Bioshock 1: opaque critique of objectivism/libertarianism/science-for-profit
Bioshock 2: critique of… spiritualist collectivism? it’s weird. more like a cult than anything I guess.
Bioshock Infinite: critique of Amerikan exceptionalism, history, and civil religion. The people fighting against the Amerifascists are indicated to be communist/socialist, and wouldn’t ya know it they’re just as fucked up if not more in some ways! wtf all sides bad?
I may be misremembering specifically Bioshock 2, haven’t played it in a long time and its story was a bit more forgettable than the others imo.
edit: talked with someone else who knows more Bioshock lore than I do, and in Infinite the socialist-themed group, Vox Populi, is actually the vanguard of a fucking slave rebellion in Columbia. So not only is it both sidesing America fetishism and socialism, but equating slave-owners with slave liberators.
Bioshock 2 was boring, I didn’t finish it but to me it seem like they just stuck to the mechanics the the story took a second seat. With all its flaws, though, I think Bioshock got to be a great game not so much because of its achievements as a work of art but of how it helped change the industry to open up to new paths, even if they weren’t the firsts to do this kind of things.
I may be misremembering specifically Bioshock 2, haven’t played it in a long time and its story was a bit more forgettable than the others imo.
edit: talked with someone else who knows more Bioshock lore than I do, and in Infinite the socialist-themed group, Vox Populi, is actually the vanguard of a fucking slave rebellion in Columbia. So not only is it both sidesing America fetishism and socialism, but equating slave-owners with slave liberators.
Bioshock 2 was boring, I didn’t finish it but to me it seem like they just stuck to the mechanics the the story took a second seat. With all its flaws, though, I think Bioshock got to be a great game not so much because of its achievements as a work of art but of how it helped change the industry to open up to new paths, even if they weren’t the firsts to do this kind of things.