Gamers have been enamored by the BioShock collection from the second they escaped a crashed plane, entered a mysterious lighthouse, and launched into their undersea voyage to the crumbling metropolis of Rapture. Typically referenced and paid tribute to, many think about Irrational Games’ immersive action-horror basic a masterpiece, and in the years following its debut, it blossomed right into a long-running franchise.
However in basic BioShock vogue, its sequels have been the furthest factor from conventional. As anticipated for a collection that hinges on otherworldly scientific discoveries and reality-tearing experiments, BioShock’s story often switches between alternate universes, leaving its video games out of chronological order.
So, for these in search of a linear means to play by means of BioShock’s full narrative, right here’s a fast runthrough of the BioShock collection in chronological order.
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How Many BioShock Games Are There?
In complete, there are four BioShock Games (three launched on house console and PC and one launched solely on PC by way of internet browser) and three expansions.
This record gained’t embrace remasters or ports, together with the BioShock Assortment, which bundled remasters of the full trilogy and its expansions. It additionally gained’t include problem map packs, comparable to Conflict in the Clouds or BioShock’s Problem Rooms DLC, as these are purely gameplay-focused and thus thought of non-canon.
Each BioShock Recreation in Chronological Order
These blurbs include gentle spoilers for every sport, together with characters, settings, and story beats.
1. BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution
Launching as a pre-order bonus for BioShock Infinite, BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution was a browser-based flash sport that acted as a prequel to Infinite’s story. Casting gamers as a employee finishing cog-based puzzles, Industrial Revolution allowed pre-ordering clients to unlock particular objects and upgrades that transferred to BioShock Infinite.
As gamers accomplished challenges, they discovered extra about the conflicts working by means of Infinite’s world, together with the battle between the Vox Populi and the Founders. They may even select which of the two teams to assist, unlocking totally different rewards consequently.
Be aware: The sport was shut down a decade in the past and is not accessible to play on-line.
2. BioShock Infinite
The third mainline BioShock sport, BioShock Infinite follows a Pinkerton detective named Booker Dewitt. Drowning in debt, Dewitt is tasked with a easy mission to wipe away what he owes: enterprise to the metropolis of Columbia and find a mysterious woman named Elizabeth.
Nonetheless, when Dewitt arrives in Columbia, issues are removed from easy. Columbia is a metropolis floating above the clouds and its residents have branded Booker a “False Shepherd”, rallying collectively to execute him. Issues get even stranger when Booker lastly locates and rescues Elizabeth, who reveals she will be able to open tears in actuality, permitting her to attain into different universes.
Teaming with Elizabeth to escape Columbia, gamers are taken on an journey by means of the flying metropolis, dealing with off in opposition to the locals, their towering mechanical safety bots, and Elizabeth’s relentless bodyguard, Songbird. Alongside the means, they will open rifts to different dimensions utilizing Elizabeth’s distinctive powers, using her items to scrounge up assets or enterprise into new realities altogether.
Learn our overview of Bioshock Infinite.
3. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Half 1
Set in the identical universe as BioShock and BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Half 1 is the first of two expansions for BioShock Infinite. The DLC follows an alternate-universe Booker Dewitt who acts as a personal detective in the metropolis of Rapture. Set earlier than Rapture’s downfall, the sport begins with Dewitt assembly Elizabeth, who duties him with helping her in rescuing a lacking woman named Sally.
Burial at Sea’s first half permits gamers to discover a completely operational Rapture set earlier than the occasions of the first sport. Alongside getting to see the metropolis because it as soon as was, the DLC consists of a number of returning faces from earlier Rapture adventures, together with Sander Cohen and Yi Suchong.
Learn our overview of Burial at Sea Episode 1.
4. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Half 2
Going down immediately after the occasions of Burial at Sea – Half 1, Burial at Sea – Half 2 switches management from Booker to Elizabeth. Waking up after the dramatic conclusion of the earlier enlargement, Elizabeth meets Atlas, who strikes a cope with her: He’ll let her and Sally reside if she may help him escape Fontaine’s Division Retailer and return to Rapture.
Taking up a brand new stealth-focused playstyle to match Elizabeth’s ability set, gamers discover Fontaine’s Division Retailer, making an attempt to determine how to return to Rapture and save Sally. Burial at Sea – Half 2 was Irrational Games’ and BioShock creator Ken Levine’s ultimate tackle the BioShock universe. It makes an attempt to wrap up a few of the franchise’s largest mysteries whereas immediately organising the occasions of the authentic sport.
Learn our overview of Burial at Sea Episode 2.
5. BioShock
The franchise’s debut entry, BioShock follows Jack, the sole survivor of a devastating aircraft crash. Escaping the wreckage of the accident, he finds refuge in a mysterious lighthouse, the place he discovers a submarine that transports him to the underwater metropolis of Rapture. Though the metropolis seems like a technological marvel from afar, Jack rapidly realizes it’s hardly the oceanic utopia it seems to be.
Envisioned as a neon-lit metropolis the place society’s best minds are allowed moral and inventive freedom with no governmental intervention, Rapture is a fallen wasteland by the time Jack arrives. The blood-drenched streets are patrolled by monstrous residents slaughtering one another in search of a genetic-splicing drug generally known as Adam, whereas the metropolis’s shadowy founder, Andrew Ryan, controls the ruins with an iron fist.
Teaming with a fellow survivor named Atlas, gamers are tasked with venturing by means of the metropolis, making an attempt to escape Rapture and return to the floor. Alongside the means, they acquire entry to plasmids, highly effective injections that unlock elemental powers. In the years following its launch, BioShock has grow to be a basic, with many concerning it as considered one of the finest video games of all time.
Learn our overview of Bioshock.
6. BioShock 2
A sequel to BioShock, BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin moderately than Irrational. Strapping gamers into the hulking swimsuit of a Large Daddy, BioShock 2 has gamers return to the submerged dystopia of Rapture eight years after the occasions of BioShock.
Taking management of a Large Daddy codenamed Topic Delta, the story follows the towering protagonist looking by means of the ruins of Rapture for a Little Sister he used to defend. Alongside the means, he’s pursued by Sofia Lamb, a scientist who’s crammed the energy vacuum left by the deaths of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan.
BioShock 2 was largely a continuation of the gameplay and themes of the first sport, albeit with a hefty arsenal of brutal Large Daddy weaponry and a brand new mechanic the place gamers defend Little Sisters whereas they scavenge Adam.
Learn our overview of Bioshock 2.
7. BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den
An enlargement for BioShock 2 that happens alongside the occasions of the principal marketing campaign, Minerva’s Den follows a second Large Daddy codenamed Topic Sigma. Tasked with monitoring down and accessing The Thinker – Rapture’s laptop mainframe – Sigma works alongside the creator of the system, Charles Milton Porter, to retrieve it.
Minerva’s Den provided a brief marketing campaign that fills in some essential Rapture lore and provides new gear, together with the Ion Laser and Gravity Nicely Plasmid. Minerva’s Den at the moment marks the finish of the BioShock timeline.
Learn our overview of Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den.
How to Play the BioShock Collection by Launch Date
- BioShock (2007)
- BioShock: Problem Rooms (2008)*
- BioShock 2 (2010)
- BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den (2010)
- BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution (2013)
- BioShock Infinite (2013)
- BioShock Infinite: Conflict in the Clouds (2013)*
- BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Half 1 (2013)
- BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Half 2 (2014)
*Non-canon
What’s Subsequent for BioShock?
Plans are already effectively underway for a significant BioShock return. After years of leaks and rumors, 2K formally introduced the collection was getting one other entry again in 2019, which we’re tentatively labeling Bioshock 4. Following the closure of Irrational Games, developer Cloud Chamber can be the brains behind the subsequent BioShock, though there’s little indication of how far alongside the reboot at the moment is.
Though we all know it is in the works, we’ve nonetheless but to see the sequel in motion or hear extra about the Cloud Chamber’s route for the collection. That’s not to say we’ve no info on the sequel although. For one, we all know Ghost of Tsushima author Liz Albl has taken up the function of narrative lead. The sport will seemingly additionally observe BioShock Infinite’s lead by choosing a contemporary setting, with job listings referencing the staff constructing a “new and fantastical world.”
A sequel is not the solely long-awaited BioShock product at the moment in manufacturing. Again in 2022, Netflix revealed it had greenlit a film adaptation of the authentic BioShock. Netflix later confirmed the movie can be directed by I Am Legend and Starvation Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes director Francis Lawrence, whereas the script is being dealt with by Michael Inexperienced, considered one of the writers behind Blade Runner 2049 and Logan.
BioShock creator Ken Levine’s subsequent mission, Judas, can be deep in improvement. From the early glimpse we noticed at The Recreation Awards in 2022, it appears akin to BioShock, from the dual-wielding fight to the high-concept sci-fi setting. If all goes to plan, it appears BioShock followers can be feasting on a banquet of twisted sci-fi goodness over the subsequent few years.
Callum Williams is a freelance media author with years of expertise as a sport critic, information reporter, guides author and options author.