#DIABLO 4 RAPTURE SERIES#

In total, it all delivers a powerful sense of a successful city that has since gone to hell. The developers also use dead bodies in key locations, messages scrawled on the walls and various audio logs. Rapture is characterized by frequent use of glass structures, so the player is constantly reminded of its fantastical location, but its current status is shown via leaky ceilings and flooded areas.

#DIABLO 4 RAPTURE SERIES#

Rapture is just a series of corridors connected by larger rooms, but by being so creative with its setting, the illusion of a larger world is maintained.Įnvironmental storytelling is a large part of why it’s so successful. In interviews after release, they’ve said that they wanted to craft something which hinted at a wider world without having to construct one due to limitations of technology and budget.

What makes Rapture even more impressive is finding out why the developers came up with it. Being undersea was truly immersive, and a welcome distraction at a time when I needed one. Videogames let players experience situations they otherwise never would, and Rapture is a strong example of this as a city that has no real-world equivalent, but with enough grounding to ensure that it’s not too far removed from reality. Rapture inflicts a sense of wonder because it’s a fantastical setting that shows the power videogames have in transporting players to other worlds. In reality, day-to-day life is characterized by mundanity, particularly in the current context of a worldwide pandemic.

This underwater city remains a unique one in videogames, and during its first reveal in the campaign, my hair still stood on end despite knowing exactly what was coming.

However, one aspect that holds up is the setting of Rapture. I upgraded it in conjunction with the wrench, and the stun/wrench combo remained the most effective strategy throughout. For example, the player is given the Electro Bolt Plasmid early on, which is used to stun enemies. While there are different options like the various Plasmids or doing things like hacking turrets to fire on enemies, some of these are clearly more useful than others, and combat becomes a repetitive process. I like combat that feels weighty and impactful, and Bioshock is unimpressive here as the weapons feel light and lack power, and enemies don’t seem to react to gunshots. Unfortunately, this replay hasn’t changed my opinion of the combat - and if anything, it’s only worsened. After seeing the HD collection on sale, it was the ideal opportunity to jump back in. With Bioshock’s reputation only growing over the years, I’ve often thought about giving it a revisit, particularly since my views on the concept of player choice have dramatically changed over the years, and now have a preference for tighter narrative experiences that linear games can provide. This was probably why I didn’t completely understand the acclaim, and thought Bioshock was overrated.

In contrast, the constrictive and linear story of Bioshock felt like a step back.

I was seduced by the concept of choice, and this felt like the way forward for the medium. Here the player had the opportunity to shape the player’s character, Shepard, and the story as well. I loved the underwater setting of Rapture, and while I did appreciate the story on a basic level, I felt no emotional connection to it.Īround that time, I was more enthusiastic about the story of Mass Effect. Next to the shooting in something like Call of Duty 4, Bioshock felt floaty and the weapons lacked weight.

Spoiler warning: This article discusses key aspects of BioShock’s story and the infamous plot twist.īioshock is one of the most well-regarded games in the medium, but when I played it on the Xbox 360 many years ago, it didn’t grab me like others did.

Diablo 4 rapture