History VideoGame / BioShock1

* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
** Possibly subverted with [[spoiler: Fontaine's "Code Yellow,"]] which is meant to command [[spoiler: Jack's]] brain to stop his heart. The heart is technically a muscle that acts independently from the brain, not an actual organ. Because of this, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the command completely backfires.]]

* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: In Rapture's hyper-capitalistic society, everything within the city was privately owned and came with a price -- including its oxygen supply. All religious beliefs and contact with the outside world are banned, lest the U.S. or USSR attempt to lay claim to Rapture and its radical technology. This final point is referred to as "that one law", as it allowed Fontaine's mob to make a fortune selling contraband from above. Ryan's SecretPolice went from targeting smugglers to political activits to singers who wrote [[AllCrimesAreEqual a mildly derisive]] song about Ryan. The final straw was Ryan nationalizing Fontaine Futuristics, scuttling his entire philosophy in the process. Ryan Industries was the only beneficiary of this move, as Ryan could not compete with Fontaine's business on even terms. [=McDonagh=] knew (though Ryan did not) that people would interpret this to mean the City Council could seize any business deemed ''too'' profitable. In the end, Ryan established a OneNationUnderCopyright not that different from the collectivist surface he despised. And when the ensuing Civil War picked up speed, Ryan shut down submarine service out of the city. Citizens protested at the bathysphere station and demanded to be let out. Obviously, their demands [[ResignationsNotAccepted were not met]]

** Dr. Suchong championed the creation of the Little Sisters to harvest ADAM from corpses throughout Rapture. However, realizing they would need protection from other ADAM-hungry inhabitants, he then created Big Daddies--giant, lumbering powerhouses who will kill in seconds flat. During experimentation, he struggled to get the Big Daddies to actually form the bond that would make them protect Little Sisters. [[spoiler:As he's complaining about this in an audiolog, he slaps a Little Sister trying to get his attention. In front of a Bid Daddy...]]

* GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke: The downfall of Rapture--one single city--began with the discovery of ADAM, a chemical that can let its users peform unimagineable feats, such as telekensis, pyrokenisis, and more. With how addictive it is, it took a very short time for it to become the backbone of what [=McDonagh=] calls a genetic arms race. If ADAM somehow spreads to the surface, we're all boned.

* FateWorseThanDeath: The BioShock series as a whole is full of them, everywhere you look, and the greatest examples might be the series mascots, the Big Daddy and Little Sister.

* AdultFear:
** Mariska Lutz's first audio diary is a note pleading for her daughter to come to her parent's room in the Fighting [=McDonaghs=]. Her daughter was taken by Ryan's men, and for the longest time she and her husband don’t know where she is. You find the diary near one of the Little Sister portholes in Fontaine Fisheries. [[spoiler: The second diary notes that later she finds her little Masha. Masha has been transformed into a little sister, harvesting the plasmid-strewn blood of a corpse. She neither recognizes nor acknowledges her parents. You find the second diary in the hotel room, by the bodies of the adult Lutzes. They committed suicide out of grief, their daughter’s picture is found near their bodies.]]
** You can also find a family in Mercury Suites. A mother, father, and three little girls. All sitting on their couches, with cups in front of each body. And a jug of poison on the table.

** Andrew Ryan's opening rant talks about a world where "the scientist is no longer constrained by petty morality" and "the artist no longer fears the censor". Plus he wanted to keep it a secret from the outside world. Then you meet [[MadArtist Sander Cohen]] and [[MadScientist Dr. Suchong]], and you realize what happens when people are given free reign to do whatever they want, coupled with the fact that Ryan forbade religion and never allowed anybody to leave. The city first degenerated into decadence, and scientists who were brilliant but completely amoral in their methods went without the slightest regulation even as they began merciless human experimentation, and the city turned into a prison.

* YouHaveToHaveJews: Like Ken Levine, [[https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/04/09/faith-in-rapture-ken-levine-shares-thoughts-on-creating-authentic-diversity.aspx many of the prominent citizens of Rapture are of Jewish descent]] but presumably non-practicing, including Andrew Ryan, Sander Cohen, Dr. Steinman, and Holocaust survivor Brigid Tenenbaum.

** During the boss battle with Steinman, the psycopathic doctor will continue raving about "beauty" and "ugliness."

* DarkActionGirl: The female splicers are just as strong, fast, and psycopathic as the male splicers.

** By the time Jack confronts Dr. Steinman face-to-face, he's devolded into a lunatic raving about beauty and ugliness. Bring ear plugs.

* FromBadToWorse: The audiologs the player finds throughout the story detail Rapture's descent from an apparent utopia to flooded ruins. Once ADAM was introduced to Rapture, it was a straight downhill slide to psycopathic addicts, child kidnapping, and a civil war. To illustrate how hellish Rapture became, the leaks that threaten the city's infrastructure are the ''least'' of the problems.

** Cameras searchlights are red if under under Ryan's control, and green if they are hacked and tracking splicers.

* ItemCrafting: The U-Invent machines allow the player to use supplies they've gathered to create items like tonics and ammuniation.

** Speaking of the Little Sisters, they're in a so-called symbiotic, but in practice mostly parasitic, relationship with a worm-like creatyre living inside their body that enhances their regeneration, causes their eyes to glow, and deludes them into doing things that they wouldn't otherwise do. [[Franchise/StargateVerse Sound familiar?]]

* TallPoppySyndrome: Ryan's intro to Rapture shows his anger at the trope. He despised the notion of tearing anyone's accompishments down just for a level playing field, and created Rapture as a haven for geniuses to thrive without censorship. But the trope is played straight later when he took over Fontaine Futuristics once it became ''too'' profitable.

** You can sometimes hear these from Little Sisters, as well. "[[YouMakeMeSic Chocolates]] is better than grapes, chocolates is better than grapes..."

** If by chance you've played the third game in the series, ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' first -- in particular its DLC, ''Burial at Sea'', which is possible for those wishing to play the franchise in chronological order -- the revelation about [[spoiler: Atlas' true nature]] comes as no surprise and [[spoiler: the phrase, "Would you kindly?"]] is already known to have significance, however what that is is not revealed until the end of this game. Similarly, players will have already been made well aware of Sander Cohen's insanity.

* IfICantHaveYou: When the government threatened to nationalize a forest he owned, Andrew Ryan burned it down. This marked the beginnings of his plan to secede from the world. Even worse, since the US Constitution doesn't allow the government to simply take private property; they would've paid him fair market value for it, and he could've bought another forest if he wanted to. That didn't matter to Ryan, he wouldn't accept any sort of goverment control over ''his'' property no matter what, and would rather destroy it so no one could have it instead.

* TallPoppySyndrome: Ryan's intro to Rapture shows his anger at the trope. He despised the notion of tearing anyone's accompishments down just for a level playing field, and created Rapture as a haven for geniuses to thrive without censorship. But the trope is played straight later when he took over Fontaine Futuristics once it became ''too'' profitable.
* TakeThat:

* UnwinnableByMistake: It's entirely possible to get hacking sections that have the end surrounded by alarms or damage boxes.

* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: In Rapture's hyper-capitalistic society, everything within the city was privately owned and came with a price -- including its oxygen supply. All religious beliefs and contact with the outside world are banned, lest the U.S. or USSR attempt to lay claim to Rapture and its radical technology. This final point is referred to as "that one law", as it allowed Fontaine's mob to make a fortune selling contraband from above. Ryan's SecretPolice went from targeting smugglers to political activits to singers who wrote [[AllCrimesAreEqual a mildly derisive]] song about Ryan. The final straw was Ryan nationalizing Fontaine Futuristics, scuttling his entire philosophy in the process. Ryan Industries was the only beneficiary of this move, as Ryan could not compete with Fontaine's business on even terms. [=McDonagh=] knew (though Ryan did not) that people would interpret this to mean the City Council could seize any business deemed ''too'' profitable. In the end, Ryan established a OneNationUnderCopyright NotSoDifferent from the collectivist surface he despised. And when the ensuing Civil War picked up speed, Ryan shut down submarine service out of the city. Citizens protested at the bathysphere station and demanded to be let out. Obviously, their demands [[ResignationsNotAccepted were not met]]

** Andrew Ryan's philosophy of how to defeat monopolies and big business is... [[NotSoDifferent to offer a better product]]. Not so easy when they got far more resources than you do, especially when ''they'' control the supply. Furthermore, Ryan lost virtually all of his public support when he nationalized his primary competitor, as most people don't like their politicians to be {{hypocrite}}s.

*** "Electro-Bolt" can stun enemies.
*** "Incinerate" can set enemies on fire, dealing DamageOverTime.
*** "Winter Blast" can freeze enemies in place.
*** The "Enrage" plasmid, used to toss a chunk of red goo at an enemy to get them hunting for something to kill, instead of just pacing about.
*** "Hypnotize Big Daddy" applies a status to Big Daddies so they defend the user, instead of not caring if anyone other than the Little Sisters or themselves are attacked.
*** The "Frozen Field" series of Gene Tonics imbues the Wrench with cold damage and a chance to freeze enemies with its attacks.

** The first lock and keycode you encounter is "0451". This is a reference to a long-running number that dates back to the ''System Shock'' days, used in both the original and the Irrational-developed sequel as the first door codes you find, as well as ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' (both the original and sequels - again, the first door codes you find). The number itself is a reference to Looking Glass Software's old office door code, which in turn was a reference to ''Literature/{{Fahrenheit 451}}''.

* ViceCity: Rapture is basically a deconstruction of the Objectivist "[[MarySuetopia Galt's Gulch]]" from ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', which without regulation would be populated by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s resulting in the Gulch's descent into a WretchedHive. ADAM has long since replaced all other goods as the prime economic force in Rapture, and is now (in Atlas' words), "the wheel which keeps Rapture turning." Big wheel keep on turning, [[WaxingLyrical sinking city keep on burning]].