15 years ago, BioShock 2K took the world by storm

Cover image for BioShock 2 featuring the big dad and little sister.

picture: 2K Marine / 2K

For those who play video games, 2007 is often considered One of the best years from the middle. It’s been a year of squabbles: It’s been for Microsoft repression And the Halo 3And the Nintendo took over Super Mario to the galaxy, Call of duty It blew up the world by moving into the modern era, etc. The size of that year cannot be underestimated only kick ass For games, and at the top level at that time it was 2K Games bioshock, She is now 15 years old as of today.

Developed by 2K Boston (later Irrational Games) and now defunct 2K Australia, directed and written by Ken Levine of Boston, bioshock It is a first-person shooter set in the 1960s. After surviving a plane crash, protagonist Jack discovers the underwater city of Rapture, which was built as a haven for society’s elites by its founder, businessman Andrew Ryan. The city was the perfect utopia, but everything eventually went to hell once a gene-modifying substance called ADAM was discovered.

Through the use of serums known as “plasmids”, everyone in the city gained superpowers. And so, a class war ensues: On the one hand, Ryan orders a superhuman diving suit wearing Big Daddies to protect the little girls called Little Sisters as they harvest ADAM from corpses. On the other side was Atlas, the man who convinced the now poor citizens of the Rapture to rise up against Ryan, as both sides used plasmid-carrying citizens called Splicers to launch skirmishes across the city.

Image of the article titled BioShock is ubiquitous in games, no niche per se

picture: stray games / 2K

Originally exclusively for Xbox 360 and Windows, bioshock Released to critical acclaim, with particular praise for the atmosphere and Narrative, which included ideas from author George Orwell and most notably the philosopher Ayn Rand. By the end of its debut month, it had sold 490,000 copies, and by March 2010, it had sold 4 million copies across all platforms. (In 2008 and 2009, it was ported respectively to PlayStation 3 and Mac.)

For a while, BioShock fever swept the industry. It was inducted into the Smithsonian Gallery dedicated to the art of video games, and has been hailed as one of the best games of all time. Together with the original mass effect and 2008 cue, The game has been used as examples when discussing the feature of video games as an art form. And produced two series: 2010 Bioshock 2 From 2K Marin was a direct sequel where players took control of a Big Daddy named Sigma a decade after the original game, and granted the ability to use plasmids and search for his missing little sister. On the other hand No final With a star-studded returning game of Irrational, Booker DeWitt sought to teleport reality-distorting Elizabeth Comstock from the city of Columbia into the sky in 1912. Both games would receive narrative downloads, but it was a “burial at sea” expansion of No final Which I linked definitively with the story of the original game.

In the ensuing years bioshock Calm reigned, there were efforts outside of 2K and Levine to try to reach the same narrative levels as that first game. You can see her bones in other games like Naughty Dog’s the last of us, Machine games Wolfenstein Reboot, and Arkane victim or insulting without much effort. (No final It is technically the first Dad Game, as it was released only a few months before the original We delay.) Cyberpunk 2077, Which arguably has better combat and immersive sim elements than bioshock, He has a slice of period piece shooter inside of him. You might even argue that something like Disco Elysium or sleeping citizen I was also affected by it.

Image of the article titled BioShock is ubiquitous in games, no niche per se

picture: 2K games

But as for the franchise itself, it’s currently only…Existing. Part of the issue is the lack of follow up: A fourth entry It’s said to be in the works, but given the development issues that have plagued the entire franchise, it sounds more like an idea than a reality. And even though he left the series behind after 2013, Ken Levine wasn’t able to game release During the past nine years. All that’s left for fans is to replay old games, and perhaps discuss how time has dealt with The sequel in particular. Netflix has plans on turn the first game into a movie, Something originally in the cards Back in 2008, But it remains to be seen if the operator will actually be able to turn this into reality. But the real question is about him bioshock The future, if it had one, what could it bring to the table that the original trilogy hadn’t already covered?

Let us know your thoughts about bioshock Privilege in the comments below. Do you think we can do with another entry, or should we let it be harvested?


Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest marvel And the star Wars Releases, what’s next for DC Universe on Film and TVAnd everything you want to know about him Dragon House And the The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

See also  Here are some early samples

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *