Rapture Is Dead: Bioshock 2
Posted by John Brownlee
Rapture: a subaqueous Objectivist dystopia in which unbridled anarcho-capitalism, unhampered by morality, leads to the dehumanization, the genetic mutilation of its populace and the ultimate squelching of free will. Thematically and aesthetically, Irrational Studios’ Bioshock was a masterpiece, only slightly sullied by a rote video-game ending and some ultimately shallow gameplay.
It’s surprising that a game that pandered to its audience’s intelligence and sophistication would become such a break-out hit. Less surprising? That the video game industry as a whole would ignore what Bioshock did so differently and immediately turn it into a property like every other successful game: within a month of Bioshock’s success, Take Two’s executives were telling investors to expect bi-annual sequels.
Now the first of those sequels has been announced. There’s no details, except that it will be released at the end of 2009, in keeping with Take Two’s promise for a sequel every two years. For those who don’t know games, that’s a fairly aggressive development schedule even for a regular sequel, let alone a game as intellectually challenging and visually lurid as Bioshock was.
But my main fear is that Take Two’s going to do the obvious here: bring Bioshock 2 back to Rapture. It was a great setting, but a game like Bioshock should inspire sequels based primarily on common themes: Ayn Rand style objectivism, isolation, the paradox of will, the protection of the innocent, and genetic engineering as the metaphor for ethical deformity. That’s what I want to see from Bioshock 2, wrapped up in a setting as breath-takin and convention-defying as Rapture… perhaps a sister city, a Randian bio-dome splattered with blood from the inside, built in the silver dust of the moon, gazing silently down upon the alternate-history Cold War Earth from which it fled. Now that’s a sequel.
Incidentally, this entire post was just an excuse to link Ben Mauro’s fantastic fan concept art for Bioshock 2, linked below.
Bioshock 2 “Concept Art” [Ben Mauro]
Categories: Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Bioshock, Rail, Videogames, Body Modification
Posted at 12:23 pm on March 13, 2008
9 Comments -
Oh gods…I KNEW a sequel would happen but I just kept praying that Bioshock would be left alone.
I’m going to be annoyed if it’s an Allied WWII soldier who was experimented on by the Nazis fighting his way out of the base or even the country.
Comment by Robin L. — March 13, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
I suspect they’ll just go Half-Life: Opposing Force on the story: you’re a different protagonist fighting through Rapture at the same time as the guy from Bioshock. If they’re really clever, they’ll make it a Bioshock prequel, and show the city in decay as you try to fight your way out. But I don’t think we can expect a sequel that isn’t impoverished of imagination: I’ll eat my hat if it doesn’t take place in Rapture.
Comment by John Brownlee — March 13, 2008 @ 1:02 pm
Now that you mention it, that method sounds just about right for the sequel and a prequel would be even better.
“I’ll eat my hat if it doesn’t take place in Rapture.”
I am SO going to hold that to you, John.
Comment by Robin L. — March 13, 2008 @ 1:47 pm
The beauty of Rapture was that I hadn’t been there before. From the Big Daddy lab to the shopping mall, I feel like I have already seen the best parts of the city.
I have to say I love the idea of a domed moon city.
Comment by Shon — March 13, 2008 @ 2:29 pm
Good friggin’ review of the game.
Keeping in the vein of THE PROPHET from PROVIDENCE How about an antarctic Rapture sequel…with some ages old Elder Ayn Rand enslaving lowly Shuggoths. Instead of cutesy pie little sisters, players would have to save Shuggoths…how is that for a moral dilemma?
Comment by sharky — March 13, 2008 @ 3:03 pm
“I’ll eat my FEZ if it doesn’t take place in Rapture.”
FIXED.
Comment by zanbowser — March 13, 2008 @ 5:43 pm
Dammit…I really need to get a 360 so I can play Bioshock.
Comment by racerabbit — March 13, 2008 @ 9:09 pm
3:37:43 AM Florian: The way they should do Bioshock 2 is abandon the whole underwater city idea
3:37:48 AM Florian: And have the sister city be on the moon
3:38:30 AM Florian: Set it during the same era, make the themes of personal choice and libertarianism gone bad the same, but just totally eschew the underwater setting.
3:39:11 AM Eliza : hahaha, the moon!
3:39:18 AM Eliza : And the little sisters have grown up and taken over.
3:39:36 AM Eliza : These moon amazons rule the lunar tunnels with dainty, iron fists!
Comment by Eliza Gauger — March 14, 2008 @ 4:20 pm
I’d like to see a sequel taking place post-bad end of the game. Something akin to being one of the last survivors in a Metropolis where the splicers are loose and someone has taken up the notions and concepts left behind from Rapture. Something akin to the exact opposite. A what if all the technology from Rapture WAS controlled by a government and unified group of companies using stolen Rapture technology.
Comment by GuardianOfChaos — March 14, 2008 @ 9:13 pm