Irrational deliver a masterpiece in which underwater Rapture says more than a thousand speeches. Big Daddys still chill the spine, the story interrogates free will, and every corner of the fallen city tells a real objectivist tragedy.
Your verdict
Category
First-Person Shooter1 player18+
Description
First-person shooter by Irrational Games and 2K Games, August 2007. Jack survives a plane crash and discovers Rapture, a degenerated utopian underwater megacity populated by ADAM mutants. Plasmid supernatural power use combined with conventional weapons, world rich in audio lore and dystopian story about objectivism and free will. One of the most influential games of its generation.
BioShock review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
An Art Deco underwater city gnawed by water and madness: Rapture unfurls a sumptuous decay, between faded neon and fallen splendour. The stylistic coherence and oppressive atmosphere compose an unforgettable world. This art direction, dense and inspired, stands as an absolute benchmark of the auteur game.
Signed by Garry Schyman, the music weaves dissonant, harrowing strings, mixed with the licensed 1940s songs that haunt the underwater city of Rapture. This chilling contrast between nostalgia and terror embraces the decadent atmosphere of the game. This unique soundscape, of rare intelligence, remains inseparable from its universe.
Washed up in an underwater city given over to the madness of a libertarian dream, a man discovers the underside of a utopia turned nightmare. The tale questions free will and ideology up to a twist that became legendary. A political critique disguised as an FPS, its writing proved that the genre could think as much as it shoots.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Combining genetic powers with firearms to trap, electrocute or incinerate your enemies opens up a deliciously free range of approaches. Exploring Rapture, dense and harrowing, rewards curiosity in every corner. While the gunfights sometimes lack precision, the ingenuity of the plasmids and the unique atmosphere still hit the mark, controller in hand.
North American (NTSC-U) edition of BioShock, an Irrational Games immersive shooter lauded for its underwater city of Rapture, its atmosphere and its take on free will, one of its generation's most striking games. Very widespread in North America, its collector interest is modest, its desirability resting on its critical stature rather than scarcity. An emblematic but accessible piece for a console set.
A cult cover
The massive silhouette of the Big Daddy, riveted diving suit and glowing porthole, looms in the damp darkness of Rapture. The metallic coldness and the murky reflections convey the dread of the fallen undersea city. Unsettling and fascinating, it promises an Art Deco world as beautiful as it is disturbing.
A questionable morality
Exploring a ruined undersea city isn't enough to survive: you also decide the fate of the Little Sisters, small girls brimming with a precious substance you can either rescue or squeeze like fruit for extra power. The game poses the question with a mock-philosophical air, and you choose between morality and efficiency, discovering yourself more calculating than you'd have guessed.
Is BioShock still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2007 on Xbox 360, Irrational Games' BioShock remains one of gaming's great narrative shocks. The underwater city of Rapture, the ruin of a collapsed objectivist utopia, stays a peak of art direction and environmental storytelling. The blend of shooting, genetic powers and moral choices feeds gameplay that still satisfies, and the plot twist has kept all its force. The fights have aged a little against current standards. But the atmosphere and the themes remain unrivalled. For anyone who loves a shooter that thinks, this classic stays absolutely essential today.
