Would You Kindly Bioshock

Me, an intellectual: 

(excepting the endboss from Bio 1 anyway. Though there is a strong argument there that you’re not fighting the man Fontaine, per se, but the personification of the city itself. Anyway…)

You spend the entire game hating them and everything they stand for, dreaming of the day where you finally get to silence their know-it-all voices for good. You spend hours looking forward to that moment. You imagine how wonderful it’s going to feel to finally nab these awful people. And finally, after hours of effort, hardship and near-death experiences, you’re standing at the miscreant’s door, all hyped up for the kill and…

…it feels terrible.

Andrew Ryan: nothing more than a sad, trapped man imprisoned in the grave of his greatest dream, who, in what was supposed to be your crowning moment of glory, instead commits suicide by your hand.

Sofia Lamb: the amount of sheer willpower she contains could fill the ocean, but she drowns as easily as anyone else, gasping for air as the woman you taught to act as such pulls her below the surface.

Zachary Comstock: Great, Booker. Just wonderful. In a fit of rage, you bashed in an old, sick man’s face on a porcelain basin. Don’t you feel proud of yourself now? Is this what you envisioned victory would look like?

For me, all of these bits are easily the most horrifying parts of the games. They’re these intense moments that rip back the veil on video game violence and show you the full horror of what you’ve been doing, of the terrible things you’ve been enjoying all this time.

Favorite Video Games: