BioShock is one of 🌸the only video game series that is filled with true wonder and mystery. Each installment has thrived on its ability to present extraordinary things with such nuanced and subdued storytelling. These games often let the atmosphere fill in the blanks in your mind as well as the amazing story and many audio diaries hidden throughout the game.
The first two BioShock games had enough audio diaries and solid world-building to give us players a somewhat firm grip of the game's setting: the underwater city of Rapture. We know its rise and fall, the doomed visionary that was Andrew Ryan, and its many twisted inhabitants. However, some players still felt that there is still some mystery left floating somewhere in its watery depths. BioShock Infinite confirmed this by flipping the series on its head in both literal and figurative ways. Not only did the setting change from underwater Rapture to flying Columbia, but it also presented an infinite amount of possibilities. Burial at Sea, Infinite’s downloadable contentౠ, presented an alternate version of Rapture that retained its mystery while also hiding many secrets ofꦬ its own.
While there are plenty of narrative secrets to sink your Big Daddy drill into, this list will also be covering easter eggs. While many of these hidden things relate to the world, others have served as hilarious references and generally awesome secrets waiting to be unraveled. Before reading about these eye-opening secrets, remember this cardinal quote from BioShock Infinite: “there is always a lighthouse, a man, and a city.” In our case, t🎃here is always a secret waiting to ♊be uncovered in this endlessly fascinating series. Beware of potential spoilers.
25 BioShock: Hꦿidden Message Found 10 Years After Release
This hidden message was finally uncovered in 2018, 10 years after BioShock’s release. As explained by a 4chan user, these are the instructions to trigger the message: “In BioShock 1, 𓆏go to the second half of Hephaestus where you first encounter Ryan in person.
“Turn on Art Captions and you’ll see a developer message about Paul Hellquist not doing his job.”
Use Incinerate to get you down to 1 HP, then use it a𝐆gain on the area where the cutscene triggers and walk into it. You’ll wind up in a Vita Chamber outside the map.”
24 ꦦ BioShock Infinite🐼: Hidden Music
Du💜ring some areas like The Fraternal Order, ambient noise can be heard. Normal, right? Well, some players inadvertently fo✨und a secret song once they sped up the audio/video considerably. Once the track is sped up by 800% to 1000%, singing and an acoustic guitar can be heard.
This was confirmed to be intentional by audio director Pat Balthrop.
Although not definite, the lyrics are generally regarded as “And time, time for me to drown, to live. Oh, finally time will catch up to me.” If you know the ending of Infinite, this secret should serve🌠 as a stupendous example of foreshadowing.
23 𝔍 BioShock 2: Plane Wreckage
During the opening level of the superb BioShock 2, a part of a familiar plane can be seen. The Apollo Air Flight DF-0301's tail can be seen in the open area of Adonis Luxury Resort. Considering the game is set 8 years after the original, the part of the aircraft can be seen rusty and stuck between some rocks. You can later hear splicers heralding the plane crash as a holy event. 🧸The secret is a nice little detail that many players (myself included) did not notice.
22 BioShock 2: ꦫPaintings Of BioShock Moments
There are more visual reminders of what transpired in the original game. Whil💝e in the area of Siren Valley, there are paintings near Sofia Lamb’s cathedral with familiar subjects. One of the paintings depicts the plane crash in all its fiery glory. Another is a twisted painting of mad doctor J.S. Steinman and his subjects on crosses. Finally, the weirdest painting is of the moment where Jack injects his first plasmid. These painting will send shivers down your spine because it is a reminder that everything you did in the first game was planned and observed.
21 BioShock Infinite:♓ Original Elizabeth Out🍸fit
In the early build, Elizabeth wore a corset with a well-rounded design except for one detail that garnered criticism: the chest. After the backlash against this outfit, it was scrapped for the game in favor of the iconic and appropriate outfit we know today. This version of Eliz♑abeth also boasts a more wild haircut.
The biggest change to Elizabeth, however, came when the developers decided not to make her mute.
In the final game, a much later scene shows E🔯lizabeth’s old outfit in all its gloဣry, when multiple versions of Elizabeth go after Booker during the end.
20 BioShock 2: Fa𒆙milꦬiar Wrenches
The events of the first game still haunt the next one in both big and small ways; the latter of which comes in the form of wrenches. In the original, protagonist Jack used wrenches as his main melee weapon. In both BioShock 2 and Infinite, we can see these tools scattered🀅 throughout areas.
The wrench is a reference to creator Ken Levine's first major project with Irrational Games.
In terms of design, they🍬 bear a close resemblance to the iconic weapon. Although they are purely aesthetic and not obtainable, their inclusion is a reminder of t🥃he first game’s legacy.
19 BioShock 2: A Cat Frozen I♛n Ice
In the Dionysus Park level, you will come across a frozen gallery. Here, you can find a cat frozen in💖 a block of ice. The name tag reveals the feline to be called “Schrödinger.”
Quantum Mechanics would play an integral part in BioShock Infinite.
The cat is a re𒁃ference to a thought experiment conducted by renowned physicist Edwin Schrödinger that proposed whether a cat would survive or perish to a 50/50 probability scenario. If you use an Incinerate plasmid, the cat can be seen still frozen but seemin♔gly neither alive nor perished.
18 BioShock 2: 'Unstable Telepജort Plasmid'
During the Fontaine Futuristics level, go to the marketing department to find a multi-colored tonic sitting on a desk. On🐲ce you press the use button, the tonic will teleport to another location. Once it is located and touched several more times, a short sequence will happen where the tonic will teleport the player to various rooms. You can then be treated to a few scenes involving the floating tonic chasing splicers. The last location shows the tonic on a pedestal with statues in worshipping positions. If touched one last time, the player will receive a Vending Expert 2 tonic.
17 BioShock Infinite: 💧The First Sighting Of The Lutec🗹e Twins
During the same chapter as above, the player will eventually make their way to a scene where Booker is given a telegram sent from the Lutece twins🧸. Shortly after, there is a telescope that can be used in the area. If the player is looking in the right space, they will spot the brother juggling and the sister watching while their signature theme song plays. Upon exiting the telescope, they will disappear. Many players 🦩must have felt much bemusement after seeing this eccentric pair for the first time (excluding the opening lighthouse scene).
16 ꦇ BioShock Infinite: Backwards Messages
In the fairgrounds, there is a scene where Booker gains his first vigor. After a sales🍬woman gives him one, Booker starts to feel enamored by the vigor’s effects and hallucinates some ineligible sounds a♌nd a female phantom.
Perhaps the use of this verse symbolizes the possession vigor’s effects, considering how Romeo and Juliet perish in the play.
The ineligible sound is actually a line b𓄧eing spoken from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. “Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall [perish], take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine...”