I finally uninstalled this game after 3+ years of continuous play. there comes a time when fighting randoms online just doesn't really do it anymore. would've liked to participate in my very active local scene but i didn't feel too welcome there, unfortunately. you need people you know and can talk to to really enjoy this game because it is so complicated and intricate. doing it all yourself requires a very specific type of person, which i am not.

i don't have much to say that doesn't veer deep into personal experience and impression. anything that was to be said about the gameplay and technical aspects of this game has been said countless times already. i just kind of wanted to commemorate my quitting of playing it, because it felt like a big moment to me.

tekken 7 (re)ignited my love for fighters and after 800 hours in it i'm finally moving on to other, possibly greener pastures. i had so much fun with this game though and i think it genuinely helped me grow as a person.

There are few gameplay mechanics I have the kind of contentious relationship with that I do with the Pipe Dream hacking minigame of the original BioShock. It feels a little bit like a bipolar marriage, or an easy but tedious office job that holds your life together and ensures your civil safety while draining you of the will to live, each failure bringing you closer to just ending it, while every success feels hollow as you wait for the next puzzle that requires you to somehow guess that you must replace the first pipe to correctly direct the flow, or be chased by flying murder robots for 60 seconds. All because you just wanted a discount on those damn chips.

It's a necessity, one that has been decided for you. The illusion of choice is presented in the options to simply not hack the machines, or to bribe them (actually my favorite "hey did you know capitalism is BAD?" nod of the game) which will always pose a clear detriment to your well-being and success. But hey, it's your choice. Choice is what matters, freedom of choice is freedom of man. But not really. It's one of the central themes of the game, or something.

While not that deep, the moral and philosophical musings in this one are grounded, subtly reflected in the beautiful background you navigate as you do what you must do in Rapture. At no point is the mind-numbing, pretentious faux-intellectuality of BioShock Infinte even so much as approached.

I do not consider Ken Levine to be a creative genius. I do not consider him to be a particularly good writer either. Still, the atmosphere, the visual and level design and tight gameplay make the original in the series one of the most standout shooter experiences of its time. If only it could have been left at that...