BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010; Feral Interactive released an OS X version on March 30, 2012. The game takes place in the dystopian underwater city of Rapture, eight years after the events of BioShock. In the single-player campaign, players control the armored protagonist Subject Delta as he fights through Splicers—the psychotic human population of the city—using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game includes a story-driven multiplayer mode that takes place before the events of BioShock, during Rapture's civil war.
After the success of BioShock, 2K Games formed a new studio, 2K Marin, to create the sequel. 2K Australia, Arkane Studios, and Digital Extremes provided additional support. The developers focused on improving gameplay elements from the first game, and return to the Rapture setting to explore a new perspective of the city. The story received major changes throughout development. Garry Schyman, who composed BioShocks soundtrack, returned for the sequel; he expanded the game's sonic palette to include more blues and religious music to parallel its themes.
BioShock 2 received positive reviews, with praise directed at its narrative, themes, art style, characters, endings and gameplay. Criticisms included a slow start and failure to distinguish itself from its predecessor. The multiplayer mode was supported with downloadable content, and a single-player campaign expansion, Minerva's Den, released in August 2010. The game sold more than 3 million copies, but did not meet the publisher's sales expectations. While its review average was worse than BioShock, retrospectives have reevaluated BioShock 2 as a worthy entry, or even the best of the series. A remastered version was released as part of BioShock: The Collection for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Synopsis
Setting
BioShock 2 takes place in the city of Rapture, an underwater metropolis hidden from the world. Rapture was founded in the 1940s by billionaire Andrew Ryan to establish a city free from religious influences and government regulation. The city's citizens soon began "splicing"—genetically modifying themselves using ADAM, a substance derived from sea slugs. ADAM was used to create "plasmids" that enable superpowers, such the ability to create lightning or control fire. Class conflict and civil war were exacerbated by the side effects of ADAM abuse. Modified and conditioned children, called "Little Sisters", collected scarce ADAM from corpses and recycled it under the protection of armed and armored "Big Daddies". Rapture descended into civil war and becomes a crumbling dystopia populated by Splicers, the spliced remains of the citizenry. In the aftermath of Ryan's death during the first BioShock, the dissident collectivist Sofia Lamb and her followers, known as "the Rapture Family", assume control of the city.
Plot
BioShock 2 begins on New Year's Eve, 1958. Subject Delta, a Big Daddy, patrols Rapture with his Little Sister Eleanor. Sofia Lamb, Eleanor's mother, separates the pair and forces Delta to kill himself. Delta awakens in 1968, resurrected by a Little Sister under the direction of Eleanor. Delta is informed by Brigid Tenenbaum, the custodian of the rehabilitated Little Sisters, that because he has a physiological bond with Eleanor, he will die unless he finds her. Helped by Tenenbaum's ally Augustus Sinclair, Delta makes his way to Eleanor, who is trapped in Sofia Lamb's stronghold. Lamb plans to use ADAM to transfer the minds and memories of all of Rapture's inhabitants into Eleanor, to create a selfless leader. Traveling through the city, Delta encounters members of Lamb's Rapture Family and can choose whether to kill or spare them.
Delta arrives at the containment chamber where Eleanor is held, but Lamb captures him and severs his bond to Eleanor by temporarily stopping Eleanor's heart. Delta begins to weaken as the bond cannot be re-established. Eleanor transforms herself into a Big Sister to free Delta. Together they head for an escape pod Sinclair prepared to escape the city. They find that Lamb has converted Sinclair into a Big Daddy and are forced to kill him. Eleanor and Delta make it to the escape pod, but Delta is mortally wounded by a trap set by Lamb.