BioShock

Story and setting

You play as Jack, the survivor of a plane crash who reaches a lighthouse in the middle of the Atlantic and descends into Rapture. The city was intended to be a refuge for artists, scientists and industrialists who wanted to live beyond the control of governments and organised religion. By the time Jack arrives, that experiment has collapsed into civil war, addiction and genetic mutation.

Rapture is the real star. Its leaking corridors, grand halls, flooded theatres and derelict laboratories tell the story of the city without relying solely on cutscenes. Audio diaries fill in the history of its residents, while the Little Sisters and their Big Daddy protectors provide the game’s central moral dilemma. You can harvest the Little Sisters for more ADAM, or rescue them for a smaller immediate reward and different consequences later on.

How it plays

BioShock is built around choice rather than a fixed combat routine. Jack carries conventional weapons, including pistols, shotguns and grenade launchers, but can also equip Plasmids that unleash fire, electricity, ice and other powers. Gene Tonics provide further passive abilities, allowing you to specialise in areas such as stealth, engineering, hacking or direct damage.

The best encounters encourage combinations. Electricity can stun an enemy in water, fire can clear out groups or ignite pools of oil, and hacked security cameras, turrets and robots can be turned against their owners. Hacking itself is a pipe-style puzzle, while weapon upgrades, ammunition variants and the research camera add a modest role-playing layer to the shooting. Exploration is rewarded with supplies, hidden rooms and audio diaries, although the campaign remains broadly linear rather than an open-world game.

There is no online multiplayer, co-operative campaign or competitive mode. BioShock is designed entirely around its solo story and the way you build Jack’s abilities during a playthrough.

DLC and later versions

The Xbox 360 and Windows versions received a free update in December 2007 adding four Plasmids and Gene Tonics, extra achievements, widescreen support and interface improvements. The PlayStation 3 version arrived in October 2008 with Trophy support, a Survivor difficulty setting and Challenge Rooms, which were later incorporated into subsequent editions.

BioShock Remastered launched as part of BioShock: The Collection in 2016. It updates the presentation with higher-resolution textures, 1080p output and a higher frame-rate target on PS4 and Xbox One, while adding the Challenge Rooms, the Museum of Orphaned Concepts and the unlockable Imagining BioShock director’s commentary featuring Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson. The additional rooms are non-canonical trials rather than new story chapters.

Platforms, editions and UK price

The original game launched on Xbox 360 and Windows PC, followed by a PlayStation 3 version in 2008. The remastered version is available on PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, with the Xbox version playable on Xbox Series X|S and the PS4 version playable on PS5. The Switch release includes BioShock Remastered as part of BioShock: The Collection, alongside the other two main games and their single-player add-ons.

For UK buyers, Xbox currently lists BioShock Remastered at £15.99 and BioShock: The Collection at £39.99. The standalone remaster is the sensible choice if you only want the first game; the Collection is better value if you also want BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite. Prices and sales change, so these are store-list prices rather than a permanent recommendation.

On modern consoles, the remaster is cleaner and more convenient than the original Xbox 360 release, although it is still an old game underneath. The Switch version makes the largest technical compromise, running at 30 frames per second rather than the 60fps target used by the PS4 and Xbox One versions.

Reception and verdict

BioShock was received as a major critical success. The Xbox 360 version holds a 96/100 Metascore, while Eurogamer awarded it 10/10 and IGN scored it 9.7/10. Reviews praised its atmosphere, writing, world-building and flexible combat, though some noted that the shooting could become repetitive and that the moral system was less substantial than the presentation suggested.

It is still an easy game to recommend, particularly for anyone who values setting and storytelling as much as shooting. The remaster is the most practical modern version, but the original Xbox 360 edition remains a perfectly valid way to experience Rapture, especially for players interested in the game as a landmark of its generation.

What remains unconfirmed

2K officially announced in 2019 that Cloud Chamber was working on the next BioShock game. Its final title, platforms, release date and relationship to the original BioShock remain unconfirmed, and no new remake of the 2007 game has been formally announced by 2K.