Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2

This cowboy epic is some of the best storytelling to come out of games in recent memory. Red Dead Redemption 2 is hailed as one of the best games of the last generation, and through the Series X hardware, boasts some technical improvements including faster loading times.

In Red Dead Redemption 2, you follow the story of Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang. As the age of cowboys and the Wild West decline, Arthur must come to terms with where he's at in the world. The game explores themes such as mortality, friendship, and loyalty. It's a must play title for any gamer.

The first Red Dead Redemption on Xbox 360 is also playable on Series X|S through backwards compatibility as well! It's also important to note that Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel to the first game, despite having the number 2 in the title.

Are there any other RPGs you think should be included in this list? Be sure to let us know in the comments below!

Dead Space 1, 2, and 3

One of the most iconic horror franchises of all time, all three Dead Space games can be played on Xbox Series X|S through backwards compatibility. Not many other games match Dead Space's incredibly creepy atmosphere, frightening enemies, and fascinating lore.

As Isaac, you explore the futuristic 23rd century when Earth's natural resources have mostly dried up. When scientists discover an alien artifact called the Marker, they think that it could sustain Earth with unlimited energy. But little do they know, something more sinister is afoot.

The Dead Space series is absolutely fantastic, and it's a shame that there aren't any signs of a new entry coming at all. However, the three games are available to play and are regularly on sale for cheap.

BioShock: The Collection

Three fantastic games in one package, BioShock: The Collection offers some great first-person shooter combat with fantastic narratives to boot. BioShock 1 and 2 take place in the underwater city of Rapture, while BioShock Infinite's setting in the floating city of Columbia.

You can enjoy the BioShock series either through the remastered collection mentioned above, or if you have the original copies on Xbox 360, they are also playable on Xbox Series X|S through backwards compatibility.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition

This is one of the best open world games of all time, and it's basically on every modern platform available. As the Dragonborn, you are on your quest to destroy Alduin The World Eater. You can customize your own character and explore Skyrim. Enhance your skills, engage in combat, and take on quests throughout the world. Truly, the world is at your fingertips here.

In the off chance you haven't played Skyrim yet, it is available on Xbox Game Pass. Or maybe you want to go back to playing this game again. It's really that good.

Code Vein

This game is aptly described as "anime Dark Souls" and it's easy to see why. Code Vein's gameplay is inspired by it, and it's gritty atmosphere certainly reminds someone of the Dark Souls series.

However, it definitely has some things that make it stand out. Firstly, it has it's own anime aesthetic, complete with a more vampiric inspiration rather than a gothic look. Secondly, it's storytelling is much more in line with a typical JRPG, with exposition everywhere. Whereas in Dark Souls, the storytelling is much more environmental.

Either way, if you like anime and Dark Souls, give this a shot. Given that both categories have fans with specific tastes, Code Vein may not resonate with everyone, but with it recently being added to Game Pass, there's no harm in checking it out.

Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3

This is one of the best trilogies of all time. Spanning three games, Mass Effect provides an epic space-faring adventure to take down the Reapers, an ancient alien race that's bent on destroying all life in the universe.

As Commander Shepard, you'll recruit many different characters throughout the three games, and you'll come to love each and every one of them. Even starting from the first game, the choices you make have ramifications on playthroughs of Mass Effect 2 and 3.

The game has been approved through each subsequent title, and the cast of characters remain solid throughout. Luckily, all three titles are playable via backwards compatibility on modern Xbox consoles. Additionally, a remaster of the trilogy, called Mass Effect Legendary Edition, is scheduled to release in 2021. 

If you don't want to wait, the trilogy was also made available to Xbox Game Pass subscribers recently through Microsoft's partnership with EA Play. 

Blue Dragon

This is another one of Xbox 360's JRPG exclusives. Blue Dragon's art style is very reminiscent of Dragon Quest's, and offers similar turn-based gameplay. 

Blue Dragon follows Shu and his friends, Jiro, Kluke, Zola, and Marumaro. With the evil ruler Nene watching over the Gran Kingdom, it's up to Shu and his comrades to find a way to take him down.

Like Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon is another great Japanese title that deserves another chance. Fans and newcomers can still enjoy the game on modern Xbox consoles through its fantastic backwards compatibility function.

Halo 5: Guardians and Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Can Xbox's most iconic franchise be considered an RPG? Well, you certainly play the role of Master Chief, as he goes around shooting aliens. Spanning multiple entries, Halo is the definitive franchise that people think of when they think of Xbox, so it'd be remiss not to include it on this list.

Halo is a pioneer of first person-shooter gunplay on consoles, and it's memorable stories, characters, and multiplayer make it one of the most recognizable franchises in gaming history.

While Halo 5's story got a mixed reception, its multiplayer is still incredibly fun. If you're itching for the classic Halo games, they're available through Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The first four games, in addition to Reach and ODST, are included in this single package. Overall, there are seven incredible Halo titles available on Xbox Game Pass while we wait for the release of Halo Infinite in 2021.

Lost Odyssey

Speaking of JRPGs, the Xbox 360 had several exclusive ones, including the excellent Lost Odyssey. This turn-based game follows Kaim as he navigates the world going through a magical industrial revolution. There are several nations at war with each other, and Kaim's journey will have him crossing paths with many different characters that join him.

Lost Odyssey has been loved by many fans. While it looks like we won't be seeing a sequel to this game any time soon, it is playable on modern Xbox consoles through backwards compatibility.

Control

Remedy's latest game is a mindbending, gravity-defying adventure. Take control of Jesse Faden as she explores the Oldest House in search of her brother and uncover its dark secrets within. Filled with paranormal creatures called the Hiss, Jesse must face them while using her abnormal powers such as telekinesis and levitation.

Control is certainly an interesting premise, and it's third-person combat is definitely fun as you go around picking up objects to throw at enemies. The lore is fascinating as well as you learn more about the Oldest House.

The regular version of Control is available on Xbox Game Pass. There are also two DLC story expansions: The Foundation and AWE. If you end up enjoying Control, definitely consider purchasing the extra content!

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

One of the studios that Microsoft purchased back in 2018 was Ninja Theory, the team behind Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice. The narrative revolves around Senua, and delves into themes like psychological horror and is a metaphor of psychosis. While the combat isn't anything to write home about, the dread filled atmosphere really sells the game.

And yes, you're seeing a PlayStation trailer on an Xbox article! This is most likely the first, last, and only time players will see Senua on a PlayStation platform.

Microsoft announced a sequel, Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, back in 2019 for Xbox Series X|S. You can play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on Xbox Game Pass while waiting for the future sequel!

Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition

Let's be honest, Xbox hasn't really been known for Japanese games. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't any on the platform. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition is one of the very few titles in the Tales series that is available on Xbox. You play as Yuri Lowell, who ventures out in the world of Terca Lumireis as he explores the world, gains new companions, and eventually saves the planet.

Tales of Vesperia was actually an Xbox 360 exclusive in the west back in 2008. An updated version of the game was released, but never made its way outside of Japan until it was ported to modern consoles in 2019.

This is a classic JRPG through and through. With its exciting real-time combat and fun cast of characters, Vesperia is a grand adventure. It's also available on Xbox Game Pass!

Gears 5

The latest entry in the fantastic Gears series, Gears 5 made some fresh changes to the formula by adding open world sections, as well as providing us with a new perspective and story focusing on Kat Diaz. The game is a complete package: smooth third person shooting gameplay, a fantastic narrative-driven campaign, and robust multiplayer modes.

Now, Gears 5 has received some additional single-player story content in the form of Hivebusters. The new Xbox hardware also boosts the game's framerates and visuals, and Hivebusters is a great way to get back into the title. As with all of Microsoft's first party titles, Gears 5 is available on Game Pass.

Fallout 3 & 4

Speaking of Bethesda, another one of its iconic franchises is Fallout. In Fallout 4, explore Boston, Massachusetts in a post-apocalyptic setting called "The Commonwealth", set 10 years after the events of Fallout 3.

You play as the "Sole Survivor" who has been frozen and asleep in Vault 111. You search for missing son after seeing your spouse killed, and The Commonwealth has many places for you to explore and quests to take on. You can manage settlements and craft items to help you along your journey.

Fallout 4 was available on Game Pass in the past, but has since left the subscription service. Hopefully, along with 2016's DOOM, Fallout 4 could also be added back sometime in the future. Fallout 3 is backwards compatible with modern Xbox consoles, so that's a great title to play as well.

DOOM Eternal/DOOM (2016)

Microsoft dropped the incredible news earlier this year that it would be acquiring Zenimax Media, which also includes developer Bethesda. The studio's biggest release this year, Doom Eternal, also launched on Xbox Game Pass only several months later.

Undoubtedly one of the most ambitious games of 2020, the sequel to 2016's DOOM is one hell of a time. Play as the Doomslayer as he rips through demonic hordes of enemies.

While the 2016 game left the Xbox Game Pass service a while ago, hopefully the new acquisition means that it could come back sometime in the future. If you've already played it, now is a great time to try it out on Microsoft's game subscription service.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has made Xbox the best place to play in terms of backwards compatibility. During the middle of last generation, Xbox put more effort into that initiative, allowing us to play new games while also being able to enjoy old favorites without always having to bring out an older console. Thus, many classic Xbox 360 and even original Xbox titles are playable on the new Xbox Series X|S.

Many of these games include RPGs, and with Microsoft's other programs such as Xbox Game Pass, you can enjoy many of them for a low monthly price. This is by no means a complete list, but these are 15 great RPGs you can play on Xbox.

The flying city of Columbia has plenty of secrets to uncover if you're delving into Bioshock The Collection's PS4, Xbox One, or Steam editions. With all of the extra content pre-installed, the Collection features even more goodies to discover than in the original version of Infinite — like golden guns! Here, we're going to talk about how to find them and how to get rid of them. 

Golden Gun Locations

There is no Bioshock Infinite golden pistol location or golden machine gun location to find. The skins appear automatically when you first get the starter guns towards the beginning of the story. 

If, for some reason, you don't see the golden gun skins when equipped, just restart and play through the lighthouse segment until you get the shield. At that point, your golden machine gun should be active, as the DLC included in the Collection forces them to activate.

They won't appear gold when lying on the ground or equipped by enemies. The Bioshock Infinite golden gun upgrade only applies when Booker has the pistol or machine gun equipped in his hands.

How to Turn off the Bioshock Infinite Golden Guns

While the automatic golden gun upgrade gives you a slight damage boost over the original versions, plenty of players don't actually like the look of the gold skin, as it clashes with some of the environments.

Wondering how to get rid of golden guns entirely? Unfortunately, they are automatically included in the season pass. Since Bioshock The Collection includes all the season pass DLC, it means you can't turn off the golden guns. 

The only way to get rid of the skins is to play the base game without the season pass, which isn't possible with the version in the Collection.

If the Bioshock golden guns bother you enough, the only real option is to switch to a different weapon that doesn't have the DLC gold plating. Just swap out to the carbine or shotgun, which frankly are better weapons for most of Bioshock Infinite anyway.

    The Infinite gold plated pistol

Need help with Bioshock Infinite Burial At Sea or any other part of the Collection? Drop us a comment if you're having trouble with any particular level, and then check out the rest of our Bioshock guides for all three games:

• All Bioshock 2 Door Codes
• Little Sisters: Rescue or Harvest?
• Bioshock Chomper's Dental Key location guide
• How to Switch Plasmids in Bioshock
  
• Spoiler-free starting tips for first time Bioshock players

Bioshock 2 door codes can be a pain in the butt. Whether you're looking for the Clinic code, or the codes for Siren Alley and Fontaine Futuristics, it's better to have a walkthrough at hand than find the keypad combos yourself. Here, we give power to the people playing the remastered version included with the Bioshock Collection. 

As expected, there are quite a few vexing doors with hard-to-find codes. Many of these guard extra rewards that help on higher difficulties and new game plus. Some stand in the way of finishing the story, and if you're a completionist, others hide audio diaries that add to the game's ending, good or bad. 

Luckily, we've rounded up all of the codes in one place so you won't get stuck anywhere. 

Bioshock 2 Door Codes (Including Minerva's Den)

These are the codes for all of Bioshock 2 and the Minverva's Den DLC. We've also included the items and loot you'll get for unlocking the doors. 

Luckily, none of the doors hide Plasmids, so you could get through the Bioshock 2 only opening the doors blocking story progression. 

Are you playing through the rest of the Bioshock Collection games? Drop us a comment if you need help, and then check out the rest of our Bioshock guides for all three games if you're stuck anywhere:

• Little Sisters: Rescue or Harvest?
• Bioshock Chomper's Dental Key location guide
• How to Switch Plasmids in Bioshock
• Get (or Get Rid of) Infinte's Golden Guns
• Common fixes for problems with The Bioshock Collection
• Spoiler-free starting tips for first time Bioshock players

While exploring the underwater city of Rapture, Bioshock hits players with a recurring moral choice: should they harvest Little Sisters for extra ADAM, or do the right thing and rescue them instead? 

This is more than just a question of right and wrong. Because your playthrough can change radically depending on which option you choose it's important to choose wisely.

If you're having trouble deciding, we've broken down all of the possible rewards related to rescuing or harvesting every Little Sister found in Bioshock.

Rewards For Rescuing or Harvesting Little Sisters

Twenty-four Little Sisters can be found in Bioshock, and each can be rescued or harvested after defeating the Big Daddy that protects them.

Here's the basic breakdown you need to keep in mind when making your decision:

• Harvesting = 160 ADAM
• Rescuing = 80 ADAM

While harvesting seems to be the obvious way to go, there's a twist. Brigid Tenenbaum offers you a teddy bear gift of 200 ADAM — as well as goodies like ammo, health, tonics, and even plasmids — for every three Little Sisters you rescue.

Some of those gifts can be extremely useful when battling Splicers and other Big Daddies. That's especially true on the game's harder difficulty settings. You'll even need certain Plasmids to get into certain locations, such as Chompers Dental or to find all of Bioshock's audio diaries. 

Here's a breakdown of each gift you get for rescuing three Little Sisters, including the area in which you need to save them. 

• Neptune's Bounty: Hypnotize Big Daddy Plasmid, 12 armor-piercing pistol rounds
• Arcadia: Safecracker tonic, 12 electric buck
• Fort Frolic: Hypnotize Big Daddy 2 Plasmid, 4 first-aid kits
• Hephaestus: 4 EVE hypos, 6 proximity mines
• Olympus Heights: Armored Shell 2 tonic, 12 incendiary bolts
• Apollo Square: Prolific Inventor tonic, 150 liquid nitrogen
• Point Prometheus: 100 antipersonnel auto rounds, 4 first-aid kits

Even with the extra 200 ADAM gift every three saves, you still get more overall ADAM by harvesting each Little Sister. Here's the total ADAM breakdown if you exclusively harvest or rescue Little Sisters throughout the entire game:

• Harvesting = 3840 ADAM
• Rescuing = 3520 ADAM 

Should I Harvest or Rescue Little Sisters?

The bottom line is that harvesting more than one Little Sister during the course of Bioshock's story lets you upgrade all your plasmids much more quickly, but it also results in getting one of the two possible "bad" endings.

Saving all the Little Sisters (or all but one of the Little Sisters, as you can still harvest one without consequence) results in getting the "good" ending but with slower advancement. By the end of the game, you will still be able to afford nearly all of the upgrades, however, and you get all those nifty extra goodies.

There is one instance where rescuing can be better from a gameplay perspective, and that's playing through on Survivor mode.

In particular, the Hypnotize Big Daddy plasmid and Armored Shell 2 tonics are crucial to survival in that most difficult setting. If you want the hardest experience, we recommend going the rescue route, even if you have a walkthrough or have experience with other games in the genre. 

       When playing Survival mode, you absolutely want Hypnotize Big Daddy

Whether you're playing the vanilla game or the remastered version on PS4, Xbox One, or PC, you now know whether you should rescue or harvest Little Sisters. Which route are you going to take on your next Bioshock playthrough?

Be sure to leave us a message if you need help with any other part of exploring Rapture (under the sea), or you can check out our full list of Bioshock guides here:

• Bioshock Chomper's Dental Key location guide
• How to Switch Plasmids in Bioshock
• How to Get the Golden Guns in Infinite
• All of Bioshock 2's Door Codes
• Common fixes for problems with The Bioshock Collection
• Spoiler-free starting tips for first time Bioshock players

Bioshock has a few vexing areas, but one of the first you'll come across is Chompers Dental. To get through the area, you'll need the Chompers Dental Key. Luckily, we know just where to find it. 

When trying to access the area's Door Control you'll get the following message: "You Need The Chompers Dental Office Key." Normally finding a key wouldn't be a big deal, but there's a catch: the key is actually in the same room that you need the key to enter!

In any normal first-person shooter, that might be the end of the line. But with the right Plasmid equipped, you can actually get the key without ever entering the office.

Where to Find the Chompers Dental Key in Bioshock

      Chomper's Dental Office Key Location

Use the telekinesis to pick up the key and pull it directly to you through the broken window to the left of the main door.

If you can't see the Chompers Dental key at first due to the shading and low light, just stand still for a second and it will flash white as a quest item.

It is possible to accidentally drop the key while using telekinesis, and it may land in an area outside your line of sight (one you can't reach). Bungling the telekinesis pull effectively means you can never get into the Chomper's Dental and find all the loot inside. Unfortunately, there are no cheats to get it back. 

If you do get inside Chomper's Dental, there are three separate rooms: a reception area, a supply room for storage, and a back operating room. After you get through the locked door, make sure to grab the EVE Hypo under the counter, the Electric Shotgun Buck on the desk in the middle room, and the Antipersonnel Auto Rounds located on the floor and in the cabinet.

In the backroom, don't forget to crack open the safe to find these items as well:

• Auto Rounds
• Armor-Piercing Pistol Rounds
• First Aid Kits

How to Get the Telekinesis Plasmid in Bioshock

The Telekinesis Plasmid is actually quite close to Chomper's Dental and only takes a few minutes to pick up.

Head to the Medical Pavilion and look for Dandy Dental in the Dental Services area. Then find the Gatherer’s Garden with the green floor.

Press the switch on the podium to turn on the makeshift ball launcher, then look to the right to find the telekinesis plasmid. Once you've got it equipped, just head back to Chomper's Dental and grab the key through the broken window.

      Where to find the Telekinesis Plasmid in Bioshock

That's all you need to know about the Chompers Dental Key location in Bioshock. Even though getting inside isn't necessary, grabbing the loot in Chompers Dental will go a long way to helping you defeat Rapture's Splicers and Big Daddies. 

Need help with any other part of the original Bioshock, either because you're replaying the vanilla version or The Bioshock Collection on PS Plus (or Xbox One or PC)? Be sure to leave us a comment if you are stuck anywhere and need a solution, or you can check out our full list of Bioshock guides here for a quick list of helpful starting tips:

• Common fixes for problems with The Bioshock Collection
• Spoiler-free starting tips for first time Bioshock players
• How to Switch Plasmids in Bioshock
• Every Keypad Code in Bioshock 2
• Golden Gun Location in Bioshock Infinite

As you play Bioshock, you'll find powerful upgrades called Plasmids. All of these powerful abilities grant you some type of combat advantage. Some are offensive while others are defensive. However, you can't switch Plasmids through a menu or on the fly. You have to scour Rapture for specific vending machines first.

As you slice through splicers and security drones, you'll pick up more Plasmids than you can equip at any given time. You'll use them for combat, but also for accessing certain areas, or for finding a Little Sister or the game's audio diaries.

Some locked doors can only be opened with a shot from Electro Bolt. Other times, a Plasmid like Hypnotize Big Daddy or Security Bullseye will get you past a particularly tough section.

Here's what you need to know about equipping Plasmids whether you're playing on PC, PS4, or Xbox One.

Switching Plasmids in BioShock

To switch the Plasmids that Jack has equipped, you'll need to find a Gene-Bank machine. Gene-Banks look a lot like most of the other vending machines you'll find throughout BioShock. However, Gene Banks feature a blond, muscled man holding up a strand of DNA over his head.

They look like this:

There are several Gene-Banks located throughout Rapture. Almost any time you encounter a group of vending machines you'll find one. The first one most players encounter is in the Neptune's Bounty area.

To switch Plasmids, simply approach the Gene Bank and interact with it. From the menu, select up to two Plasmids and which hand you'd like to equip them to. Once you've got your loadout picked, simply back out and relish in your new power!

As you move further into BioShock, you'll also be able to upgrade your character and Plasmids, including the ability to have more than two equipped at once. These upgrades are purchased with ADAM, the currency you obtain from saving or harvesting Little Sisters.

You purchase these upgrades at the Gatherer's Garden areas scattered throughout Rapture. Conveniently, Gene Banks and Gatherer's Gardens are usually within close proximity to one another.

Bioshock Plasmid List

Here's a list of all of the Plasmids in Bioshock, along with their effects, where you can find them, and how much ADAM they cost. 

Cyclone Trap

This Plasmid creates a small cyclone as a trap, throwing enemies around an area. It can first be found in Arcadia for 60 ADAM. 

Electro Bolt

This Plasmid uses electricity to shock enemies and open certain locked doors. It can be found in the Welcome to Rapture area for free. It is the first Plasmid you receive. 

Enrage

Like crowd-control abilities in other games, this Plasmid makes affected enemies attack other enemies. It can first be found in the Medical Pavilion for 60 ADAM.

Hypnotize Big Daddy

This Plasmid causes Big Daddies to protect the player. It can first be acquired after saving three Little Sisters and speaking with Brigid Tenenbaum. 

Incinerate! 

This Plasmid does what it sounds like: it damages Splicers and other enemies over time with fire. It can be found in the Eternal Flame Crematorium. This is the second Plasmid you get. 

Insect Swarm

This is also pretty on-the-nose and uses a swarm of insects to attack enemies. It can first be found in the Silverwing Apiary for 60 ADAM. 

Security Bullseye

This Plasmid makes security drones attack enemies. It can first be found in Neptune's Bounty for free, but it costs 60 ADAM otherwise. 

Sonic Boom

This Plasmid uses supercharged air to knockback enemies. It can first be found in Neptune's Bounty and Farmer's Market for 40 ADAM. 

Target Dummy

This Plasmid creates holograms of the player to distract enemies. It can first be found in Neptune's Bounty. 

Telekinesis

This lets players grab and throw objects. It can be found in Dandy Dental. It's good for lobbing projectiles back at Nitro Splicers or Houdini Splicers. It can also pick up Big Daddy corpses. 

Winter Blast

This Plasmid freezes targets for a short time. It can first be found in Neptune's Bounty for 60 ADAM. 

Little Sister Antidote

This does what it says and lets players rescue Little Sisters from Big Daddies. It is given by Brigid Tenenbaum. 

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That's all you need to know on how to switch Plasmids in Bioshock. For more, including whether or not you should rescue Little Sisters, be sure to check out our other Bioshock guides. 

• Common fixes for problems with The Bioshock Collection
• Spoiler-free starting tips for first time Bioshock players
• How to Find the Location of Chomper's Dental Key
• How to Find and Get Rid of Infinite's Golden Guns
• Bioshock 2 Keycodes for Every Locked Door

An entire Bioshock Infinite walkthrough would show you the locations for all of the game's keys, many of which open chests with special items (Luckily, none of the Infinite's vigors are locked away). But this one will show you where to use the first key, which is located near the Lansdowne Residence.

Often, both keys and chests are hidden in different locations, which makes them hard to find. That goes doubly for this one. 

Where is the First Key in Bioshock Infinite?

The key is in the Fraternal Order of the Raven. Here's how to get there:

1. Take the transportation capsule to the Comstock Center
2. Follow the story until you get branded as the False Shepherd
3. Take the alternative route to the Lansdowne Residence
4. Use the freight hook to jump onto the balcony of the next building
5. Enter the Montgomery Residence from the balcony
6. Exit the Montgomery Residence through the back door
7. Enter the courtyard of the Fraternal Order of the Raven.

Don't rush into the building, but be careful, as there are a lot of enemies inside, some of them Crow, which teleport around the area. Others are normal enemies such as Founder's Police.

You'll pick up the Murder of Crows vigor before entering the area, so that will help you deal with them one by one. After the short battle, take the key from the main altar in the central hall.

Where to Use the First Key in Bioshock Infinite

When you have the key, return to the Lansdowne Residence. 

1. Enter the Montgomery Residence through the back door.
2. Leave the residence through the balcony.
3. Use the freight hook to reach the Lansdowne Residence right across.

Inside the residence, enter the bedroom with an open door and a chest. Open it with a key and take an infusion, a life potion, and a mana potion. While it might not be a boon on normal difficulty, this chest is a huge help in 1999 mode.

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That's it on how to find the first key and where to use it in Bioshock Infinite. Grabbing it will help you get through the earliest portions of Columbia and, hopefully, progress through the story just a bit faster. For more on Bioshock Infinite, Booker, and the game's ending, be sure to check out our review of the first-person shooter from 2K and Kevin Levine. 

It's almost February, which means it's just about time for the latest round of PS Plus free games. From February 4 through March 2, Sony's offering three free games for PS Plus members to download: BioShock: The Collection, The Sims 4, and Firewall Zero Hour, the last of which is a PlayStation VR title.

As usual, these free PS Plus games stay on your system after the month they're made available, until your PS Plus subscription ends.

BioShock: The Collection

BioShock: The Collection includes all single-player BioShock games and DLC in one convenient package. Or, if you want it listed out, it includes:

• BioShock
• BioShock 2
• BioShock Infinite
• The Columbia's Finest pack, among others

They're all remastered in 1080p and all very good indeed, so getting them for free like this is quite a value.

The Sims 4

The Sims 4 has everything you love about The Sims, adds extensive interaction and building options, then cranks everything up to 100. It's a wild game that's sure to take over your life for a long time.

Note that this is just the base Sims 4 game and doesn't include last year's big Island Living expansion. Still, there's enough content in just the base game, and what better way to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary than playing it for free?

Firewall Zero Hour

Firewall Zero Hour is a PSVR exclusive title that's also getting some content expansions in February. Convenient the base game's free now, eh?

Anyway, it's a 4v4 tactical shooter that tasks you with obtaining or protecting secret and highly sensitive information. Obviously, these intense battles are designed to be multiplayer, so you'll want to hop online with some friends to get started.

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Again, these will be available starting February 5, so you've still got a bit more time to download January's free PS Plus titles. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more PS Plus news as it bounces our way.

It's been almost four years since 2K's BioShock: The Collection launched on all modern platforms — except Nintendo's Wii U, of course. Now, though, a new rating from the Taiwanese ratings board suggests it might be heading to a Nintendo platform after all: the Nintendo Switch.

The ratings board provides a ratings description for BioShock: The Collection on Nintendo Switch, as well as separate ratings for each game included in the collection. International ratings are much more reliable than retail listings when it comes to predicting new releases and launches, as we discussed just recently with the Tales of Arise rating in South Korea.

Whether this means a Nintendo Direct announcing BioShock: The Collection is imminent or not is another matter, but we're guessing per usual, one will be announced in the next month or so.

BioShock: The Collection includes all three BioShock games plus all single-player DLC. For those who like lists, that means it includes:

• BioShock
• BioShock 2
• BioShock Infinite
• The Columbia's Finest pack, among others

And it's all remastered from the original PlayStation 3 release. Stay tuned to GameSkinny for more BioShock and Switch news as it develops.

I cannot express enough how excited I am to talk to you about today’s subject. First off, we are talking about BioShock. I have never been a fan of first person shooters. I thought DOOM, the original, was good, but I knew from that point on that these kinds of games would never be for me. That’s why the Call of Duty and Battlefield series never really intrigued me. I wasn’t even really interested in the Battlefront series, even though I am a huge Star Wars fan and those are good games. No, really, I didn’t want anything to do with them until a friend practically begged me to play BioShock. It really changed the genre for me and apparently for a lot of people.

BioShock proved that you could tell an interesting and impactful story within the mechanics of a first-person shooter. Although there are some choices in the story, I wouldn’t call it a choose-my-adventure type, like BioWare games. But what I found most intriguing about the story was that it didn’t matter if there were actual choices or not, I was still compelled to finish just to see what happened. I guess what I’m saying is that you should play it if you haven’t.

If you haven’t played it yet, I’m not going to spoil anything today, but I’d like to talk about one of the major components to the main character Jack. They are called Plasmids. Essentially, these stimulants give Jack special abilities that humans really wouldn’t have naturally. However, you might be surprised to learn that it’s not the far-fetched science fiction you might think. Let’s take a moment to science the shit out of BioShock’s Plasmids.

ADAM

Let’s first talk about the in-game science behind plasmids and how they work. I should note that this is in-game science, not real life science. It uses elements that don’t exist in the natural world, but there could be re-world corollaries, which I will get into later.

Plasmids are made from a substance called ADAM. This is a genetic modifying substance from a sea slug. The story of Rapture, an underwater city, revolves around the creation, use, and abuse of ADAM. Rapture was intended to be a utopia hidden away from the troubled surface world. However, as you find out rather quickly, it didn’t work out that way. The city is crawling with zombie like people who have clearly lost their minds. It makes for a very frightening setting.

ADAM itself modifies people at the genetic level. The lore of the game states that ingesting or in some fashion injecting the bioluminescent fluid from the ADAM slug will cause a person to regenerate or otherwise heal themselves. It’s said that the substance was first discovered after a dock worker regained use of his hand years after a crippling injury.

Reproducing ADAM

Of course, after that, the demand for ADAM rose higher. It appeared to heal any and all injuries and diseases, but there were side effects, mainly a physical addiction to the drug. A person taking ADAM would need a constant supply of the drug in order to remain healthy and sane. Spoiler alert: that’s where the zombies came from.

The truly nefarious side of ADAM comes from how it’s produced. In order to keep up with the demands of populace of Rapture, the slugs had to be mass produced. This could only be done with a human host, a young girl, to be specific. A girl, about the age 5 to 8, ingested the slug which formed a symbiotic relationship with the host. While the slug is in the girl, ADAM is regurgitated by her and used to produce Plasmids and other genetic modifying products. Yeah, it’s gross on multiple levels.

Plasmids, which are the next step in the genetic modifying drug, don’t just heal people, but also give them special abilities like throwing fire or electricity. I could probably do a whole article on each of the different plasmids and how they do what they do, but tackling the idea of genetic enhancement should be the first stop of this tour.

Cas9 and CRISPR

In what might look like fringe science sits a Cas9, or as they are appropriately called sometimes: Cas9 plasmids. This injection will literally change the genetic code of cells through a genetic editing process that I’ve mentioned before called CRISPR.

To give you an oversimplified version of how Cas9 and CRISPR work I would like to tell you about bacteriophages. This is a virus that infects and replicates itself inside a bacteria. Skipping over the complicated explanation of the process, phages inject their genetic code into the host bacteria and simply take it over, causing the bacteria to change on a genetic level so that the virus can survive and reproduce.

Few bacteria survive this, but when they do they produce a strand of DNA called CRISPR that matches the virus DNA. The protein called Cas9 then examines the DNA of the bacteria and when it finds a match to the infected DNA, it cuts it out and replaces it with the correct DNA. This system is very precise, and to top it all off, it’s programmable. All that has to be done is find the sequence to remove and know the sequence it should be replaced with.

Now we get into the fringe science arena, if somehow we knew the genetic sequence that caused an electric eel to produce it’s shocking properties, it wouldn’t be outside the possibilities of science to give those properties to humans. We aren’t there yet, but maybe someday in the next 50 years we will be.

Circling back to BioShock, if our ADAM sea slugs naturally formed Cas9 plasmids by feeding off or forming a symbiotic relationship with the little girls, then we aren’t too far from the science fiction of BioShock becoming reality.

That’s how I science the shit out of BioShock’s plasmids, but it’s not just one person’s research that keeps science going. It should be tested and retested. What are your thoughts? Let me know in the comments.

Remember the last article I wrote about glitches in Bioshock: The Collection for PS4? After dealing with the freezing issues in the first game, I finally made it to Bioshock 2, only to end up with a very bad glitch that as of yet has no official fix.

I encountered this glitch in the Siren Alley area of Bioshock 2, although I've read that users on Reddit have encountered it as early as the beginning of the game. It happens when you go to save the game, and when you attempt to save your progress you'll get a pop-up saying "There is not enough space in Application Saved Data. Please delete save files to free up more space."

Regardless of the amount of saved files you already have, this pop-up will prevent you from saving progress. I discovered you cannot overwrite older saved files either, as the pop-up still came up when I tried to overwrite an older file to conserve space, thinking that might work. 

Deleting saved data in the "Bioshock" folder of Application Saved Data on System Storage may or may not fix the glitch. I also tried deleting saved data from other games to free up space on my hard-drive, that did not work either. If this does or does not work for you, or occurs on platforms other than PS4, please let me know in the comments below. 

With the recent release of BioShock the Collection, many long-time fans are eager to dive back into this chilling series, but some players’ return to Rapture and Columbia haven’t been smooth sailing. As with many games lately, this remaster collection is buggy. Players on PC have been running into several irritating bugs, such as the game not saving their difficulty settings, and mouse issues to name a few.

But, have no fear! Many Reddit users have started to post and compile fixes for the peskier problems. Here is a list of a few to help you out:

Difficulty and Gameplay Settings Resetting

Several players have reported that their settings reset back to Medium difficulty, Adaptive Training ON, and Disable Vita-Chambers Off once they exit the game. This could potentially make it impossible to earn the Survivor Achievement on the Steam version of the game. Luckily, Reddit user Help_An_Irishman posted a fix for this bug.

>Find your Bioshock.ini (typically in C:\Users[YOUR NAME]\AppData\Roaming\BioshockHD\Bioshock) and make a copy, then open it in a text editor.

>Under [ShockGame.ShockUserSettings], find and edit the following lines accordingly:

>GameDifficulty=GD_EXTREME

>AdaptiveTraining=False

>NoVitaChamber=True

>Save the file, then right click on it, click Properties, and tick the box that says Read-only. Apply.

/u/Help_An_Irishman also states that, “You have to start a game with your preferred settings, make sure things are the way you want them in the Options menus, then save, quit, and make the .ini Read-only.”

Mouse Sensitivity

Go to these folders and find these .inis

>C:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\BioShockRemastered\Build\Final

>DefUser.ini

and

>C:\Users\ "YOURUSERNAME" \AppData\Roaming\BioshockHD\Bioshock

>User.ini

Find

>"IF_MOUSE_LOOK_ENABLED Axis aMouseX Speed=2500.0"

>"IF_MOUSE_LOOK_ENABLED Axis aMouseY Speed=2500.0"

To change the sensitivity, the speed must be changed in both .ini files.

Mouse Acceleration and smoothing

Go to this folder and open this .ini

>/AppData/BioshockHD/

>Bioshock.ini

Find

>ReduceMouseLag

>DoubleBufferMouseLag

set both to false.

Now, In the same folder. Open:

>user.ini

Find the section [Engine.PlayerInput] and add these, directly below it:

>MouseSmoothingMode=0

>MouseAccelThreshold=0

FOV

Go to the folder and open the .ini

>C:\Users\ "YOURUSERNAME" \AppData\Roaming\BioshockHD\Bioshock

>User.ini

Find the section for the Fkeys (f11 or 12) and input: SetFOV xx

so for example: F11=SetFOV 100

Advanced Graphic Settings

Reddit user Araneatrox compiled a list of graphic settings many players have wanted to change. These files can be found in the BioShock.ini file. In order to find the settings you wish to change in this list, search the list (CTRL+F).

>/AppData/BioshockHD/

>Bioshock.ini

[Engine.RenderConfig]

HDRSceneExpBias=-3

MaxSkeletalProjectorsPerActor=6

OffsetSkeletalProjectorRearFrustrumPlane=10.000000

UseSoftwareAntiAliasing=True

EdgeDetectCutoff=0.002000

EdgeBlurSize=0.500000

StreamingVisibleWeight=10.000000

StreamingDiffuseWeight=4.000000

StreamingBSPWeight=1.000000

StreamingEmissiveWeight=7.000000

StreamingLightmapWeight=5.000000

StreamingNormalmapWeight=1.000000

StreamingDynamicLoadedWeight=10.000000

StreamingDistanceScale=1000.000000

HighDetailShaders=True

Shadows=True

RealTimeReflection=True

PostProcessing=True

HardwareOcclusion=True

UseRippleSystem=True

UseHighDetailSoftParticles=False

UseSpecCubeMap=True

UseDistortion=True

HorizontalFOVLock=True;

HorizontalFOVLockPS4=True;

HorizontalFOVLockXB1=True;

LevelOfAnisotropy=4

RenderDetail=3

UseMultithreadedRendering=0

UseVSync=1

UseFxaa=1

ForceGlobalLighting=False

CascadingWaterSimulationVelocity=10.000000

UseHighDetailPostProcEffects=True

UseMultithreading=True

DisableExtraAntiPortalClip=True

TextureDetail=High

FluidSurfaceDetail=High

DynamicShadowDetail=Medium

Enable 5.1 sound and EAX

By /u/punkonjunk

To Enable 5.1 and EAX do the following:

Find and Open

> C:\Users[your use name]\AppData\Roaming\BioshockHD\Bioshock\ > Bioshock.ini

Ctrl+F to search for : SpeakerMode=

change to: SpeakerMode=SM_5_1

Directly Below : SpeakerModeValue=5 [ optional ]

Thanks to all the people that posted their fixes on Reddit. Hopefully, this list will aid in your adventure through Rapture and Columbia. If I missed a fix you think would be helpful, kindly comment down below. 

With the release of Bioshock: The Collection for the PS4 and Xbox One,  2K is offering its PC players the remastered editions of Bioshock and Bioshock 2 for free! This is provided they  have already downloaded the games prior to September 13. Bioshock Infinite, however, is not receiving the upgrade because the console version is exactly the same as the PC version. The are a few ways to acquire the game based upon how each copy was purchased. 

Method 1

This is the easiest way to get the remastered games for free. If you have downloaded Bioshock, Bioshock 2, and Bioshock 2: Minerva's Den on Steam, the remastered versions will be available as a second game and ready to be installed whenever you please. 

Method 2

Getting your games like this proves to be a little more difficult. If you purchased a physical copy of the game, you must have the CD and a working Steam account in order to get the remastered editions for free. The 2K blog post states that players must provide proof that they purchased the physical game in addition to handing over Steam profile information to 2K Support. Additional Information will be needed to submit a ticket. 

Acquiring a copy for Bioshock 2 might prove to be a tad more tedious. Customers will need to find the Games for Windows Live key that came with either the physical or digital copies of the games, which they will need for downloading the remastered versions on Steam. 2K has provided step-by-step instructions here in addition to frequently asked questions players might have before contacting support. 

Specs 

Although the games might be free, the toll on your computer's hardware might not be. Make sure to check below to see whether or not your PC can handle the remastered versions of Bioshock and Bioshock 2.

Bioshock

Bioshock 2

If you are a stranger to the Bioshock series, make sure to check out our (spoiler free) guide to get your sea legs! With the release of Bioshock: The Collection, an influx of new players will need as much help as they can get finding their bearings amidst an ocean of veteran players. 

 Have any of these methods worked for you? Having trouble getting your free copies? Let me know down in the comments!

BioShock: the Collection was finally released earlier this week, and a lot of people are asking the same question: is it worth buying? In order to give people a bit of a better idea on what to expect from the new remastered versions of these three classic games, we've put together a graphical comparison of the original BioShock against the new release.

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on the PC version of BioShock: The Collection. While most points discussed can be applied the same tot he console versions, there are some issues present in the PC version that are not necessarily reflected on consoles.    

How about those graphics then?

Initially the graphical improvements in BioShock Remastered didn't really impress me. For the first ten minutes or so, everything just seemed a touch shinier, with most textures improved or up-scaled, which while a marked improvement, isn't anything too mind-blowing by remaster standards.

This all changed as soon as I encountered the first splicer. The room in which he is fought is the first room where the player encounters a Gatherer's Garden Machine -- and as a seasoned veteran to the first BioShock, it is very familiar to me. But even I was noticing new details in the room that I had never noticed before  The lighting in many areas, while still dark and beneficial to the game's intended atmosphere, has been improved, allowing the game better visibility overall. Backed up additionally by new HD images for all items, weapons, and Plasmids in the various GUI's, the remaster has an overall more polished look than the original. BioShock Remastered may not be gorgeous, but it does look rather nice, and I can tell because looking back at the original game's graphics feels strange to me now.  

 Original BioShock's depiction of the line "ABOVE ALL DO NO HARM".

 BioShock Remastered's presentation of the same quote. The blood dripping from the letters is more visible here.

The initial reveal of Rapture in the original BioShock.

 The reveal of Rapture in BioShock Remastered. Some new minor details have been added, such as coral and seaweed on the sides of buildings. 

Unfortunately, despite the positive points present in the game's graphical updates, it's actual performance is another story. 

Issues with the PC version on Steam

You might have already heard it by now, but just in case you haven't, the PC launch version of BioShock Remastered on Steam has been decisively rocky, and the user reviews reflect that. The game has been criticized by numerous outlets and customers for its minimal graphical settings, frequent crashes, and failure to address issues present in the original PC version of BioShock, such as poor and inconsistent mouse sensitivity. The frame rate is also inconsistent, at times looking very smooth at 60 FPS, but usually running around 30 or lower.

But on the bright side, 2K has recently made it clear on Steam that they have heard the fan feedback and outcry alike loud and clear, and are working now to patch the PC version in order to address the crashing issue, as well as new and improved graphical settings. So if you aren't satisfied with the PC version right now, give it some time and hopefully it will match up to the console standard soon -- or possibly even exceed it.

What other reasons are there to buy BioShock Remastered?

All versions of BioShock the Collection, as well as the individual games within it, come with additional content that was not included in the originals. All of the single-player DLC for all three of the games in the series has been included at no extra cost, which gives the player access to some excellent plot-driven DLC such as BioShock 2's "Minerva's Den" and BioShock Infinite's "Burial At Sea".

The first BioShock in particular got a lot of extra attention in terms of content. If the player manages to find the hidden golden film reel hidden in each level, they are given access to an episode of the director's commentary miniseries "Imagining BioShock", which goes into detail about the game's development and history.

There is also the interactive "Museum of Orphaned Concepts", which is a playable museum where you can view loads of concept art and models that were cut from the original game, in addition to some information on their history and relevance to the game's development. So if you're interested in the inspirations and ambitions behind BioShock, then both this and the director's commentary should be right up your alley.

In the end, are BioShock Remastered and BioShock: The Collection worh buying for the graphical updates and added content? I would say they are, yes. If 2K fulfills their promises of fixing all of the issues with the PC launch version, then it could become the definitive way to play BioShock -- which would definitely be a great gift to those who already bought the original.  

BioShock is the 2007 tale of the dystopian Objectivist underwater city of Rapture; It's a first person shooter praised for it's amazing plot, atmosphere and gameplay, and considered by many to be one of the greatest games of all time. But as is the case with many a classic game, despite it's popularity and well-covered quality, not everybody has found the time to actually sit down and play BioShock.

With the recent release of BioShock Remastered in BioShock: The Collection, now seemed like a fitting time to write a quick little guide to help players new to the game get started. These are a few tips you can follow to try and play the game to your maximum potential of personal enjoyment. Hopefully these will help some people out. This guide is spoiler free and safe for those not wanting to have the story ruined for them. With that said, let's get started.

General Gameplay Tips 

1. Choosing your difficulty

BioShock is game that's setting and atmosphere are very key to enjoying the experience to it's fullest, and their immersive qualities can be diminished if the game is either too easy, or too hard. The difficulty can be changed at any time from the options menu, but for those of you not wanting to diverge from your path chosen at the start, here are some pointers on which difficulty may be right for you:

•  If you want to take in the game's story and atmosphere with very little stress, at the sacrifice of much less threat, pick the easy difficulty.  
• If you want to play the game at balanced level of challenge, where resources matter more, in addition to more challenging enemy encounters, and by consequence a more oppressing atmosphere, pick medium. 
• If you want to feel truly immersed in the insanity of Rapture, and enter a more realistic scenario where using nearly plasmid once will drain your EVE completely for the first few hours, and every bullet is something to worry about, then go for hard. 
• The Remaster added a new Survivor difficulty, which is one last step up in difficulty. It's like hard mode only harder. Pick this one if you want a truly testing challenge that will force you to get creative in dealing with enemy threats. 

You can also make any of the game's difficulties a special kind of difficulty by disabling the Vita-Chambers in the options menu. This will force you to play through the game with restarting at checkpoints upon death, rather than the game's default, which is to respawn you at the nearest Vita-Chamber with no previous progress lost.  

Unless purposely disabled, the Vita-Chambers will act like proximity-based checkpoints, and will respawn with no penalty upon death.

2. Upgrading You Weapons

In many games it's difficult to decide what weapons to upgrade at what times, but thankfully, BioShock isn't really one of those games. there are just enough upgrade stations present throughout the game that you can upgrade every weapon twice, which is as much as any weapon can be upgraded, so it's only ever as difficult as deciding what you'd like to upgrade first.

It's generally smart to upgrade some of the weapons with more common ammo early on in the game, just so you aren't ever left high and dry, but it's still safe to prioritize upgrading your favorite guns to use. Little stress, lots of guns, lots of fun. 

A "Power to the People" station, which is where you can apply one upgrade to any weapon in BioShock.

3. Explore as much as you can

There is every reason to explore the levels in BioShock to their every last nook and cranny. Money, ammo, and healing items of all kinds are lying around hidden in both obvious and inconspicuous locations alike, so it's smart to scour every desk drawer and rotting corpse that you come across.

This also means you'll have to rely on spending money at vending machines a lot less, because you can find everything available for purchase, as well as more money while exploring. This will also allow you to to fully appreciate all of the detail present throughout Rapture, and soak up the striking Art Deco architecture, and depressing ambiance of the game. 

4. Collect as many audio logs as you can find

BioShock is famous for it's excellent plot worthy of a classic novel, so collecting the audio logs for additional plot details should be a no-brainer, but it bares repeating. Almost every single one of them serves to enrich the story, and those few that don't, exist to make Rapture feel more like a believable and once alive community. They are all worth listening to, and in some cases, worth going way out of your way to find.

5. Hack absolutely everything you can

Every vending machine, turret, and safe among other things in Rapture can be hacked for your benefit. The little minigame involved for hacking can get pretty tense and challenging for some things, but in the end, making a security camera turn to your side is a much better solution that destroying it when it sees you.

Hacking vending machines will also allow you to get lowered prices on all items, which is especially useful on higher difficulties, where resources are more important. The hacking does take some time, but with all of the benefits that come with that diligence, it's more than worth it to do it at every opportunity.

More specific tips

The tips above provide advice on the basics of BioShock, but these next few tips are meant for specific instances in the story, and much smaller aspects of gameplay.

1. Make sure to collect the two audio logs in "Welcome to Rapture" the first time you are there

If you are aiming to collect every audio log in the game, you need to collect the two audio logs available in the opening level the first time you are there, because unlike every other stage in the game, you cannot return to this one once you have beaten it. The two logs aren't very hard to find. One is located in the women's restroom of the restaurant, and the other on the lower floor sitting on a table in the water near the large statue. After you nab these two, the rest of the audio logs can be found at you leisure.  

2. Never, EVER use an EVE hypo manually

This is crucial if you want to conserve your EVE replenishing resources on higher difficulties. Your EVE (which essentially functions like mana in other games) is automatically refilled when it is empty, assuming that you have at least one EVE hypo on you when it happens, so there is absolutely no reason to manually use one if your gauge is just mostly empty.

You can also use any plasmid once before depleting your EVE if you have even the tiniest sliver left so you don't have to worry about how much EVE something might usually cost. This automatic use function does not work the same for med kits, however, so do make sure to use those manually when you are low on health. 

3. Get the "Wrench Jockey" tonic as soon as possible

See this little sucker right here? Yeah. Pick it up, equip it, and then never take it off ever again.

"Wrench Jockey" is hands down one of the absolute best combat tonics you can find in the entire game, and it can be found tucked away in a sealed off room in the game's second level, the Medical Pavilion, in the Kure-All office. It is a tonic that greatly increases the damage done by your melee weapon, the wrench, and it makes close-quarters combat much less stressful. 

When we say it "greatly increases the damage done", we mean that it it makes the wrench strong enough to kill a basic splicer with one hit to the head on hard difficulty. Yeah, it's pretty useful. If you manage to get your hand on the upgraded version "Wrench Jockey 2" later in the game, and then equip them both at the same time, then you'll beat splicers better and faster than a Big Daddy.   

4. Use "Incinerate!" on the funeral home door as soon as you have it

Once you obtain the "Incinerate!" plasmid in the Medical Pavilion that allows you to shoot fire from you hand, use it on the ice in front of the "Twilight Fields Funeral Home", and plunder it for resources before you do anything else. You need to use incinerate in order to melt other icy build-ups to advance further in the level, but the one in front of the funeral home blocks off optional goodies and an audio log, which can be a pain to go back and do later.

The reason we point this out is because after a certain point in the level, you will likely swap out incinerate for another plasmid, and won't be able to equip it again until the next level. You are perfectly capable of keeping incinerate equipped by swapping out a different plasmid, or going back to the Medical Pavilion once you have it equipped again, but using it at the funeral home as soon as you have the opportunity is the easiest way to do it.  

This is where you should use "Incinerate!" as soon as you have it. It'll save you from a decent chunk of backtracking. 

5. Don't kill Sander Cohen for the key to his box when you first have the chance

At a certain point you will be given the option to kill a man named Sander Cohen in order to get the key to his secret box. Don't do it.

There is a way to get the key later in the game, which allows you access to additional dialogue as well as a weapon upgrade station, and an achievement, all of which are unavailable if you kill him when you first get the chance. Wait until later when you find this other chance to get the key, and take that one, trust us, it's worth it.

 This is the moment where you first get the chance to kill him. DO NOT DO IT.

And those are our Bioshock beginner's tips! Hopefully these help you get through Bioshock easier if it's your first time, and perhaps even taught some BioShock veterans something they didn't already know -- if we did our jobs well enough. Good luck and have fun!

Bioshock; The Collection doesn’t let you stream from your consoles. But no one knows why!

The Collection released this week for PS4 and Xbox One along with all its DLC and souped up graphics -- but what good is any of that if you can’t show it off?  Neither console supports the ability to stream any of the included games and 2K posted a message on their board confirming that they are aware of this. However, they did not give an explanation as to why.

"Unfortunately, streaming BioShock: The Collection isn't an option right now..."

Sometimes developers will be a halt to streaming on important cutscenes or certain pieces of a game, but shutting down streaming for a whole game (much less whole games) entirely is a new move. If you were relying on using built-in technology streaming technology for either console, gear up and find another way.

Maybe we can’t stream it because aliens are taking over the world and they’re starting with the console gamers. Or! Maybe the PC gamers have their own version of the Illuminati and are finding small ways to control console gamers. Insert your paranoid theory in the comments below.

Many of you who are eagerly awaiting to return to the underwater city of Rapture and the sky-bound city of Columbia in Bioshock: The Collection for PS4 and Xbox 1 may want to be careful when you first venture out, as there is a possible bug -- at least in the remastered version of the first game. I recently picked up the remastered collection and upon playing through most of the first section of the game, I came across this very concerning glitch. 

There are two variations of the bug that have occurred thus far in my playthrough of the first Bioshock title. One is the game freezing up for a second or two. This was triggered by quickly browsing through the map and information tabs. Waiting for a few seconds and closing the map screen seemed to fix the bug for the time being, as I have yet to see it trigger again. 

The second version, however, is much nastier. This version of the game freeze occurred ironically enough... in the freezer level of Fontaine Fisheries, specifically at the Weapon Upgrade station pictured below:

The bug occurred for me right after I upgraded one of my weapons and attempting to exit the menu of various upgrade options. The game froze up completely when I tried to exit the menu and no amount of button pressing, ability selection, or weapon switching worked. The only fix for this variant of the bug is to shut down the game and restart it, and hope that you saved your progress -- because I forgot to do so and had to redo the entire Fontaine Fisheries area all over again, which is quite tedious. 

So far these two game-freezing bugs are only present on the PS4 version of the game as far as I am aware. If anyone who plays the game on Xbox 1 can confirm that the bug occurs on their end, please let me know and I'll add a note to this guide! 

EDIT: The freezing error has still been occurring for me during various parts of the game. The only correlation I can find is that it occurs in menus for various aspects of the game such as U-Invent stations, Power To The People stations (weapon upgrades), and the menu which shows the map, audio logs, etc. The freezing occurs for a couple of seconds at the most but can also cause the game to completely lock up and force a reset to get it working again. 

For the first time ever in FIFA, live your story on and off the pitch as the Premier League’s next rising star, Alex Hunter. Play on any club in the Premier League, for authentic managers and alongside some of the best players on Earth in "The Journey". Experience realistic football/soccer on September 27th, with new features like direct free kicks, player controlled throw-ins, new corner kicks and new penalty kicks.

Here's a full list of the different editions of FIFA 17 being released and what each contains:

FIFA 17 Standard Edition includes:

\n
• Full game
\n
• Up to 5 FUT Draft Tokens (1 per week over 5 weeks - worth up to $15)
\n
• 8-match FUT loan item of Hazard, Martial, Reus, or Rodriguez
\n
• Custom FUT kits created by designers or FIFA soundtrack artists
\n

FIFA 17 Deluxe Edition includes:

\n
• Full game
\n
• Up to 20 FIFA Ultimate Team Jumbo Premium Gold Packs (1 per week over 20 weeks - worth up to $60)
\n
• 3-match FUT Team of the Week loan player (up to 1 player per week over 20 weeks)
\n
• 8-match FUT loan item of Hazard, Martial, Reus, or Rodriguez
\n
• Custom FUT kits created by designers or FIFA soundtrack artists
\n

FIFA 17 Super Deluxe Edition includes:

\n
• Full game
\n
• Up to 40 FIFA Ultimate Team Jumbo Premium Gold Packs (2 per week over 20 weeks - worth up to $120)
\n
• 3-match FUT Team of the Week loan player (up to 2 players per week over 20 weeks)
\n
• 8-match FUT loan item of Hazard, Martial, Reus, or Rodriguez
\n
• Custom FUT kits created by designers or FIFA soundtrack artists
\n

September's not the biggest month for game releases but there's still some titles to look forward to, especially for sports game fans. Aside from that there's lots of good changes coming to Destiny in the new DLC and it's a good time to get into popular titles like Elder Scrolls Online and BioShock. If you're back to school this September maybe it's a good thing that there isn't a lot of major releases to distract you!

If you have not yet played The Elder Scrolls Online, an MMORPG from Zenimax Online and Bethesda, or you're thinking about playing again, this fall may be the time. You'll have a lot of content to play through for the cost of the original release. The Gold Edition is already available for pre-order, but will release at most major retailers for PC, PS4, and Xbox One on September 9th.

Includes:

The Elder Scrolls Online

The Gold Edition game packs:

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• Imperial City
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• Orsinium
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• Thieves Guild
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• Dark Brotherhood
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• A Palomino horse mount
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• 500 crowns to spend in the in-game Crown Store for new game accounts
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Return to the cities of Rapture and Columbia this September! Coming to PC, Xbox One, and PS4, BioShock: The Collection contains all the single-player content from BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, remastered in 1080p. Experience the award-winning franchise again in its' entirety, or perhaps for the very first time, on September 13th.

Includes:

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• Remastered in 1080p.
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• BioShock main game and all single player DLC.
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• BioShock 2 main game and all single player DLC.
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• BioShock Infinite main game and all single player DLC.
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• Director's Commentary: Imagining BioShock, featuring Ken Levine and Shawn Robertson
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Welcome to the new NBA 2K season. The wildly popular NBA game is back with it's most realistic NBA experience ever. In NBA 2K17, you can create teams from real player rosters, compete in tournaments and more. Return to the courts on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One starting on September 20th. 

Since there will be a few different editions of NBA 2K17 releasing here's a straightforward buyer's guide explaining exactly what you get with each edition. Plenty of collectibles for the die hard NBA and Kobe fans out there!

The NBA 2K17 Early Tip-Off Edition (while supplies last) includes:

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• Early Access (4 days before standard release)
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• All Pre-Order Bonuses
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Pre-order Bonuses:

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• 5000 Virtual Currency
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• MyTEAM Bundle. 3 packs with guaranteed Paul George Free Agent Card and More
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• 2 items yet to be announced
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The NBA 2K17 Legend Edition includes:

Physical Items:

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• Limited-edition Kobe poster
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• Black Mamba controller skin
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• 2 Panini Kobe trading cards
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Digital Content:

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• 30,000 Virtual Currency
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• MyTEAM Bundle + (including 3 packs with guaranteed Kobe Free Agent card)
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• 2K Kobe XI shoe
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• Kobe #8 Mitchell & Ness Jersey
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• Kobe hoodie 
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• And more!
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The NBA 2K17 Legend Edition Gold includes

Physical Items:

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• Limited-edition Kobe poster
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• Black Mamba controller skin
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• 2 Panini Kobe trading cards
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Digital Content:

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• 100,000 Virtual Currency
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• MyTEAM Bundle + (including 3 packs with a guaranteed Kobe Bryant card)
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• 2K Kobe XI shoe
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• Kobe #8 Mitchell & Ness Jersey
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• Kobe hoodie
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• And more!
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 This September you can look forward to kicking some balls, shooting some hoops, and shooting some aliens! Featuring some major sports title releases, a couple re-releases, and a major expansion to a popular FPS.

Destiny: Rise of Iron

Releasing: September 20th 2016

Destiny: Rise of Iron is the next highly anticipated expansion to the Destiny universe coming to PS4 and Xbox One. It features an all new cinematic story campaign set within The Plaguelands, a brand new location on Earth. Under the command of Lord Saladin you'll face a new faction of Fallen Devils, the Splicers, while unravelling the mystery of the Iron Lords. 

Includes:

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• New Story Campaign & Quests
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• New Armor and Gear
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• New Weapons
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• New Raid
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• Maximum Light Increase
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• New Strike
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• New Plaguelands Zone & Social Space
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• New Crucible Mode & Maps (including Private Matches)
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• New Enemy Faction and Bosses
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Pre-order Destiny: Rise of Iron and receive the black "Iron" Gjallarhorn, a weapon ornament which will change the look of the Gjallarhorn rocket launcher, which is returning via a quest in the new DLC.

With news of the upcoming HD BioShock: The Collection hitting current-gen consoles on September 13^th, my imagination swiftly returned to the unparalleled atmosphere of Rapture -- the setting for the first two games. This underwater city that imploded from utopia to dystopia is one of the most memorable landscapes in video games.

When BioShock came out in 2007 I was 15 and the game’s promotional material -- heavily featuring the iconic Big Daddies with their huge drills -- honestly terrified me. All I saw was gruesome horror that I didn’t have the guts nor basic desire to play, and so I overlooked the game. It was only in early 2016 that I finally got around to playing BioShock, and lo and behold, I became hooked.

BioShock achieves the heights of philosophical and social critique that made classic dystopian fiction such as Orwell’s 1984 so successful, and in the same way manages to transcend time to feel just as relevant today as when it came out almost a decade ago.

Thinking about the game in the context of current events, I began to notice interesting parallels to the UK’s recent political upheaval in the EU Referendum and the Brexit campaign.

It’s always dangerous to venture into politics; where emotions run high and opinions differ greatly. But that’s exactly where we’re headed, so be forewarned of contestable opinion and major spoilers for the entirety of BioShock throughout this article.

BioShock imagined an underwater city torn apart from within, prowled by deformed Splicers and left to decay beneath the sea. Apart from the dramatic apocalyptic warnings made by both sides of the EU Referendum campaign, none of this sounds too relatable to Brexit, right? Well, let’s look a little closer.

Rapture's Vision

“No Gods or Kings. Only Man.” Devised by Andrew Ryan, Rapture was founded as a safe haven. But a haven from what? Ryan envisioned Rapture to be a place free from the constraints of bureaucracy, government control and religion that he witnessed in both Soviet Russia and the USA.

One of the major arguments of the Leave campaign was that the heavy bureaucracy and regulations of the EU were damaging and constraining Britain’s economic growth and autonomy. Like Ryan in the face of increasing economic government control in post-1929 America, the Leavers sought an escape from what they saw as suffocating bureaucratic domination.

For many anti-Brexit opponents, this was emblematic of an isolationist policy for withdrawing Britain from the world stage. And you know what else smacks of isolationism? Building a secret city under the sea!

Andrew Ryan = David Cameron

Both the founder of Rapture and the British Prime Minister set in motion a plan that rapidly spiraled out of control and came back to bite them. Andrew Ryan began an extreme right wing capitalist society where selfishness was seen as paramount to the advancement of the economy and subsequently of humanity. Each egocentric individual pursuing their own happiness was to be a driving link in the “Great Chain” of industry that could not be controlled by governments or rulers.

However this very ideology of a completely free market would be the source of Ryan’s downfall. In the wake of increased business monopolies exerting power and smuggling rings forging contacts with the outside world, Ryan felt that the only way to protect Rapture was to cut off these contraband sources and place restrictions upon certain businesses that had gathered too much government-like influence for themselves.

This is the great paradox of BioShock. Ryan found himself forced to become a tyrant -- acting against the very ideals he’d promoted -- in order to prevent the tyranny of business monopolies that those ideals facilitated in the first place.

Meanwhile in the hopes of uniting his divided Conservative party, solidifying his power and drawing more support from voters, David Cameron instigated a referendum on Britain’s place in the European Union. It was a choice that many Brits believe should not have even been brought to the table in the first place, and public sentiment turned out to be much less predictable than he might have expected.

In both cases the original plan was ill-conceived and poorly executed, leading to the inevitable downfall of its leader.

Boris Shrugged

If Andrew Ryan is David Cameron, then Atlas (Frank Fontaine) bears many similarities to Brexit “Leave” campaigner Boris Johnson. Atlas is a man whose intelligence, selfishness and true agenda are expertly hidden behind a constructed persona that endears and disarms the public.

In Rapture’s objectivist free market society, more and more people found themselves destitute and disenfranchised -- alienated from Ryan’s “Great Chain” ideal and promises of utopia by their very real poverty. In Britain, it’s clear that the working classes similarly felt betrayed by their leaders whose lofty policies showed them to be out of touch with the people.

Atlas stirred unrest in this volatile community, playing on the people’s anger at the way things were currently being run, in order to make a power play for himself. Throughout the game Atlas manipulates the player into believing his rhetoric and ultimately orchestrates the downfall of his nemesis, Andrew Ryan. Of course as soon as his opponent is deposed, Atlas’s mask is lifted and we realize the extent of his nefariousness in one of the most memorable plot twists in video game history.

This is the way that many people see both Boris and then-UKIP leader Nigel Farage: making false promises and claims (such as the £350 million NHS fiasco) to gain support and win the referendum. As soon as Brexit was actually achieved, the curtain lifted and the untenable nature of these claims fell into sharp focus.

Much like Atlas, Boris Johnson didn’t last long in the top leadership position after his opposition was defeated. Where Atlas was killed by his enlightened slave, Boris was undermined by his apparent ally Michael Gove.

It's All In The Slogan!

Catchy phrases and slogans have long been used to persuade and influence people in all walks of life, from politics to commercial advertising, and they’ve been proven to be very effective at doing just that.

It’s no wonder then that slogans such as Brexit’s “Take Back Control” and Remain’s “Stronger In Europe” took center stage in debates, speeches and advertising throughout the Referendum campaigns.

In Atlas’s case this influence is extremely literal: the very words “would you kindly” are a psychological trigger through which to control the protagonist and force him into performing whatever task he’s given. This exaggerated manipulation could be taken as a commentary upon the power of political slogans in real life.

Scary Similarities

Of course the analogy’s not perfect. After all this is a game with heavy steampunk and horror influences where the use of superpower-like plasmids is core to the gameplay. But essentially, BioShock represents so many classic political ideologies and established political practices that we can always draw parallels to numerous current examples. That very flexibility is testament to the philosophical and narrative feats of BioShock and writer Ken Levine.

Now what’s all this talk about Donald Trump?

 Image Sources

Andrew Ryan: http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/bioshock/images/b/b7/BioShock_2_SG_Andrew_Ryan_color.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110831044209

David Cameron:

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01635/david-cameron_1635080i.jpg

Boris Johnson: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/Boris_Johnson_July_2016.jpg

Take Back Control:

http://www.knownothingenquirer.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/boris-car-1024x908.jpg

Would You Kindly:

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/534014267260215534/A915EE3CF518FE2F6F73388E19DAD167CBB83CC8/

BioShock: The Collection seems to be inching closer to becoming a reality. The 2K Games website has officially revealed a graphic for the game -- along with the possible cover art, which you can see below. T

he graphic and cover art were pulled very quickly from the site, but the fact that they were up in the first place seems like a good indication that something is coming. BioShock: The Collection was rated earlier in June and has been a rumor for quite some time now, but that rumor is looking more and more like a confirmation.

All there is to do now is wait for an official announcement from 2K. An official BioShock Twitter account popped up today, so something could be imminent. Fans of the game have long been clamoring for a remaster, and it seems as if their wishes will be granted.

Welcome to Rapture! Would you kindly follow @BioShock? pic.twitter.com/f010t1WS0O

— BioShock (@bioshock) June 29, 2016

No release date has been given, but once an announcement is made, expect things to move quickly. If the cover art is already completed then it seems they are ready to launch the game -- but take that with a grain of salt. Either way, BioShock The Collection is moving closer and closer to becoming a thing.