Remembering The Philosophy of Bioshock

An attempt to break the hold Hearthstone and Overwatch have on my soul

Bioshock: The Collection has just released here in the UK and I’m finding the critical consensus regarding these games to be somewhat sniffier than I remember. It seems people are finding the narratives shallow, with Bioshock: Infinite getting particular flak for it’s gameplay and lack of narrative journey. This surprises me as I consider Bioshock and Bioshock: Infinite as the absolute pinnacle of art design, world building and storytelling within video games.

This has given me an interesting idea: In this post, I will be discussing exactly why I hold these games in such high regard through a discussion of their narratives as I remember them. I’ll then go play through the collection, as comprehensive as I can, and then return to these ideas and see whether these three games are as brilliant as I remember or whether I was just looking back through rose tinted goggles.

[obviously, spoilers for the entire series after this point]