anyone could create an engaging video game based on Ayn Rand’s fiction and philosophy, but 2K Games has done exactly that … a rare, mature game that makes you think while you play."
The Los Angeles Times wrote that the game is fun, visually stunning, and easy to control, but also unique in making players feel deeply. The New York Times described it as "intelligent, gorgeous, and occasionally frightening," praising its story, art, and voice acting. GameSpy praised the game’s "hard-to-ignore atmosphere," and Official Xbox Magazine called its story "inconceivably great" and its soundtrack "stunning." The gameplay and combat system were noted for being smooth and open-ended, and the water effects were praised for their quality. Reviewers said the game combines elements from many art forms in a way that shows how flexible video games can be. However, some critics pointed out flaws, such as the "Vita-Chambers" system, which allows players to revive themselves without affecting enemies, making combat feel repetitive. IGN noted that the Xbox 360 version had slightly worse controls and graphics than the PC version. Some reviewers said the game’s moral choices (saving or harvesting Little Sisters) were too simple, and others, like Jonathan Blow and Clint Hocking, argued that the story and gameplay conflicted, with the story promoting selflessness while gameplay encouraged selfish actions.
At E3 2006, BioShock won "Games of the Show" awards from sites like GameSpot, IGN, and GameSpy. After its release, it won several major awards, including Game of the Year, Best Xbox 360 Game, and Best Original Score at the 2007 Spike TV Video Game Awards. It also won the 2007 BAFTA "Best Game" award and was named "Game of the Year" by X-Play and Game Informer. In 2007, BioShock was nominated for multiple awards, including Game of the Year and Best Artistic Design by IGN. GameSpy ranked it third-best of the year and gave it awards for Best Sound, Story, and Art Direction. GameSpot and GamePro also praised its story. At the 2008 Game Developers Choice Awards, BioShock won awards for Best Visual Art, Best Writing, and Best Audio. At the AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards, it received 12 nominations and won awards for Art Direction, Original Music, Sound Design, and Story Development. Guinness World Records recognized it as the "Most Popular Xbox Live Demo" in 2008. BioShock is ranked first on Game Informer’s list of the Top 10 Video Game Openings. GamesRadar listed it as the 12th best game of all time. In 2011, it was named the best video game trailer of all time by GameTrailers. In 2012, IGN ranked it the top modern PC game, and Time included it in its list of the 100 greatest video games of all time. In 2015, it was ranked ninth on USgamer’s list of the best games since 2000.
Legacy
BioShock has been praised for its artistic style and interesting story. In their book, Digital Culture: Understanding New Media, Glen Creeber and Royston Martin studied BioShock to analyze video games as an art form. They praised the game for its visuals, sound, and ability to draw players into its story. They believed BioShock showed that video games could grow into a respected artistic medium. John Lanchester of the London Review of Books said BioShock was one of the first video games to be covered in mainstream media as an art form, unlike earlier games that were often ignored or criticized for moral issues. Peter Suderman of Vox wrote in 2016 that BioShock proved video games could be works of art, especially because it used the theme of giving players the illusion of control.
In February 2011, the Smithsonian Institution announced an exhibit about video game art. Curators chose several games, and the public voted for others to include. BioShock was among the games selected by voters.
The game’s twist, where the player learns that their character, Jack, was forced to act by the phrase "Would you kindly…", is seen as one of the best story moments in video games. This twist surprised players by showing they didn’t have as much control as they thought. In honor of BioShock, the Black Mirror episode "Playtest" included the same phrase.
A sequel, BioShock 2, was announced in 2008 and developed by 2K Marin. It was released in 2010 for Windows, Mac, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. BioShock Infinite was developed by Irrational Games and set in the floating city of Columbia in 1912. This game explores the idea of multiple universes. One scene takes place at the lighthouse and bathysphere in Rapture, but the game does not directly connect this to the original BioShock story. The expansion Burial at Sea takes place in Rapture in 1959, before the conflict between Atlas and Ryan. It continues the story of Booker and Elizabeth, linking the two games and explaining events from the original. After finishing BioShock Infinite and its expansion, the game’s creator, Levine, decided to focus on smaller, story-driven projects. 2K Games still owns the BioShock rights and plans to make more games in the series. In 2025, 2K Games paused a remake of the original BioShock.
In 2016, BioShock was remastered to support 1080p and higher frame rates for Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Blind Squirrel Games did the remastering, and 2K Games published it. A version for macOS was released in 2017 by Feral Interactive. In 2020, the remastered version and The Collection were released for Nintendo Switch.