BioShock™ 2 Remastered

This "remaster" glitchy as all get out. I've had 3 separate occasions where I've become stuck in the environment (not even due to trying to get to places off the beaten path) and several audio loops that lead to a crash. Diligent quicksaving somewhat helps, but at this point in time I just don't have the drive to replay 20-30 minute segments over again ad naseum. I don't seem to recall these issues being present in the original but that was several years ago when I played it on launch. Doubt there's any active development and that there will be any further patching. So, buyer beware, here be dragons that will nullify progress.

BioShock 2 Remastered is a stand-alone sequel where we play as Subject Delta, a Big Daddy bonded to Eleanor Lamb, the daughter of Rapture's new ruler Sofia Lamb. In this game we travel the ruined city of Rapture again in search of her, meeting friends and enemies along the way. Gameplay is mostly the same, its an FPS with powers. One notable difference is we can dual wield, weapon in one hand, Plasmid power in another. Since Big Daddies are like one of the most iconic characters in the franchise and even gaming in general, it's a nice change that we get to control one of these giants in diving suits. One thing that I find weird however is the fact that Delta seems to take more damage and deal less melee damage than Jack, the first game's protagonist despite him being only a human. But maybe it creates a better difficulty balance, and kinda makes fights more tense. Sadly, for mouse and keyboard players, this game has a pretty big disadvantage: the lack of weapon/Plasmid selection screen. That means you'll have to switch them in real-time, which may be difficult during fights. Luckily, using a controller allows this feature, but for people who aren't used to controllers in FPS games will have to adapt. It's also more unstable than the first game, I experienced quite some random crashes so don't forget to quicksave often. Other than the main story, there's also 2 extra content: Protector Trials and Minerva's Den. The first is a challenge room where you must protect your Little Sister, and the other is a story DLC where you play as Subject Sigma, tasked by genius Charles Milton Porter to retrieve his supercomputer's programming. If you like the BioShock franchise you definitely should play BioShock 2, and especially Minerva's Den which is considered one of their best. The difference between the remastered version and the original is very minor, only the removal of multiplayer and higher textures. Play either one, but I recommend the remaster slightly more.

Playing on W11 mid-low tier laptop, I played the original (which comes with this) not the remaster, on DX9 graphics settings, not a single crash. Ran perfect beginning to end and looked as lovely as a UE3 game could from that era. Onto the game itself. Without getting into the story, from a gameplay/design perspective this is one of the best Single-Player campaigns I've ever played. Every grievance and peeve I had with the first game was fixed and streamlined. (Hacking, fighting, getting new Plasmids- vastly improved over the first game) Furthermore the combat-sandbox is plain better, being able to have a beefy weapon in one hand and Plasmid powers in the other, allowing for actual build experimentations and re-playability. Simply great design. Without spoiling the story, even though it starts off very heavy-handed in the intro, if you play as a Savior, you'll be in for a very satisfying journey if you also go out of your way to find the logs to form a complete picture. The overall tone of the writing isn't as nasty as the first game- which I understand rubbed a lot of people the wrong way- it irritated me quite a few times too. The overall vibe, playing as a Big Daddy, its amazing. If there is one thing I'd criticize it'd be the enemy roster getting samey by the end of the game. Despite that, it was absolutely fantastic. Also the Minervas Den DLC is also an excellent trip, seriously recommend it!

Finally after some longer waiting, we can thank GOG for bringing the Bioshock Series here. Now we can finally enjoy playing it DRM Free and without the bad Steam DRM, that doesn't let you play if you don't have your account signed in and client installed. With the current PC Store Publishing War, GOG is IMHO the best place to buy your games if you don't want to lose them in the next 10 years. For the games itself (BioShock 1 and 2), you already know that they are masterpieces and one of the best games in the last decade. I really don't really need to explain that. Just add it to your collection and play it, if you haven't already.

Still crashes all the time and there is no way to fix this. The developers are unable to do make a working game and there are too chicken to speak about it. There is no help from the developers. Only answer is that the crashes are caused on too weak systems, but that is a lie. There will be no patch and no bugfix. No bugfix you can find on the internet is working and just a waste of time to try it. Save your money for games from other developers.