6 Surprising Facts You Probably Didn't Know About BioShock

What's so special about BioShock?

To be honest, it's a little of everything. The game came out for Playstation 3 TEN YEARS AGO this week, and BioShock endures as one of gaming's most influential series, admired not just for its concept or design, but also for its story, characters, enemy design and - naturally - those nail-biting twists at the end. It's no accident that it often appears on Best Games of all Time lists!

But even if you've spent a lot of time traipsing through Rapture or Columbia, there are still many, many secrets yet to explore. Here are some of our favourite things that you might not know about the BioShock series…

1. It took us ten years to uncover this secret - and accidental - message to players

In 2016 a player randomly happened upon a hidden message in the original BioShock game. After an anonymous commenter was asked to prove that they had worked on the original BioShock game, they said: "In BioShock 1, go to the second half of Hephaestus where you first encounter Ryan in person. Use Incinerate to get you down to 1 HP, then use it again on the area where the cutscene triggers and walk into it. You'll die right when the scene starts, but wind up in a Vita Chamber outside the map. Turn on Art Captions and you'll see a developer message about Paul Hellquist not doing his job. No one has found this bug yet publicly, it's in all versions."

So people did do exactly that, and it's true!

"!!! Bug this," the message says. "If you can read this Paul Hellquist did not do his job. Love, Kline."

2. Songbird's screams can be found in the original BioShock game

If, like us, you came to both love and hate Songbird's horrible screams, here's a little trivia for you: Infinite was not the first BioShock game to use that sound. Amazingly, head back to the original game and you'll hear the same sound effects used when you see Sander Cohen play the piano.

3. Indie hit Gone Home wouldn't exist if there hadn't been BioShock 2

Yeah, we know; on face value, there's not really much you'd find in common between a story about an underwater dystopia and a game that takes places entirely in a seemingly everyday family home. But did you know that the people who went on to create Fullbright Company - the studio behind Gone Home - mostly met when they worked together as 2K Marin, the developers behind BioShock 2 DLC, Minerva's Den? If it hadn't have been for their experiences making Minerva's Den, they'd likely never have made Gone Home - which itself has gone on to influence and inspire a whole range of indie games.

4. There's more than just the Beach Boys' music hidden in 1912's Columbia

Right at the beginning of BioShock Infinite, you'll explore the seemingly perfect floating city of Columbia and hear the Beach Boys' iconic hit, God Only Knows, being sung by the barbershop quartet. Given Infinite takes place fifty years before the song was released, you'll be forgiven for being confused. I'm not going to tell you how it happens - it's a teeny bit spoilery - but I would, however, urge you to listen out for more. Pay attention, and you'll find other, more contemporary hits, including Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

5. There's a secret Big Daddy in BioShock Infinite

While BioShock Infinite took to the skies - literally - there's still a few secret references to Andrew Ryan's sunken world if you know where to look. Again, we're not going into the details so as not to ruin the surprise for any of you still yet to jump into Infinite, but after the zeppelin fight, Booker and Elizabeth find themselves in a dilapidated Rapture. Once you arrive, take a good look around, especially out of the window; you should see a BD with his beloved Little Sister nearby, of course.

6. All BioShock games contain the code: 0451

In truth, a LOT of games use the code 0451, but it's a staple for BioShock as the game is the spiritual successor to Looking Glass Studios' System Shock… and 0451 was the code to get into Looking Glass Studios itself at the time!

BioShock: The Collection - which contains BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite - is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

- By Vikki Blake @_vixx