Players have been enamored by the BioShock collection from the second they escaped a crashed plane, entered a mysterious lighthouse, and launched into their undersea voyage to the crumbling metropolis of Rapture. Often referenced and paid tribute to, many think about Irrational Games’ immersive action-horror basic a masterpiece, and in the years following its debut, it blossomed right into a long-running franchise.

But in basic BioShock style, its sequels have been the furthest factor from conventional. As anticipated for a collection that hinges on otherworldly scientific discoveries and reality-tearing experiments, BioShock’s story continuously switches between alternate universes, leaving its video games out of chronological order.

So, for these searching for a linear manner to play by means of BioShock’s full narrative, right here’s a fast runthrough of the BioShock collection in chronological order.

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How Many BioShock Games Are There?

In whole, there are 4 BioShock Games (three launched on house console and PC and one launched completely on PC through net browser) and three expansions.

This listing gained’t embrace remasters or ports, together with the BioShock Collection, which bundled remasters of the full trilogy and its expansions. It additionally gained’t include problem map packs, reminiscent of Clash in the Clouds or BioShock’s Challenge Rooms DLC, as these are purely gameplay-focused and thus thought of non-canon.

Every BioShock Game in Chronological Order

These blurbs include gentle spoilers for every sport, together with characters, settings, and story beats.

1. BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution

Launching as a pre-order bonus for BioShock Infinite, BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution was a browser-based flash sport that acted as a prequel to Infinite’s story. Casting gamers as a employee finishing cog-based puzzles, Industrial Revolution allowed pre-ordering clients to unlock particular gadgets and upgrades that transferred to BioShock Infinite.

As gamers accomplished challenges, they discovered extra about the conflicts operating by means of Infinite’s world, together with the battle between the Vox Populi and the Founders. They may even select which of the two teams to help, unlocking totally different rewards because of this.

Note: The sport was shut down a decade in the past and is not obtainable to play on-line.

2. BioShock Infinite

The third mainline BioShock sport, BioShock Infinite follows a Pinkerton detective named Booker Dewitt. Drowning in debt, Dewitt is tasked with a easy mission to wipe away what he owes: enterprise to the metropolis of Columbia and find a mysterious woman named Elizabeth.

However, when Dewitt arrives in Columbia, issues are removed from easy. Columbia is a metropolis floating above the clouds and its residents have branded Booker a “False Shepherd”, rallying collectively to execute him. Things get even stranger when Booker lastly locates and rescues Elizabeth, who reveals she will be able to open tears in actuality, permitting her to attain into different universes.

Teaming with Elizabeth to escape Columbia, gamers are taken on an journey by means of the flying metropolis, dealing with off towards the locals, their towering mechanical safety bots, and Elizabeth’s relentless bodyguard, Songbird. Along the manner, they’ll open rifts to different dimensions utilizing Elizabeth’s distinctive powers, using her items to scrounge up assets or enterprise into new realities altogether.

Read our evaluate of Bioshock Infinite.

3. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 1

Set in the similar universe as BioShock and BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 1 is the first of two expansions for BioShock Infinite. The DLC follows an alternate-universe Booker Dewitt who acts as a personal detective in the metropolis of Rapture. Set earlier than Rapture’s downfall, the sport begins with Dewitt assembly Elizabeth, who duties him with aiding her in rescuing a lacking woman named Sally.

Burial at Sea’s first half permits gamers to discover a totally operational Rapture set earlier than the occasions of the first sport. Alongside getting to see the metropolis because it as soon as was, the DLC consists of a number of returning faces from earlier Rapture adventures, together with Sander Cohen and Yi Suchong.

Read our evaluate of Burial at Sea Episode 1.

4. BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Part 2

Taking place straight after the occasions of Burial at Sea – Part 1, Burial at Sea – Part 2 switches management from Booker to Elizabeth. Waking up after the dramatic conclusion of the earlier enlargement, Elizabeth meets Atlas, who strikes a take care of her: He’ll let her and Sally dwell if she can assist him escape Fontaine’s Department Store and return to Rapture.

Taking on a brand new stealth-focused playstyle to match Elizabeth’s ability set, gamers discover Fontaine’s Department Store, making an attempt to work out how to return to Rapture and save Sally. Burial at Sea – Part 2 was Irrational Games’ and BioShock creator Ken Levine’s ultimate tackle the BioShock universe. It makes an attempt to wrap up a few of the franchise’s greatest mysteries whereas straight organising the occasions of the unique sport.

Read our evaluate of Burial at Sea Episode 2.

5. BioShock

The franchise’s debut entry, BioShock follows Jack, the sole survivor of a devastating aircraft crash. Escaping the wreckage of the accident, he finds refuge in a mysterious lighthouse, the place he discovers a submarine that transports him to the underwater metropolis of Rapture. Although the metropolis appears to be like like a technological marvel from afar, Jack rapidly realizes it’s hardly the oceanic utopia it seems to be.

Envisioned as a neon-lit metropolis the place society’s biggest minds are allowed moral and artistic freedom with no governmental intervention, Rapture is a fallen wasteland by the time Jack arrives. The blood-drenched streets are patrolled by monstrous residents slaughtering one another in search of a genetic-splicing drug generally known as Adam, whereas the metropolis’s shadowy founder, Andrew Ryan, controls the ruins with an iron fist.

Teaming with a fellow survivor named Atlas, gamers are tasked with venturing by means of the metropolis, making an attempt to escape Rapture and return to the floor. Along the manner, they acquire entry to plasmids, highly effective injections that unlock elemental powers. In the years following its launch, BioShock has turn out to be a basic, with many relating to it as one in all the greatest video games of all time.

Read our evaluate of Bioshock.

6. BioShock 2

A sequel to BioShock, BioShock 2 was developed by 2K Marin fairly than Irrational. Strapping gamers into the hulking swimsuit of a Big Daddy, BioShock 2 has gamers return to the submerged dystopia of Rapture eight years after the occasions of BioShock.

Taking management of a Big Daddy codenamed Subject Delta, the story follows the towering protagonist looking out by means of the ruins of Rapture for a Little Sister he used to shield. Along the manner, he’s pursued by Sofia Lamb, a scientist who’s stuffed the energy vacuum left by the deaths of Frank Fontaine and Andrew Ryan.

BioShock 2 was largely a continuation of the gameplay and themes of the first sport, albeit with a hefty arsenal of brutal Big Daddy weaponry and a brand new mechanic the place gamers defend Little Sisters whereas they scavenge Adam.

Read our evaluate of Bioshock 2.

7. BioShock 2: Minerva’s Den

An enlargement for BioShock 2 that happens alongside the occasions of the fundamental marketing campaign, Minerva’s Den follows a second Big Daddy codenamed Subject Sigma. Tasked with monitoring down and accessing The Thinker – Rapture’s pc mainframe – Sigma works alongside the creator of the system, Charles Milton Porter, to retrieve it.

Minerva’s Den provided a brief marketing campaign that fills in some essential Rapture lore and affords new gear, together with the Ion Laser and Gravity Well Plasmid. Minerva’s Den presently marks the finish of the BioShock timeline.

Read our evaluate of Bioshock 2: Minerva’s Den.

How to Play the BioShock Series by 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)

*Non-canon

What’s Next for BioShock?

Plans are already nicely underway for a significant BioShock return. After years of leaks and rumors, 2K formally introduced the collection was getting one other entry again in 2019, which we’re tentatively labeling Bioshock 4. Following the closure of Irrational Games, developer Cloud Chamber will likely be the brains behind the subsequent BioShock, though there’s little indication of how far alongside the reboot presently is.

Although we all know it is in the works, we’ve nonetheless but to see the sequel in motion or hear extra about the Cloud Chamber’s path for the collection. That’s not to say we’ve got no data on the sequel although. For one, we all know Ghost of Tsushima author Liz Albl has taken up the function of narrative lead. The sport will seemingly additionally comply with BioShock Infinite’s lead by choosing a recent setting, with job listings referencing the group constructing a “new and fantastical world.”

A sequel is not the solely long-awaited BioShock product presently in manufacturing. Back in 2022, Netflix revealed it had greenlit a film adaptation of the unique BioShock. Netflix later confirmed the movie will likely be directed by I Am Legend and Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes director Francis Lawrence, whereas the script is being dealt with by Michael Green, one in all the writers behind Blade Runner 2049 and Logan.

BioShock creator Ken Levine’s subsequent challenge, Judas, can also be deep in improvement. From the early glimpse we noticed at The Game Awards in 2022, it appears akin to BioShock, from the dual-wielding fight to the high-concept sci-fi setting. If all goes to plan, it appears BioShock followers will likely be feasting on a banquet of twisted sci-fi goodness over the subsequent few years.

Callum Williams is a freelance media author with years of expertise as a sport critic, information reporter, guides author and options author.