Revisiting BioShock’s “Would You Kindly” Twist, 15 Years Later
When it was released in 2007, the original BioShock garnered huge critical acclaim for wrapping its otherwise run-of-the-mill shooter within an elaborate science fiction tale, while smartly weaving the zeitgeist of first-person shooters during that era: linearity. It was a monumental twist few could see coming: as you approach the antagonist and founder of the underwater city of Rapture, Andrew Ryan, he reveals that you’ve been well, a mind-controlled thrall to the game’s true villain, Frank Fontaine, all along—a slave to the post-hypnotic suggestion embedded in your head. All it takes to trigger this were the words “would you kindly”, and you can’t help but carry out the orders of whoever utters the damnable phrase. It is then that the game wrestles control away from you, as Ryan gives you an order you can’t reject: to kill him.
And then you bludgeoned him to death with a golf putter—the game’s first act of violence that wasn’t committed by the player’s hands, but by that of the game itself.
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Back then, this turn of events was deemed as a true display of narrative ingenuity. Weaved into the twist were layers of foreshadowing that the player, presumably, was unable to see coming. Your friend Atlas—the first, friendly voice you’ve heard since arriving at the homicidal city of Rapture—has been subtly manipulating you all along, under the guise of a helpful voice that, in most games, would usually serve as a brief introduction and tutorial to the game, while providing the player with a general sense of direction that they can follow. What makes this reveal so astounding is the dissonance that arose from it; more than just a narrative twist, this moment is a
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