History VideoGame / BioShock1

[[invoked]] Irrational's creative lead, Ken Levine, based the story on the aesthetics and [[UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} Objectivist]] writings of Creator/AynRand, most notably ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''. The fate which befalls Rapture -- intended as a haven for Earth's best and brightest -- can be viewed as either a [[InferredHolocaust logical conclusion of that book]], or what happens if [[NoTrueScotsman any "false" objectivist]] refuses to follow their philosophy to the letter. However, Levine wrote the game so that it itself refrains from taking a side in the Objectivist debate; the [[AnAesop Aesop]] of Rapture, if it can be said to have one, is that achieving a utopian society is [[HumansAreFlawed unwinnable by design.]]

* AlignmentBasedEndings: You get different endings depending on how many Little Sisters you killed, if any. [[spoiler:The Bad Ending has you using a nuclear bomb hidden in Rapture to start a world domination conquest, whereas the Good Ending has you freeing the Little Sisters and giving them their lives back.]]

* AlignmentBasedEndings: You get different endings depending on how many Little Sisters you killed, if any.

** Splicers are programmed to always miss their first shot. This lets them ambush you while also not getting cheap damage in, since it wouldn't be fair if you could be killed from an enemy that you didn't even know was there.

* ArtificialStupidity: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] on the part of the developers for the sake of AntiFrustrationFeatures. Even when they have a clear shot at you, splicers are programmed to miss their first shot at you.

** Hack the health stations and they'll damage or even kill any enemies that use them. It's a useful ammo saver.

-->'''Steinman:''' "Look at you! '''HIDEOUS!'''"

** The setting is one of "Galt's Gulch" from ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'' and generally of UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}}. Without proper regulation, the laissez-faire capitalist utopia becomes overrun by {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s and [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinists]] and turns into a WretchedHive where even breathable air is commodified and fitted with a price tag. And the big libertarian visionary who forms the Gulch? Somebody with more acumen and ruthlessness outcompetes him in the market, [[{{Hypocrite}} so he turns to state power to get rid]].

[[quoteright:271:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bioshockcover_8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:271:''No Gods or Kings. Only Man.'']]

%%Stop right there. Putting "Would you kindly..." at the beginning of this article is not particularly clever, and you're not particularly witty for thinking of doing that. And it hints towards plot spoilers, even ones that have reached memetic levels. So don't do it.

!![=BioShock=] contains examples of these tropes:

* TriggerPhrase: Factors into TheReveal, as well as a lot of the story's third act. As you travel through the fallen Rapture, you constantly hear the words [[spoiler:"Would you kindly...?" courtesy of your companion, Atlas. A seemingly innocuous saying is revealed to be the phrase that Atlas--true identity Frank Fontaine--uses to mind-control you to do his bidding.]]

* DevelopersForesight: When you're told to throw the switch to open the submarine bay to Atlas, you can walk right on by and go all the way to the far end of the map, where the submarine awaits. If you approach it, [[{{Foreshadowing}} Atlas asks if you can hear his family inside]].

* DoesNotLikeShoes: All the Little Sisters are barefoot.

[[folder: R-Y]]

** A loading screen blurb from Suchong has him [[ChildHater lamenting how annoying children are]] and pondering if there is a way to speed up there development. [[spoiler: They're not empty words: rapid growth was an integral part of creating ''[[PlayerCharacter Jack.]]'']]

** "Oh Rise, Rapture, Rise..." sounds a lot like the anthem of Oceania from the film adaptation of ''[[Film/NineteenEightyFour 1984]]''.

* HelplessWindowDeath:
** Less than ten seconds after you arrive in [[UnderwaterCity Rapture]], you witness a [[SuperpoweredMooks Spider Splicer]] corner Johnny, one of the few non-splicers in the city; because you're still waiting for the bathysphere to open, you can only watch through the window as the Splicer brutally eviscerates Johnny and flings him into the water below.
** During your visit to the [[AbominableAuditorium Footlight Theater]], you're introduced to the [[CreepyChild Little Sisters]]; after you've descended to the ground floor and can observe the theater through a window, a Splicer makes the mistake of trying to kill one, whereupon a [[PapaWolf Big Daddy]] bursts in, impales him with a drill, before fatally hammering him against the window until it shatters.

** Splicers are programmed to always miss their first shot. This lets them ambush you without getting cheap shots in.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Many Objectivists object to the game's critique of Objectivism, saying that Ryan's descent into megalomania dooming the city is a betrayal of the philosophy. Ayn Rand, Andrew Ryan's namesake and the founder of Objectivism, ended up leading a cult in Greenwich Village. The members were forbidden contact with outsiders beyond the bare necessities of work and daily life; they watched Rand-approved media every evening as a group; anyone who started to deviate was subject to "psychotherapy" to "reacquire objectively correct moral standards" (locked in a room and shouted at for days until they gave in); and anyone who wouldn't comply was ejected and tried in absentia, with their closest friends required to come up with a list of the things they hated most about the excommunicated. This eventually led to a split with Nathaniel Branden (the Cheney to her Bush), who was far more charismatic than Rand, as she couldn't stand him upstaging her, and his departure ultimately doomed the cult as she couldn't hold it together without him.

* DroughtLevelOfDoom: Fort Frolic is the only level in the game without Leadhead Splicers, and ammunition in general is scarce. The vending machines are difficult to hack and charge high for their products. [[SubvertedTrope Thankfully you can still use the Bathysphere to go back to places like Neptune's Bounty to refill on ammo]].

** Atlas/Frank Fontaine doesn't have his own character model in this game, with his physical appearance consisting of a reused Splicer model before his transformation into the final boss at the end of the game. ''Burial at Sea'' would finally give a proper character model for Atlas.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first game is the only game where Plasmids cannot be fired simultaneously with regular weapons. It's also one of the only stories where [[spoiler:the hero doesn't die outside of natural causes]].

* EatTheRich: Rapture's KillThePoor attitude finally gives rise to a massive rebellion not just by the opressed working class but also by the ADAM-addicted Splicers. The majority of the city's upper class are killed in the ensuing riots, though so is almost everyone else.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: [[SurprisinglyHappyEnding Surprisingly, yes.]] In the Good Ending, [[spoiler: Jack proves himself to be everything Andrew Ryan ''[[AbusiveParents wasn't]]'' as a father, rescuing five Little Sisters and raising them as his own children. Each of them live full, happy lives, [[HappilyAdopted love Jack deeply, and on his deathbed]], Jack dies with all five of them clutching his hand.]] It's the page image for AGoodWayToDie for a reason.

* EarlyGameHell: On Hard and [[HarderThanHard Survivor]] difficulties the Medical Pavilion is one of the hardest levels in the entire series. Trying to kill the Big Daddy is practically suicide, but fortunately you can backtrack to fight it after getting the camera and grenade launcher.

* SpiritualAntithesis: [[invoked]] To ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', in that it uses a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome to show [[InferredHolocaust what would likely happen]] as a result of the novel's "Galt's Gulch."

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: As part of the game being a vicious {{Deconstruction}} of objectivism, there's naturally a ''lot'' of examples to go around.
** Andrew Ryan's philosophy of how to defeat monopolies and big business is... 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.
** Fill your society with the "best and the brightest" and not the low class "parasites"? Sounds good on the surface, but unless you live in a completely automated society (which Rapture obviously ''wasn't''), unfortunately someone still has to scrub the toilets, clean the streets, and do all of the unpleasant menial labor jobs that are necessary in order to keep society running.
*** Look down upon said "parasites" who do all the menial jobs that keep society running? They're going to start revolting and aligning with people who want to overthrow you. Furthermore, when those people aren't around to do their jobs, vital societal infrastructure is going to start falling apart from neglect, and it's an even worse situation for Rapture since they're literally located ''at the bottom of the ocean''. Once some parts of the city start to spring leaks, it's only inevitable that more are going to start.
** No regulations telling people what they can and can't do? Sure enough, this will produce an absolute haven for scam artists and people who don't even need to be ADAM-addled splicers to be certifiably insane and depraved monsters to thrive. And they're going to prey on the defenseless - like [[WouldHurtAChild little girls]] - when there's no one around to stop them. And that's ignoring {{Mad Scientist}}s who aren't bothered with ethics or 'background checks' to freely commit atrocities, which is how the downfall of Rapture unofficially began.
** Keep people UnderTheSea with little to no way to contact the outside world (and later on eventually ''banning'' surface access)? Don't be too shocked when [[GoMadFromTheIsolation they start going bonkers]], especially when the domestic situation isn't stable enough to keep people distracted with BreadAndCircuses.
*** And with no way to (legally) provide such things that are banned from the outside world? Someone (notably Frank Fontaine) is going to make a ''killing'' smuggling in contraband.
** [[spoiler: The phrase "Code Yellow"]] is meant to make [[spoiler: Jack]]'s brain command his own heart to start slowing. However, the heart is a muscle that works independently from the brain, and so it takes an incredibly long time for it to start going into effect.

* 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 activists 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]]
--->'''Bill [=McDonagh=]:''' "[[BlatantLies For the good of the city", he says! He'll "break it up in due time", he says!]]

* SpiritualAntithesis: [[invoked]] To ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', in that it uses a SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome to show [[InferredHolocaust what would likely happen]] as a result of the novel's "[[MarySuetopia Galt's Gulch]]."