I got BioShock Remastered during the holiday sales for $5, which is a fair price. $20 is way overpriced! Back in 2007, it was a trendsetting game with awesome graphics, surround sound and a story worthy of a movie. Now, a decade later, with improved graphics and playing it in UW-UHD (3440x1440), it can still stand up to the competition. In many review I read that the game crashes a lot, but I only had one crash on eight hours of playing.
And now, on to BS 2, which I also got for $5 :)
The game will start but then crash after the cinematic completes at the beginning. Sometimes it will start and run but crash while saving. Other times it will just randomly crash. I went to the Gog support page and tried all the things listed there for solving issues. I also tried suggestions listed in the forums. No luck. I see that some people have had success with it on Windows 10 but I don't want to reinstall an older version of Windows just to run the game. I like the game. I played it when released. However, it simply isn't working for me in it's current state on Windows 11.
Although ostensibly a first-person shooter BioShock is better understood as a narrative with shooting elements. The majority of the game is spent navigating the lushly decorated and labyrinthine underwater city of Rapture with its beautiful modified Gilded-Age aesthetic while the story is explained through found audio reels (a method much since abused). Hostiles can be avoided but are easily dealt with using a combination of exotic firearms and Plasmids, injections that bestow near-magical powers. Plasmids also offer a variety of ways of dealing with obstacles so you can play your way. There are choices to be made during the game which impact both the ending and in-game rewards. The game moves at a good pace, offering new and interesting places at a regular clip and interesting characters, although the end boss fight does feel trite. The remaster has improved models, better lighting, and high-resolution textures; it won’t be mistaken for a modern release but it still excellently portrays a vivid, interesting world that benefits from exploring and multiple replays.
More than half the time you save the game it will crash. Not only will it crash... it deletes ALL your save files within the save folder. So, the next time you start the game you will not see any of your save files.
I looked online for solutions but they don't work, seems like it happens on Steam as well and the solutions are meant for that platform.
I really tried to enjoy the game but this bug prevents you from progressing and enjoying it.
Get the original (non-remastered). It crashes less, and your save files won't be deleted randomly. Though I should mention that changing the resolution and trying to use a controller will bug out sometimes and it takes a lot of patience and configuration to get those working.
To keep it simple: The game is as beautiful if not prettier than the original. However, it is filled with bugs and errors that are never going to be fixed anymore. I personally wanted to replay the whole series and thought doing so with the remastered version would be a great idea: it offers increased FOV, crisper and cleaner textures and doesn't struggle with animations not tied to fps etc.
But then, there were the bugs, especially the one that made me stop playing and uninstalling the remaster. There is a chance that the game might crash the moment you save your game. I read online that people therefor recommend using at least 2 different save files, meaning you should always save twice. Why is that important? Because if the game crashes while saving, your file is corrupted and won't show up the next time you re-launch the main menu.
Even using 2 save files might not do it for you, depending on how often that bug occurs. I personally don't want to think about my safe files possibly corrupted all the time. The only saving grace and the reason I leave it at 2 stars is that you're getting classic Bioshock as well with this one. If it is on sale, buy the remaster and play the original. I did and it still runs great, for me personally on Linux and Proton GE 9-4. Textures are less polished but still look great imo and the smaller FOV actually increases the immersion and makes the gameplay more intimate.
Still, if you're planning to get it for the remaster, especially on full price: don't.
