BioShock 2

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Return to Rapture inside the diving suit of a Big Daddy.

Platforms: PC, Xbox
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (89% of 14,997 reviews); Metacritic 88 (PC)
Players: 1 (story); the store also lists an online multiplayer mode
Made by: 2K Marin
Released: 2010

What frightens About ten years after the first game you return to Rapture, a drowned city under the Atlantic, as a Big Daddy. Its gene-twisted Splicers attack out of dark, dripping halls lit by flickering neon, and someone has been snatching little girls from the coast and bringing them down into the ruins.
Content: violence and blood, gore, children in danger (the little sisters).

BioShock 2 is the 2010 sequel to BioShock, set about ten years later in the ruined undersea city of Rapture. You play a Big Daddy, fighting gene-spliced Splicers with a drill, guns and plasmid powers while you chase an unseen enemy and look for answers in the drowned halls.

About BioShock 2

BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter from 2K Marin, published by 2K and released in February 2010, with work from 2K China, Digital Extremes and 2K Australia. It is set about ten years after the original BioShock in Rapture, the art deco city at the bottom of the Atlantic that fell apart after its people spliced their genes with ADAM.

This time you are not an outsider but one of Rapture's Big Daddies, the hulking figures in diving suits who guard the Little Sisters. A monster has been taking little girls from the Atlantic coast and bringing them back down to Rapture, and you travel through the decaying city chasing an unseen foe, in search of answers and your own survival.

You fight with a drill and heavy weapons and can use plasmids at the same time as a gun, so fire and electricity go with every rivet and bullet. The Splicers attack from dark, leaking corridors, candle-lit shrines and wrecked shops still glowing with neon, under banners promising that they will be reborn. The horror is in the setting and its people: a ruined dream, dripping water, and the cries of things that used to be human.

The Steam edition also includes The Protector Trials, combat challenges where you guard a Little Sister while she gathers ADAM, and an online multiplayer mode set during Rapture's civil war. If you played BioShock, this is the direct sequel in the same city; the first game casts you as a stranger in Rapture, the second as one of its monsters.

How to play BioShock 2

Get BioShock 2 on Steam for Windows or from the Xbox store.
Start the campaign and learn to fire a weapon in one hand and a plasmid in the other.
Explore Rapture's districts, searching for ammunition and supplies.
Fight the Splicers and other Big Daddies, and protect Little Sisters while they gather ADAM.
Spend ADAM on new plasmids and tonics, and follow the story deeper into the city.

Screenshots

BioShock 2 screenshot: the player's drill and rivet gun face a charging armoured enemy with a glowing red visor

BioShock 2 screenshot: a candle-lit shrine under a banner reading We Will Be Reborn, with She Is Our Salvation scrawled on the wall

BioShock 2 screenshot: the player shocks a Splicer with an electric plasmid while holding a gun in the other hand

BioShock 2 screenshot: a Big Daddy aims a rivet gun down a neon-lit street of ruined shops in Rapture

Tips

Combine plasmids with weapons: freeze or shock an enemy first, then follow up with the drill or a gun.
Search the rooms you pass; ammunition and supplies keep you going between fights.
Before letting a Little Sister gather ADAM, set up traps and spare ammunition around her; the Splicers come in waves.

Questions

Do you need to play BioShock before BioShock 2?

It helps. BioShock 2 is set in the same city about ten years later and continues its story, but it introduces its own characters and enemies.

Is BioShock 2 scary?

It is a shooter more than a survival horror game, but Rapture is a dark, decaying city full of deranged Splicers, and the setting is built to unsettle.

Is BioShock 2 on consoles?

The original BioShock 2 is sold on the Xbox store. BioShock 2 Remastered is a separate edition sold on other stores, including the Nintendo eShop for Switch and the Xbox store.

Does BioShock 2 have multiplayer?

Yes, the store lists an online multiplayer mode set during Rapture's civil war, separate from the single-player story.