Often crowned by many as one of gaming's best opening sequences, BioShock's Welcome to Rapture remains so relevant and thought-provoking that it still haunts us to this day. The game's combination of novelty, atmosphere, and impressive visuals (back in its heyday) made our first visit to Rapture an experience that will never be forgotten no matter how many other games establish their game worlds.
As a result, you just can't help but ponder on what you might have missed during one of BioShock's most intriguing moments. The brief and sometimes cryptic intro sequence for Rapture can hold plenty of meanings and hidden references that warrant several playthroughs or even case studies. So, in case you missed something in the rough-but-amazing Rapture welcoming committee, here are some reminders on why BioShock has the best intro ever.
10 Andrew Ryan Is a Word Play On Ayn Rand
What makes Andrew Ryan such an iconic villain? Well, for starters, he's a more violent and elitist version of a real-life intellectual figure named Ayn Rand. Ayn Rand is both a philosopher and an author who developed her own philosophical, economic, and political system called Objectivism.
It's a belief that basically implies that individuals should act in their own self-interest, independent from moral, religious, or communal constraints. Hence, Andrew Ryan being the more extreme fictionalization of Ayn Rand, is the perfect madman to run (or ruin) Rapture.
9 Rapture Is A Laissez-faire Libertarian Capitalist Society
Sure enough, Andrew Ryan embodies Objectivism not just in his words but also in Rapture's policies. The way he stated his disdain for socialism, democracy, or theocracy and followed his own ideals based on his elitism and economic genius is what governed Rapture.
Rapture is thus a breeding ground for ultra-capitalism where there are no limits, moral or structural, to what a businessman can do. The place's free-market setup means competition is what drives the populace where governments (if it even does exist in Rapture) cannot interfere with the private sector. In other words, Rapture is one big monopoly board, except it's underwater and more bloody.
8 Andrew Ryan Calls His Ideal The Great Chain
Just as Ayn Rand popularized Objectivist views to the world, so too did Andrew Ryan introduce his own philosophy that's akin to it in Rapture. He calls it The Great Chain and briefly explains it during the Bathysphere trip.
It's a metaphor for Rapture's structure where the free-market is represented by the Great Chain. Each individual or worker is a link to that chain. They can extend it but they can't sway it in another direction. Thus, the chain only leads to an endless cycle of impulses to produce, consume, and compete. All this is unregulated and free from intervention.
7 Anyone Can Become A Leader In Rapture
As expected, that form of social structure in Rapture leads only to chaos. With no government to set laws and limits, everyone in Rapture became free to do what they can to compete and those who are more fortunate or shrewd than others usually rose to the top.
One of them, Fontaine, did so and became powerful and influential enough to challenge Andrew Ryan. You can actually see some of Fontaine's brands. This was what led to Rapture's, well, rupture and civil war.
6 Rapture's Entrance Theme Is Beyond The Sea
As chaotic as it is in Rapture, it still has its charms. The neon lights befitting the 50s and 60s atmosphere is ever-present and serves to provide a tiny respite of comfort in the city's dark and foreboding corridors.
Even the entrance has a warm and relatable tune. It incorporates a song called Beyond the Sea (La Mer) which was first written and performed by French artist Charles Trenet before being slightly changed by American artist Jack Lawrence. In 1959, however, another American musician named Bobby Darin performed an English version and it has gone down as the most popular rendition of the song. Given the game's time period, which is the 1960s, the song's a piece of pretty accurate lobby music.
5 Rapture Is Around 2,000 Meters Deep
As soon as the game starts lowering the Bathysphere, you can get a rough idea of just how deep Rapture is below the ocean. There's a fathom meter to show just how biblical Rapture's depth is and how much of an achievement it is as a city.
However, that's quickly interrupted by Andrew Ryan's speech and introductory visuals. Players never get to know in-game just how far Rapture is from sunlight. The estimates come in at around 2,000 meters (about 6,562 feet), which is but a fraction of the deepest point on Earth (the Mariana Trench at about 10,984 meters or 36,037 ft) and is still within reasonable ocean depths.
4 Rapture Is Near Iceland
As for where Rapture is located on Earth precisely, the city is more or less 433 kilometers away from Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland. That's pretty far from the U.S., from where Andrew Ryan turned his back to have his own utopia.
That location also makes sense, as the opening of the game explicitly says that the airplane is flying above the Mid-Atlantic. Moreover, Rapture's location might also be a reference to the lost city of Atlantis, which is roughly in the same spot as far as legend goes.
3 The "Gift" From Mom & Dad Isn't From Them
One of the first few things the protagonist of the game did was to pick up a package or gift with a letter stating that it's from his parents. One shocking detail that first-time players wouldn't have noticed is how the gift card is worded, "Would you kindly not open..."
It's pretty clear by then that neither the box nor the letter came from the folks. There's a big chance the gift was wrapped and prepared by none other than Atlas or Frank Fontaine, who uses the phrase to activate the player's hypnotic disposition.
2 The Intro Is The Only Time The Protagonist Says Anything
The game's protagonist, Jack Wynand (based on his passport), was mostly a mute vessel from the player's perspective. He's typically at his most verbose during expressions of pain via grunts or bellows.
Still, he does talk, specifically in the opening sequence in the Trans-Atlantic plane flight. Sadly, this is the only time he talks or has anything to say, making him rather faceless and blank compared to BioShock Infinite's main hero.
1 The Protagonist's First Quote Had A Deeper Connection To Andrew Ryan
You have to give credit to Jack Wynand, though. Despite having only a few words for his dialogue, he made it count. Initially, his quote, "'Son, you're special, you were born to do great things.' You know what? They were right," seemed cryptic, but it says much about Jack's heritage.
This is because he's actually Andrew Ryan's illegitimate son. More than that, Jack went on to replace both Ryan and Fontaine as Rapture's de facto leader. So, he really did great things, even supposedly set the city straight... for a time.