less of a sequel and more of the second side of a double-album. continues down many of the same paths as side 1 but quickly descends into murkier, uglier, dirtier territory. like, literally. i think there's twice as many corpses, graffiti and trash/debris scattered across Rapture this game. and Rapture - or the fallen remnants of what was Rapture - are like catnip to me. playing this a few weeks after 1 and i felt like i was home.
random note:
- i guess i find collectivism and sofia lamb more fascinating than andrew ryan and the objectivism stuff from 1, even though i am still sure this game has a very rudimentary of those concepts as i do (i say this because bioshock loves giving the villains ideologies and making the player character a voiceless, thoughtless, strictly laborious tool which makes the game's politics feel more theoretical and idealistic, like the game writers arrived at their point before working on the game and thus everything feels pre-determined and less shaped by reality. the feeling is like you're being giving a long lecture and when you want to come in with your rebuttal the credits roll).
- i like that you play as a literal big daddy. it's the third game, infinite, that often comes up in conversation of dad games, but 2 clearly beat it to the punch. i kind of like eleanor more than elizabeth. i like the part of the game where you see the world through her little sister'd out mind. i like the concept of the big sisters, a concept that feels like it could be better explored (maybe they were in infinite and i blocked it out). i am not sure what this game wants to say about fatherhood other than reinforcing the idea of father's as "protectors" but i do like that the ending is determined by eleanor reacting to your choices (which is very "i learned it from you!" but i like how that could be thrown in your face if you're a dickhead dad).
- parts of this game felt very SOMA.
- game has great water.
- i still think this series is potentially unmatched today re: art direction.
- this made me like 1 less (at first i thought maybe i liked 2 more but it's more than 2 makes 1 seem redundant).
random note:
- i guess i find collectivism and sofia lamb more fascinating than andrew ryan and the objectivism stuff from 1, even though i am still sure this game has a very rudimentary of those concepts as i do (i say this because bioshock loves giving the villains ideologies and making the player character a voiceless, thoughtless, strictly laborious tool which makes the game's politics feel more theoretical and idealistic, like the game writers arrived at their point before working on the game and thus everything feels pre-determined and less shaped by reality. the feeling is like you're being giving a long lecture and when you want to come in with your rebuttal the credits roll).
- i like that you play as a literal big daddy. it's the third game, infinite, that often comes up in conversation of dad games, but 2 clearly beat it to the punch. i kind of like eleanor more than elizabeth. i like the part of the game where you see the world through her little sister'd out mind. i like the concept of the big sisters, a concept that feels like it could be better explored (maybe they were in infinite and i blocked it out). i am not sure what this game wants to say about fatherhood other than reinforcing the idea of father's as "protectors" but i do like that the ending is determined by eleanor reacting to your choices (which is very "i learned it from you!" but i like how that could be thrown in your face if you're a dickhead dad).
- parts of this game felt very SOMA.
- game has great water.
- i still think this series is potentially unmatched today re: art direction.
- this made me like 1 less (at first i thought maybe i liked 2 more but it's more than 2 makes 1 seem redundant).