Please note that the following includes spoilers to the storyline of Bioshock 1 and 2.  If you have not at least played the first title I highly encourage you to do so in order to fully appreciate what is below.  This also does not reflect the events of the Bioshock 2 DLC Minerva’s Den which at the time of the publishing of this piece has not been released.

Just a perfectly normal strangely-lit lighthouse hundreds of miles away from any sort of land. Nothing to see here, move along.

The Pitch

At the heart of almost every great singleplayer game is probably one of the most important aspects of gaming in general: a story.  Sure, gameplay is essential in creating a masterpiece but when combined with a great story you can completely alter how one approaches the game as a whole.  Some series as a whole have forgotten over the years that a story is what can take an already good game and make it an incredible one.  Bioshock doesn’t deserve this fate and neither do we.

I’ve always enjoyed games that explored the concept of a Cold-War-gone-hot scenario.  Titles like World in Conflict (a game that’s close to my heart) and Freedom Fighters, and books like Red Storm Rising have always been exciting to me.  After all, during one of the most dangerous times in recorded human history never has the fate of our entire species ever been in such doubt as it was during that forty year period after the fall of the Nazi regime.

Andrew Ryan, one of the main antagonists of the first Bioshock, knew the risks of what must have appeared to him as a no-win scenario between the two superpowers.  To his eyes the world was too polarized between politics and religion to allow for survivability in a world where the power of the atom had been harnessed for destructive purposes.  I believe that was one of the many reasons he founded Rapture: to help ensure that, if the world above the waves fell into a disarray of war and nuclear fire that the pinnacles of humanity would live on.

If I am correct in assuming that Ryan’s vision for an underwater utopia was fear of the outside world then there were definitely reasons to justify such a drastic course of action.  After all, the Soviet Union finally developed an atomic bomb in 1949 and steadfastly deployed the weapon for use amid rising fears of invasion by NATO and the United States.  In response the Western powers drastically increased their arsenals and the friction between the two lead to the largest arms race in the history of mankind.

The six most powerful people in all of Rapture, all of whom also played a key roll in the downfall of the city.

While the societies above the waves quibbled over the use of a nuclear weapon, deep within the North Atlantic a new type of weapon was being discovered: a genetic one.  Sometime between 1948 and 1951 Dr. Brigid Tenenbaum, a former German scientist who had come to Rapture following World War II, found herself passing through Neptune’s Bounty, one of the first areas you visit in Bioshock, and watched a former soldier unloading a barge with another worker.  What she found fascinating was that the worker’s hands had been paralyzed during the war several years back.  When she asked how his hands had become functional once again he said that he had been bitten by a sea slug and that the following morning he had awoken to find himself able to articulate his fingers for the first time in years.  When asked if he had kept the slug he said yes and offered it to her, ignorant of the repercussions of what the slug meant.

This gave way to the birth of ADAM, the genetic currency of Rapture and the very reason for its eventual downfall years later.  The viscous substance the sea slug created was able to alter the genetic material within the human body.  While Ryan did not see the possibilities of such a life-altering discovery was and refused to offer funding to Tenenbaum’s research another man named Frank Fontaine, whose funds came from smuggling illegal goods into Rapture, did.  His funding lead to the eventual creation of Tonics and Plasmids, the weapons that would soon alter life for the worse rather than the good of the people as intended.  And thus, on New Year’s Eve in 1958 it all came to a head when Fontaine, under the guise of Atlas, lead teams of Splicers (citizens who had become addicted to ADAM after ingesting Plasmids) in strikes against key locations within Rapture, igniting the Rapture Civil War.

ADAM and its weaponization of the human body through Plasmids could fundamentally alter the balance of power in the world and potentially the course of warfare forever.  No more would the mightiest weapon be that of nuclear fire; instead you would fear the ordinary man who walks down the block who could cause you to burst into flames with a snap of his fingers.  An army of Splicers has the potential to topple an entire nation and all it would have to do is live among us waiting for the right time to attack.

So what would have happened if either of the Cold War superpowers had gotten a hold of ADAM and Plasmid technology?  Ryan was justifiably fearful of this possibility even if his methods for containing Plasmid technology from the outside not being as such.  This is very apparent in the metanarrative behind the fall of Rapture in actions such as closing down the bathysphere transportation system in and around the city, effectively cutting off Rapture from the outside world.  Nowhere else in the series is this more apparent than during the opening events of Bioshock in which the main character, Jack, gets trapped by Ryan in-between stations and accuses him of being a foreign agent here to procure Rapture technology.

But what if Ryan’s worst nightmare came to life?  Here is one scenario I’d like to offer that provides a glimpse as to what that could be like.

The Story

The year is 1984, almost forty years after the foundation for Rapture was laid and long after the departure of Sofia Lamb from the decimated city.  To most intelligence agencies across the globe Rapture has gone silent; no radio transmissions have been intercepted in almost five years and no traffic has been monitored coming in or out of the underwater city.  For all intents and purposes, to the outside world, it appears that Andrew Ryan’s mad yet partially successful dream has come to a bitter end.

No dogs, cats, hampsters, turtles, goldfish, lions, bears, snickerdoodles, Sno Balls, Twinkies, red licorish, and ESPECIALLY no marshmellows. Ryan HATES marshmellows.

Meanwhile, on the surface, the tides of change are coming in.  Four years after the death of Leonid Brezhnev, General Secretary of the Community Party, the Soviet Union is entering a state of collapse.  The still newly appointed General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, is struggling to contain the situation and hopefully restore power to the once great nation.  It is still fighting a fierce war in Afghanistan and Soviet satellite states are abandoning communism in favor of democratic and capitalistic approaches.  Even attempts to restore the pubic and international trust via doctrines such as Glasnost are not helping to save the fledgling nation.

On one chilly November afternoon Gorbachev receives a classified report concerning the perceived dead state of Rapture.  Survivors of the city are few and far between to locate but in the documents it is revealed that an interrogation of a former Little Sister who was rescued by Jack and brought to the surface gave detailed accounts of Plasmids and their ability to alter human DNA into a malleable yet controllable weapon.  Engrossed by the possibility that this could be the tool needed to return the Soviet Union to prominence Gorbachev call together a meeting of his best and most trusted military minds to discuss recovery operations.  A plan is formed, detailed, and, just a week prior to New Years, is enacted.

A Soviet fleet is dispatched to the 63°5’N, 29°55’W, the location of the lighthouse above the dead city.  In what is perceived to be the largest deployment of Soviet naval assets since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and NATO’s militaries are placed on high alert and begin to deploy their Atlantic fleets in order to shadow the Soviets.  Learning that a Soviet reconnaissance force has been put in place in and around the sea above Rapture, intelligence officials deduce that the Soviets are mobilizing to take control of it and the technology within.  Fearing a resurgent Soviet threat and the possibility of a new arms race, one that the Americans would not have a leg-up on, President Reagan orders an American team to Rapture in hopes of beating them to it.

Unfortunately the Soviets beat them to it.  As the Soviet fleet arrives on the scene on New Year’s Eve they attempt to contact their reconnaissance force; nothing.  All attempts to reach them fail so the fleet’s admiral orders a Spetsnaz team to the patrol crafts adjacent to the lighthouse and to report back with the news.  When the team boards the lead craft they find no one.  All the equipment is intact, all their weapons are still unloaded and in their proper space, and there is even coffee in the pot, albeit cold.  In essence the men have simply vanished.  Thinking the men may have gone down to the city itself the Spetsnaz team is recalled to the flagship where they board a minisub that will take them down to the city.

As the sub descends the small portholes gaze upon the art deco buildings that have stood tall and strong for almost half a century.  Despite years of war and lack of maintenance they still look intact and almost habitable were it not for them having no signs of power or life for that matter.  As they approach their destination, the same bathysphere terminal Jack arrive at twenty-four years prior, the team sees lights coming from inside.  As the sub docks and the team exits they are greeted with a horrific sight: the mangled remains of the reconnaissance crew now ripped apart and strewn across the floor and walls.  Only one body remains intact, crucified against the wall.  Above it, written in the blood of the men is written a message: “Rapture will rise tonight.”  Reporting in to the fleet, the team is cut off in mid-communications as static fills the airwaves.  The lights suddenly go out and a scream comes from the point-man whose body flies past them.  One by one the team is literally torn apart, gunfire only able to partially illuminate the source of death.  Whatever it is, it’s huge.  As it continues tear its way through the team the last man watches as his team leader is grabbed by the head and thrown against the wall, impaling him against it.  The final man runs and manages to get into a derelict bathysphere; the creature closes fast but stops just short.  It stands there for a minute breathing a guttural, animalistic growl and it stares at the last man.  With an ethereal voice that sounds more like a beast than man, it speaks.

 “Your time will come little one.”

With a grunt, the bathysphere is lifted into the air and is hurled against the wall, crashing against it with a large clang.  As the man slips into unconsciousness you hear an almost demonic laugh as the title screen rolls.

The Way to Play

If there’s one thing that 2k Boston really drove home it was definitely the gameplay of Bioshock.  In most modern shooters nowadays you see the same format over and over again: cover, shoot, cover.  Bioshock changed this formula up with the introduction of Plasmids, a tool that would become utilized by players as much as the weapons themselves.  Should the base gameplay of the Bioshock experience change to fit the modern methods established in Call of Duty, Battlefield, and the likes?  In my opinion: absolutely not.

What should change however is the way the game should be perceived and played through as.  For too long modern horror titles have relegated themselves to being anything but scary and the fight for survival has not dependent on surviving on meager weapons and ammo and knowing when to run but rather on getting as many hits in before the enemy gets too close.  That is not survival horror at all and I’m looking at you Resident Evil 5, F.E.A.R. 2, and Condemned 2.

In the original marketing for Bioshock it was shown to be a horror title that would live up to the legacy left behind by System Shock 2.  Though I cannot vouch for whether this is a complete success or not as I never actually played either of the System Shocks I can tell you that it did indeed succeed as a horror title if only partially.  Throughout the majority of my first playthrough of Bioshock I did feel like I was underprepared for many of the games sequences.  During the second half of the game did I feel especially ill-suited for many of the tasks such as the optional quest to investigate Apollo Square.  The problem is that the horror aspect is completely defeated by one simple yet narratively-necessary part of the Bioshock experience: the Vita-Camber.

The problem with a horror game is that, at the end of the day, if you remove the fear of death there is almost no reason for a player to feel fear.  Without the threat of death and a loss of progress a gamer can do some Leroy Jenkins-style charges over and over again to defeat the enemy over time.  While this may work in an MMO it certainly doesn’t apply to horror games at all.  When I played both Bioshock titles, in order to truly appreciate the horror aspect of the game, I disabled the Vita-Chambers.  That way, I felt the consequences of death and foolhardy balls-to-the-wall escapades and learned to approach a situation appropriately.

This Big Daddy design wasn't actually in either game. However, given that the design was that far along I feel that we may actually see it in Minerva's Den...

To this end I propose to you the following: either make the Vita-Chamber a story-imperative piece of technology or get rid of it all together.  I can picture a sequence early on in what would be Bioshock 3 in which, as the player is being briefed on Rapture 101 a distant explosion from another building causes a power surge and explosion within the Vita-Chamber network, either causing it to be completely destroyed or possibly becoming disabled.  In the case of the later I’d suggest that they only be active in segmented areas or levels and that they would require powering up in order to be utilized if worse comes to worse.

Another suggestion I would have is for the Vita-Chamber network to be narratively crucial.  Sure, Bioshock 2’s story opens with the main character being revived from death ten years after he died within one but after that they didn’t serve anymore purpose other than what they did in the first game.  To that end I think that it would be a good idea to make resurrection a necessity in order to advance the plot.  For example, suppose our main character is trapped in a room that is slowly filling up with water.  On the other side of the room, separated by a glass wall, is a Vita-Chamber that needs to be powered on and right next to him is the control panel for it.  After solving a time limited hacking puzzle (after all, if the player doesn’t do it fast enough then the room fills up with water and the character drowns) the Vita-Chamber powers on, allowing the player to kill himself instead of suffering a painful drowning and a game over screen.

Another aspect I’d recommend retooling is the question of who can actually utilize a Vita-Chamber.  According to the Rapture narrative Jack and Subject Delta are the only two known to have had their genetic information stored in the Vita-Chamber network.  What if, however, in the years since the events of Bioshock 2 that the Vita-Chamber network had been penetrated and made open-source, allowing for anyone to be resurrected instead of a particular person?  This, in my opinion, could greatly restore the horror aspect originally proposed in the first game.  Imagine, if you will, a boss enemy that continues to resurrect over and over again and endlessly hunts you down as you progress through a level until you are able to disable the local Vita-Chamber network.  How terrified would you be to be low on ammo and EVE hearing the approaching footsteps of an enemy that you don’t think you can take down again with your limited resources?  Done properly this could be a fascinating change to the combat of the game.

One final aspect of the Vita-Chamber I’d recommend changing is the consequences of a revival.  When resurrected in one you automatically have all of your inventory back and are essentially ready to face the enemy head-on once again.  What if, however, it didn’t come with you and all you had was your one bar of health of a single bar of EVE?  As such you’d have to seek out your lost weapons and tools for a far more challenging sequence.

What Evil Lie in the Hearts of Men?

One of the key ingredients to the Bioshock franchise is the aspect of the Splicers, denizens of Rapture who became addicted to ADAM and have been driven mad in their never-ending quest for more.  These people were victims of their own devices and thus many of them find themselves stuck in a never-ending cycle of rage and sorrow.  With thousands of them patrolling the streets of Rapture seeking their next hit of ADAM it is understandable that they would make a great common foe to run into.

Therein however lays the problem: the evolution, or rather the devolution, of the Splicer.  According to the story of Bioshock ADAM is able to unlock the potential of human DNA at the cost of physical and mental deformation.  While Bioshock depicted the madness one suffers from after ingesting ADAM into oneself the Splicers, more or less, appeared like any other normal human being.  Conversely, during Bioshock 2, which takes place eight years later, players were shown aging Splicers whose physical appearance had been deformed severely in most cases, leading to many of them being obligated to wear masks.

Come to think of it I didn't think they were THIS ugly until I actually saw this picture. She's a looker alright.

What if, however, the Splicer changed even further?  What if, say, twenty-five years after first splicing up they were still alive?  How would this be represented in the game?  Well we actually have some choice examples to examine this idea with, notably Frank Fontaine from the end of the first game and Gilbert Alexander from the second.  In the first instance we witness the over-splicing of one in a very short length of time.  Fontaine’s transformation in that time turns him into a sort of demigod not unlike that of Dr. Manhattan in Watchmen.  In this case Fontaine appears to retain his mental prowess.  In the instance of Alexander however this is not the case.  Whereas Fontaine was transformed into a hulking pinnacle of the male form Alexander instead turned into a gigantic, almost prenatal human not unlike a child still in the womb.  The contrast between the two is stark but it does give clues as to how large a threat a Splicer can become if exposed to too much ADAM over period of time.

In a way Bioshock’s Splicers are a bit of a commentary on Darwinism and evolution.  Not unlike the possibilities of the genetically-altered beasts of the Resident Evil series, is it possible that prolonged and continued exposure to ADAM would induce genetically destabilizing conditions that would allow for continuous, unrelenting growth not unlike that of a cancer tumor?  If this is the case then wouldn’t the type of ADAM ingested by a Splicer help artificially determine the genetic outcome of him/her?

To this end I feel that the Splicer is a character that should be far more fearsome than they were in the first two games and therefore could allow for a hierarchy of them instead of just a simple variety.  Imagine if Spider Splicer’s continued to evolve to a state in which the lower half of its body actually resembled a spider.  Imagine the Houdini Splicer had had their skin pigmentation altered to a permanent state of translucence rather than just being able to teleport wherever they wanted.  Or, even further beyond that, imagine a Splicer whose body exhibits plant-like characteristics and can manipulate the environment around it with releases of pheromones.  The possibilities are endless in this regard.

Keeping it in the Family

By far one of the most iconic things about the Bioshock franchise is the Big Daddy and Little Sister dynamic.  Almost always an optional thing to do, a fight with a Big Daddy is something you didn’t want to do on a whim.  Heck, I can recall the first time I was actually forced to fight one in Bioshock.  I remember feeling extremely apprehensive after having witnessed one take down a half dozen Splicers earlier in the level after having gotten caught in the crossfire.  Even after the first encounter I had I still felt I had to prepare for a fight rather than even consider starting one on a whim.

When Bioshock 2 rolled around we were introduced to the Big Sister, a Little Sister who had grown up and been modified to protect Little Sisters whose Big Daddy had died in combat.  The idea of the Big Sister was intriguing and, in the marketing leading up to the release of the game, it was described as the ultimate challenge in the Bioshock universe.  If only this were the case.

The initial encounter with the Big Sister was indeed frightening; it's too bad that how you interacted with her didn't retain that same feeling.

Contrary to what we were shown in trailers and in previews of the game, a Big Sister encounter was not indeed random.  Instead, a Big Sister would only arrive after you have rescued or harvested all the Little Sisters in a given area.  While the battle was indeed intense and the lead up to your first battle with a Big Sister was equally frightening, after recognizing the pattern I did not feel that the Big Sister adds to a horrific atmosphere that the franchise tries to pass on to the player.  Instead of being terrified of a sudden Big Sister encounter I instead found myself laying out traps before finally rescuing my Little Sister, prepared for the inevitable battle.

If there were to be a third Bioshock then this would have to be entirely changed in order to maintain a horror atmosphere.  While Bid Daddy and Little Sister encounters should remain as they are (though with multiple variants present in a level), Big Sisters should be a random encounter that can happen at any time during the game.  While this would cause an imbalance with the gameplay I do propose a solution for the player: allowing them to hide.  Imagine, if you will, wandering through a large mall-esque area when suddenly you hear the scream of a Big Sister.  She’s on her way and she’s pretty pissed but doesn’t know exactly where you are.  As would be the case, what if the player could hide in say a locker or a closet should they wish to not engage in combat or be unable to for that matter?  The Big Sister could search the environment, looking for you and would leave after a short while, satisfied that you are not there.  This could provide a sense of fear that players would enjoy and would actually make each person’s experiences a little unique from everyone else’s.  It’s not a tremendous change from the standard formula but it is definitely something that would make a world of difference in gameplay.

For the Love of Others                                                               

For a story to properly conclude the Bioshock series I feel that there is one character that absolutely has to return for one last go: Dr. Tenenbaum.  Tenenbaum is probably one of the most tragic characters of the series as she is both responsible for the downfall of Rapture due to her discover of ADAM but also her attempts at redemption for her sins by rescuing the Little Sisters from their enslavement at the hands of Andrew Ryan, Frank Fontaine, and Sofia Lamb.  Tenenbaum was a critical character in both Bioshock games as she aided you in the rescue of the Little Sisters while providing information on how to reach and complete objectives.

While her fate in Bioshock 2 is unknown (Minerva’s Den may answer this question) I can only assume that she left Rapture again after Subject Delta and Eleanor Lamb escaped Persephone.  The ideal scenario for her return for the storyline I proposed above would be that she had been found and entrapped to help the Soviet or American forces as an “advisor” to the men who’d be descending beneath the waves.  One can imagine a Naomi Hunter-esque relationship.

The most tragic and compelling character of the series, Dr. Tenenbaum deserves more than just to disappear into the night like she did at the end of Bioshock 2.

I also believe that this would be a prime opportunity to give a voice to former Little Sisters rescued by either Jack or Subject Delta.  While we have had very little experience with these women other than the endings to Bioshock and the marketing for Bioshock 2 I feel that this would be a perfect chance to explore their side of the story in a way that Bioshock 2’s Little Sister sequence hinted at.  Imagine being given advice through the radio by one of Eleanor Lamb’s rescued girls, explaining aspects of areas you are exploring and giving you advice about how to proceed from there.  This could be an excellent prospect to take advantage of and breathe even more life into this lively universe.

One final aspect of gameplay I think should be explored is having an occasional companion to fight alongside.  In almost every instance in the Bioshock series you are either alone or in the presence of a non-combative NPC.  What if on the other hand you had to protect and fight alongside a friendly Splicer or perhaps a teammate?   Such a sequence would allow for players to actually feel that they are not the only good soul in Rapture, especially more so than a voice on the radio talking to you.  While I do not propose a full-on cooperative mode for the game I do suggest that players would want to feel a little bit safer, if only for a short while.

Somewhere, Beyond the Sea

Bioshock as a franchise is one of very strong possibilities.  With 2k exploring new directions however there is no guarantee that the prestige that the franchise deserves will stay with it.  I fear that a Bioshock remake as has been rumored would lead to a completely different style of gameplay or worse a more family friendly experience.  I can only hope that this doesn’t happen.  While Irrational Games is set to reveal Project Icarus Thursday (8/12) I feel that whatever that project will eventually be will not indeed be a new Bioshock title.  Who deserves to take up the mantle?  That is not a question I can properly answer at this time given that the two studios that have done the primary work on the series are currently at work on other games.

Whatever comes, one thing remains certain: Bioshock is not a series that deserves to be sent out to sea without at least a proper final title.  2k, do the series proud.