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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 Top 100 Videogame-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.

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BioShock 2: Songs from the Lighthouse

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	Pairbond	Garry Schyman	5
02	Waking Up in 1959 (Multiplayer Main Menu)	Garry Schyman	4
03	Ten Years Later	Garry Schyman	3
04	Protecting His Charge	Garry Schyman	3
05	Welcome Back	Garry Schyman	2
06	Cult of Lamb	Garry Schyman	4
07	Out the Airlock	Garry Schyman	3
08	How She Sees the World	Garry Schyman	4
09	Grace Under the Sun	Garry Schyman	3
10	The Abyss	Garry Schyman	3
11	Big Sister on the Move	Garry Schyman	5
12	Send Him Howling Back to Hell	Garry Schyman	4
13	Eleanor's Darkness	Garry Schyman	4
14	That Symbol on Your Hand	Garry Schyman	3
15	Drained Memories	Garry Schyman	3
16	Entrance to Eden	Garry Schyman	3
17	Persephone	Garry Schyman	3
18	Cell Block	Garry Schyman	3
19	Lockdown March	Garry Schyman	3
20	Welcome to the Drop [Alternate with Vocal]	Garry Schyman	3
21	Under the Tracks [Unused with Vocal]	Garry Schyman	3
22	Research	Garry Schyman	3
23	Destroying the Lobby	Garry Schyman	4
24	Gil's Entertainment	Garry Schyman	4
25	Escape	Garry Schyman	4
26	Eleanor's Lullaby	Garry Schyman	5

BioShock 2: Licensed Soundtrack

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	The Boogie Man	Todd Rollins	3
02	(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window	Patti Page	4
03	20th Century Blues	Noel Coward	3
04	Nightmare	Artie Shaw and His New Music	3
05	Daddy, Won't You Please Come Home?	Annette Hanshaw	3
06	Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition	Kay Kyser & His Orchestra	3
07	Dawn of a New Day (Song of the World's Fair)	Horace Heidt & His Musical Knights	3
08	Night and Day	Billie Holiday & Her Orchestra	2
09	My Heart Belongs to Daddy (feat. The Eddy Duchin Orchestra & Mary Martin)	Eddy Duchin	3
10	Chasing Shadows	Django Reinhardt; Stephane Grappelli; Quintette Du Hot Club de France	3
11	Jitterbug Waltz	Fats Waller and His Rhythm	2
12	I Cover the Waterfront	Connie Boswell	3
13	Mental Strain at Dawn	Jack Purvis	3
14	Bei mir bist du schön	Benny Goodman & His Orchestra; Martha Tilton	3
15	The Trouble with Me Is You	Red McKenzie	2
16	The Skeleton in the Closet	Putney Dandridge	3
17	We Saw the Sea	Fred Astaire	3
18	La Mer (Beyond the Sea)	Django Reinhardt; Stephane Grappelli	3
19	We Three (My Echo, My Shadow and Me)	The Ink Spots	3
20	It's Only a Paper Moon	Frank Sinatra	3
21	Paper Doll	The Mills Brothers	3
22	Ten Cents a Dance	Ruth Etting; Benny Goodman	3
23	Hush, Hush, Hush, Here Comes the Bogeyman	Henry Hall & His Orchestra	4
24	You Always Hurt the One You Love	The Mills Brothers	3
25	The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea	Benny Goodman	3
26	Daddy's Little Girl	The Mills Brothers	3