BioShock 2

23. June 2023 /
  • Information
  • Original Soundtrack
  • Songs

Year: 2010

Type: Original Soundtrack (OST) / Songs

Composer(s): Garry Schyman

Number of tracks: 26 / 26

Rating

★★★★★

Dystopian darkness in the floodlight

One of the biggest mysteries of 2007's BioShock along with the underwater city of Rapture, was the mismatched duo of a little girl in housekeeper's clothes and a giant protector in a diving suit, known as Big Daddy and Little Sister. While the former, equipped with a grenade launcher and hand drill, helped unalive both unwary splicers and our alter ego, the demonic girl with her glowing red eyes used an oversized spike to suck the precious Adam out of her victims.

As a player, meeting the two was always a special thrill; that moment when the first tremors and whale-like moans announced his arrival and "Mr. Bubbles" leisurely shuffled past us was always a highlight for me. In BioShock 2 , however, this fascination was a little less noticeable. As a special twist, we (unsurprisingly) no longer play the protagonist from part 1, but slip into the role of the deep-sea guard ourselves!

A great approach that not only offered new gameplay possibilities such as underwater walks and companion passages (wohoo!), but also allowed the narrative to get to know Rapture from a completely different angle. Nevertheless, the story couldn't quite match that of its predecessor, which wasn't to be expected considering the great plot twist towards the end. I certainly enjoyed the game at the time, even if you should probably pick up the first BioShock for a real scary atmosphere.

Where the game continues seamlessly, however, is the soundtrack quality. The OST, which runs under the title BioShock 2: Songs from the Lighthouse was once again composed by Garry Schyman and continues his style from part 1. Once again, we are presented with an album that raises the hairs on the back of our necks one second before one moment later all hell breaks loose. Alongside the piano, the string instrument literally plays first fiddle once again and oscillates between sad, tragically drawn interludes and scratchy, creaky jumpscare moments.

Fans of games like Dead Space will get their adrenaline pumping with tracks such as Big Sister on the Move, Send Him Howling Back to Hell or Escape, while fans of BioShocks well-known balancing act between sad melancholy (Ten Years Later, How She Sees the World) and a dark horror feeling (The Abyss, Entrance to Eden) will also get their money's worth. Meanwhile, parallels to Schyman's later work on Shadow of Mordor become clear in Destroying the Lobby.

It is interesting to note that the composer expands his repertoire for worldbuilding, for example by imitating stomping noises using rhythmic percussion (Grace Under the Sun, Lockdown March) or creating bustling swarms of rats in our mind's eye through the seemingly chaotic disarray of the strings (Out the Airlock). Also new are the jazz and blues borrowings, which give tracks such as Cult of Lamb or Welcome to the Drop [Alternate with Vocal] a noir touch by means of saxophone solos and female vocals. This creates a certain Golden Age Hollywood feeling.

This is not least due to the second part of the score, which is known as the Licensed Soundtrack . With classics such as (How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window by Patti Page, patriotic war songs (Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition) or songs by Frank Sinatra, this features the usual mix of songs from the 30s to 60s, as we know them from the Fallout-series, for example.

Meanwhile, my personal highlight, alongside the aforementioned dramatic Big Sister on the Move, is the enchantingly depressing theme Pairbond. This has not only made it into my Top 15 saddest tracks , but is even in my lost of the Top 100 Video game tracks. So I'll quote myself briefly at this point:

The what-could-have-been hangs heavy over Pairbond, the theme song to the underwater horror shooter BioShock 2. The lone violin soulfully plays a melody full of bitterness and longing, accompanied by more strings, which watch the events like a crowd of silent observers, but do not join in. The melody remains alone before fading away into the darkness.

Me about Pairbond from Top 15 Saddest tracks

Consequently, I give the OST two thumbs up towards the surface.

Nostalgia warning

The rating of the individual tracks is purely subjective and clearly colored by my own experience with the game. You can find out more in the article About Nostalgia.

  • Original Soundtrack
  • Songs

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