How to Play BioShock Games in Chronological Order? Navigating a universe-spanning trilogy timeline.
Players have been fascinated with the BioShock series from the moment they escaped a crashing plane, entered a mysterious lighthouse, and embarked on a submarine journey to the collapsing city of Rapture. Irrational Games' gripping action-horror classic was seen as a masterpiece by many and turned into a long-running series in the years following its debut.
But in classic BioShock fashion, the sequels were the furthest thing from convention. As expected from a series built on extraterrestrial scientific discoveries and reality-shattering experiments, BioShock's story frequently switches between alternate universes, knocking its games out of chronological order.
For those looking for a linear way to play through BioShock's entire narrative, here's How to Play BioShock Games in Chronological Order.
How Many BioShock Games Are There?
There are four BioShock Games in total (three released on home console and PC, and one released only on PC via web browser) and three expansion packs.
This list will not include remakes or ports, including BioShock Collection, which brings together remakes of the entire trilogy and its expansions. It will also not include challenge map packs like Clash in the Clouds or BioShock's Challenge Rooms DLC, as these are purely gameplay-driven and therefore considered non-canon.
All BioShock Games in Chronological Order
These trailers contain mild spoilers for each game, including characters, settings, and story sections.
BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution
Released as a pre-order bonus for BioShock Infinite, BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution was a browser-based flash game that acted as a prequel to Infinite's story. Putting players in the role of a worker completing wheel-based puzzles, Industrial Revolution allowed pre-order customers to unlock special items and upgrades that carried over to BioShock Infinite.
As players completed missions, they learned more about the ongoing conflicts in Infinite's world, including the war between the Vox Populi and the Founders. They could even unlock different rewards by choosing which of these two groups they would support.
Note: The game was shut down ten years ago and is no longer playable online.
BioShock Infinite
BioShock Infinite, the third main BioShock game, follows a Pinkerton detective named Booker Dewitt. Drowning in debt, Dewitt is tasked with a simple mission to wipe out his debt: go to the city of Columbia and find a mysterious girl named Elizabeth.
But when Dewitt arrives at Columbia, things are far from simple. Columbia is a city floating on the clouds, and its citizens have branded Booker the "False Shepherd" and banded together to execute him. Things get even stranger when Booker eventually finds and rescues Elizabeth, who reveals that she can rip holes in reality and reach other universes.
Teaming up with Elizabeth to escape Columbia, players embark on an adventure through the flying metropolis, facing the locals, their giant mechanical security bots, and Elizabeth's fierce bodyguard, Songbird. Along the way, they can use Elizabeth's unique powers to open portals to other dimensions, use her abilities to gather resources, or enter entirely new realities.
BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 1
Set in the same universe as BioShock and BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 1 is the first of two expansion packs prepared for BioShock Infinite. The DLC follows an alternate universe Booker Dewitt who works as a private investigator in the city of Rapture. Set before the fall of Rapture, the game begins with Dewitt meeting Elizabeth, who tasks him with helping her rescue a missing girl named Sally.
The first chapter of Burial at Sea allows players to explore a fully operational Rapture, set before the events of the first game. In addition to seeing the city as it once was, the DLC features several returning faces from previous Rapture adventures, including Sander Cohen and Yi Suchong.
BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 2
In Burial at Sea – Part 1, which takes place immediately after the events of Part 2, control passes from Booker to Elizabeth. Waking up after the dramatic ending of the previous expansion, Elizabeth meets Atlas, who makes a deal with her: he will let her live with Sally if she helps him escape Fontaine's Department Store and return to Rapture.
Adopting a new stealth-focused gameplay style that suits Elizabeth's abilities, players explore Fontaine's Store and try to figure out how to return to Rapture and save Sally. Burial at Sea – Part 2 was the last look at the BioShock universe from Irrational Games and BioShock creator Ken Levine. It attempts to wrap up some of the series' biggest mysteries while directly setting up the events of the original game.
BioShock
BioShock, the first game in the series, is about Jack, the only survivor of a devastating plane crash. Escaping from the wreckage of the crash, he takes shelter in a mysterious lighthouse, where he discovers a submarine that transports him to the underwater city of Rapture. Although the city looks like a technological marvel from afar, Jack soon realizes that it is not the oceanic utopia it seems.
Conceived as a neon-lit metropolis where society's greatest minds are allowed ethical and creative freedom without any government interference, Rapture is a devastated wasteland when Jack arrives. While the blood-soaked streets are patrolled by monster citizens slaughtering each other in search of the genetic cloning drug known as Adam, the city's shadowy founder, Andrew Ryan, controls the ruins with an iron fist.
Teaming up with a fellow survivor named Atlas, players are tasked with adventuring through the city, trying to escape Rapture and return to the surface. Along the way, they gain access to plasmids, powerful injections that unlock elemental powers. BioShock became a classic in the years following its release, with many considering it one of the best games of all time.
BioShock 2
BioShock 2, the sequel to BioShock, was developed by 2K Marin instead of Irrational. Putting players in the massive costume of a Big Daddy, BioShock 2 returns players to the sunken dystopia of Rapture eight years after the events of BioShock.
Taking control of a Big Daddy codenamed Subject Delta, the story follows the towering hero as he searches for the Little Sister he once protected among the ruins of Rapture. Along the way, he is pursued by Sofia Lamb, a scientist who fills the power vacuum left by the deaths of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan.
BioShock 2 was largely a continuation of the first game's gameplay and themes, but with a heavy arsenal of brutal Big Daddy weapons and a new mechanic where players defend the Little Sisters while clearing out Adam.
BioShock 2: Minerva's Den
An expansion pack for BioShock 2 that takes place alongside the events of the main campaign, Minerva's Den follows a second Big Daddy, codenamed Subject Sigma. Tasked with tracking down and accessing Rapture's computer mainframe, The Thinker, Sigma teams up with the system's creator, Charles Milton Porter, to retrieve it.
Minerva's Den introduced a short campaign that filled in some important Rapture lore and introduced new gear, including the Ion Laser and Gravity Well Plasmid. Minerva's Den currently marks the end of the BioShock timeline.
How to Play BioShock Series According to Release Date?
- BioShock (2007)
- BioShock: Challenge Rooms (2008)*
- BioShock 2 (2010)
- BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (2010)
- BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution (2013)
- BioShock Infinite (2013)
- BioShock Infinite: Clash in the Clouds (2013)*
- BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 1 (2013)
- BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 2 (2014)
What's Next for BioShock?
Plans for a major BioShock return have already begun. After years of leaks and rumors, 2K has officially announced that a new entry in the series will be released in 2019, which we're tentatively calling Bioshock 4. Following the closure of Irrational Games, developer Cloud Chamber will be the brains behind the next BioShock, but there is little indication of how far the reboot is currently progressing.
Although we know it's in development, we've yet to see the sequel in action or learn more about what direction Cloud Chamber will take the series. However, that doesn't mean we don't know anything about the sequel. First, we know that Ghost of Tsushima writer Liz Albl is taking on the role of narrative lead. The game also seems to follow in the footsteps of BioShock Infinite and create a new environment; Job postings mention that the team will build a "new and fantastic world."
A sequel isn't the only long-awaited BioShock product currently in development. Netflix announced that it had given the green light to a film adaptation of the original BioShock in 2022. Netflix later confirmed that the film would be directed by I Am Legend and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes director Francis Lawrence, with a script by Blade Runner 2049 and Logan co-writer Michael Green.
BioShock creator Ken Levine's next project, Judas, is also in development. According to the first look we saw at The Game Awards in 2022, it looks similar to BioShock, from the two-handed combat to the high-concept sci-fi setting. If all goes as planned, BioShock fans look set to be in for a treat of twisted sci-fi over the next few years.
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