Throw Me a Lifebuoy – Question of the Month – October Edition 2018

“A man chooses, a slave obeys – Andrew Ryan”

It’s the month of Halloween, so we MUST go ahead and talk about all the scares possible. Movies & Games we are going to watch/play while muchin’ on snacks as horror happens on our screens in various homes around the world.
Honestly I’m not one to celebrate Halloween, not something in my culture and it has never been very interesting but since it is once again time for another Question of the Month hosted by none other than our dear Kim from Later Levels.

Often these require us to give the best answer possible for any number of weird questions that other bloggers will be doing the honor of coming with for that one specific month. As said on the main post of this month’s QOTM, this time Megan from A Geeky Gal has chosen the question which I will try my best to give an answer to:

“In honour of Halloween, tell me what video game scared you the most. What is it about the elements, environments, music, or characters in the video game that scared you?”

If the title haven’t given it away, the video game I’m going to talk about is set at sea… well, more below the sea. See the ocean has already been very fascinating to me, but it also is one of the most terrifying places to be under as the deeper you delve into it, the more the darkness will consume you and only monsters will be found at the bottom of the sea.

That is why I’m going to talk about Bioshock, specifically the first game the trilogy. While the second and third (plus DLCs) were great. None of them holds a candle to the first and while not all questions can be answered to the fullest, I’ll tackle them all to the extend needed.

So join me, as we dive under the sea to visit Rapture one more time!

 

The Elements

Thing about the elements was mostly if I wanted to save a person or let them die in order to become more powerful. I’m talking about the little sisters of course. Not only were they terrifying to look at, they didn’t seem to be better after choosing option number one 1, though the story at the end becomes bittersweet.

ADAM – Anybody remember that? The very substance on which you stuck a needle into an arm and injected yourself with something that surely gave you powers but ultimately altered your body in ways that could look very horrifying when you begin to think about it. (Looking at the famous bee ability right now…brrr)

Felt very much with the many aspects that were put into the game as an omage to good old survival horror games.

The Environment

When it comes to the environment, Bioshock really nailed it when I played it for the first time and the second time…also the thirteenth time. You get the idea.
As you play through the game from a crashing airplane in the sea not far from a lighthouse, our decend into madness begins in the utopian city of Rapture.

Since we’re set in one of my favorite time periods (music wise mostly) of America. Everything that involves the story of Rapture is engaged by the player through audio tapes, so nothing terrified me more than realising that many of the enemies I was the destroying were once the very people I just listened to on the audio log that had been playing a few minutes before. The fact I got to know some of the residents by their thoughts only to meet them as a husk only after more ADAM and to stop anyone in their path, even myself…it was like my soul and heart sunk even deeper than before.

Not only that but there was the utopian city Rapture itself, from the moment I entered and until I got away, everything made it feel like I was suffocating inside a room and from there became more claustrophobic as more clues about how everything went from paradise to gehenna, from a utopia to a dystopia.

The Music

There isn’t much to say here, other than the appreciation of the atmosphere which kept me at the edge of my seat, trying to listen for any clues of enemies that could spawn behind you as a certain doctor in the game did once. An eerie feeling was always present.

The Characters

I already talked a little about the Little Sisters, they are mostly terrifying in their design, voice and behaviour where ADAM is to be taken with a needle.

‘Member Big Daddy? I ‘member. They were quite big and very angry if you ever touch a single hair on a Little Sister. One other thing that made them even more terrifying was the fact they are human experiments done on residents from Rapture, they are like machines when up against them thanks to a series of plasmids stripping them of their humanity and free will.

 

 

Sander Cohen was not only insane but an artist. As a result of Rapture’s civil war and the chaotic months that followed, it becomes known when you have met him and listen to the audio recordings that Cohen grew extremely paranoid and violently insane. All the way to the point that the splicers (former residents of Rapture) under his domination are often the subject of Cohen’s newfound sadistic enjoyment in the death and suffering of others, now seeing violence as an art form…What a horrid person he became in the end.

 

 

 

 

Andrew Ryan was a magnificent person in the game, he was the founder of Rapture and really had a different objective look on things. It was only his death that had me sitting in my chair feeling helpless with no way out.

There is this one scene is not only horrifying but also one of the most memorable parts that had me scared about my inability to choose my own action against so kindly words:

 

 

There is my answer, often it is required to only go by with about 100 words but it’s always nice when you can talk about these things in what could be a full post length of itself.
Don’t forget to go by the main hub post and see what all the other participants have come up with. I for one, are really liking the various answers they have pulled forth.

 

Featured image is done by Shaurden on DeviantArt!

 

What did you like or was scared by in Bioshock? Let me know down in the comments below.
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Stay Cozy and have a nice day!