BioShock 2: Minerva's Den

Last updated

BioShock 2: Minerva's Den
Minerva's Den, Title Screen.png
Developer(s) 2K Marin
Publisher(s) 2K Games
Designer(s) Steve Gaynor
Composer(s) Garry Schyman
Series BioShock
Engine Unreal Engine 2.5
Platform(s)
Release
August 31, 2010
  • PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
    • WW: August 23, 2010
    Microsoft Windows
    • WW: May 31, 2011
    Mac OS X
    • WW: March 29, 2012
    PlayStation 4, Xbox One
    • NA: September 13, 2016
    • AU: September 15, 2016
    • WW: September 16, 2016
Genre(s) First-person shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

BioShock 2: Minerva's Den is a single-player downloadable content (DLC) campaign for the 2010 first-person shooter game BioShock 2 , developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. The player assumes the role of Subject Sigma, an armored and genetically modified human, or "Big Daddy"; Sigma must travel through Minerva's Den, the technological hub of the underwater city of Rapture, to download a schematic of the city's supercomputer. Gameplay is similar to that of BioShock 2, with new enemies and weapons.

Contents

Minerva's Den was created by a small team within 2K Marin led by Steve Gaynor, who partly based the setting on ideas he discussed in his hiring interview. The team decided upon a small, personal story about identity and free will, which explores an unseen part of the underwater city of Rapture. Minerva's Den was initially released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in August 2010, and was later released and reissued on other platforms. It was well received by critics, who praised its story, characters, and gameplay; reviewers, including those writing for Kotaku and Paste , considered it one of the best video game expansions of all time. The experience of creating a small, story-focused project inspired Gaynor and other 2K employees to form The Fullbright Company and create Gone Home (2013).

Gameplay

Like BioShock 2 , Minerva's Den is a first-person shooter game. The story takes place in the underwater city of Rapture in 1968, [1] eight years after the events of BioShock and concurrent with the events of BioShock 2's story mode, in the technological district of Minerva's Den. [2] The player character, Subject Sigma, is a Big Daddy, a person fused with an armored diving suit. [1] The player must work with the scientist Charles Milton Porter to acquire the plans of his creation, a supercomputer known as the Thinker, and escape Rapture. [3] Opposing the player are enemies known as splicers—Rapture's residents who overused genetic modifications [4] —along with other Big Daddies and automated security. [3] The game can be completed in between three and five hours. [5] [6]

The gameplay of Minerva's Den is similar to that of BioShock 2. The player uses similar weapons and plasmids (genetic modifications that grant superpowers) [7] [8] but obtains them in a different order, [3] with an increased emphasis on hacking security. [3] The expansion adds new items, including the Ion Lance, a laser weapon wielded by Minerva's Den's Lancer Big Daddies, [9] and the Gravity Well plasmid, which stuns and pulls enemies towards a vortex. New enemies include security robots armed with rockets or laser weapons, flame-wielding Brute Splicers, and ice-throwing Houdini Splicers. [3] [9] [10]

Plot

Subject Sigma is guided by the voice of Charles Milton Porter as he approaches Minerva's Den, Rapture's central computer core. Porter wants to reach his supercomputer, the Thinker, to retrieve its blueprints so he can recreate it on the surface. [9] Sigma is opposed by Porter's former colleague Reed Wahl, [11] whom Porter warns has become insane from splicing and his obsession with the Thinker. [9]

After becoming disillusioned with his role in World War II and the loss of his wife Pearl in The Blitz, Porter traveled to Rapture to pursue his dreams of creating artificial intelligence. [12] While initially working together, Porter and Wahl each wanted to use the Thinker for their own ends. Porter attempted to recreate Pearl by emulating her personality with the Thinker, while Wahl believed he could program the computer to predict the future. [13] Wahl betrayed Porter to Rapture's secret police to keep the Thinker for himself. [11] Minerva's Den has been cut off from the rest of Rapture, and its scientists, who have taken to splicing, attack Sigma. [14]

As Sigma progresses, the environment becomes increasingly threatening due to the Thinker's sophisticated defense system and interference from Wahl and his forces. Sigma reaches the Thinker's core where he confronts and kills Wahl. [11] Sampling Sigma's DNA to print out its schematics, the Thinker reveals Sigma's true identity as Porter, who was turned into a Big Daddy after being handed over to Rapture's authorities. [11] Porter's "instructions" throughout the game actually came from the Thinker, imitating the voice of one of its creators. [15] The final sequence of the game contains no combat; the player walks through Porter's living quarters, where he obsessed over digitally recreating his wife. [13] Sigma and the scientist Brigid Tenenbaum return to the surface in a bathysphere; Tenenbaum is able to undo Sigma's programming and restore Porter's original human body. Porter visits his wife's grave and leaves a letter in which he apologizes for trying to bring her back using the Thinker, and says he has decided to let her go. [11]

Development

Steve Gaynor (second from left), Johnnemann Nordhagen (third) and Karla Zimonja (fourth) were members of the team that developed Minerva's Den The Fullbright Company - Game Developers Choice Awards 2014.jpg
Steve Gaynor (second from left), Johnnemann Nordhagen (third) and Karla Zimonja (fourth) were members of the team that developed Minerva's Den

Development of the Minerva's Den downloadable content (DLC) began after the completion of BioShock 2. Steve Gaynor and a team of nine other full-time workers were tasked with creating a three-to-five-hour, single-player experience; [16] Gaynor served as lead designer and writer, having worked as a level designer for BioShock 2 and on story elements such as dialogue and audio diaries—scattered logs that reveal backstory while players explore. [17] [18] The names of the development team were given to slugs scattered around the game's levels as an Easter egg. [16] The development team were limited in what form the DLC could take and had to reuse as many assets as possible; Gaynor recalled the constraints of limited time and resources was a blessing in disguise. [19] Though many companies would treat DLC as a "cash grab" with less development time and lowered expectations, Gaynor felt these constraints also enabled more creative risks to be taken. [5] With such a small team, the staff collaborated without remaining in segregated roles; according to Gaynor, "It has to be organic as possible, and when someone has something that's not necessarily their primary responsibility but they have a passion for it and ideas for it ... I think you have to take advantage of that". [17]

While being interviewed for his job at 2K Marin, Gaynor had been asked to propose a potential BioShock level. Gaynor recalled suggesting a story focusing on Rapture's computer core and a character splicing to become more intelligent. During BioShock 2's development, the level designers suggested the possibility that technology from Rapture created a primitive artificial intelligence (A.I.) that would lead to the development of SHODAN, an A.I. that appears in the video game System Shock . When developing ideas for what would become Minerva's Den, Gaynor suggested merging the ideas, using a story about Rapture's computer core and a "steampunk" A.I., drawing from SHODAN's multiple identities and impersonations. [20] Gaynor wanted the content to fit both the world of BioShock and the historical era in which it takes place. When the developers decided to focus on Rapture's computer technology, they based it on the early computing age spurred by work done during World War II, including the work of Alan Turing and the cryptographers at Bletchley Park. [21] Gaynor reasoned that Rapture advanced using genetic technology, but the residents of Rapture explored other technological dead ends, including areas devoted to robotics and automation in Minerva's Den. [17]

Contrasting the long development and narrative of the main game with those of Minerva's Den, Gaynor said that he enjoyed the opportunity to tell a shorter story where players understood the characters. [22] According to Gaynor:

We could take the themes of BioShock that are native to Rapture and make them relevant to the specific fiction of Minerva's Den. When you have a super computer that can do a million calculations a second, how does that fit into the ideas of free will and predestination and fate, and choice, that BioShock is built on? [13]

Gaynor wanted to adapt the grand themes of BioShock to tell a different story about loss and changing the past that focused on a single character, Porter, who forms the "heart" of the game. [13] [23] Gaynor felt the final gameplay sequence, in which the player walks through Porter's living space, was important to give players time to reflect on the character's journey. [13] He resisted calls to make the interesting environment a place for combat. [5]

To prevent players of BioShock 2 from feeling Minerva's Den's gameplay was repetitive, 2K Marin tried to present a different experience within the narrative's constraints. Shadowy level design and more dangerous enemies were crafted to give a subtle survival horror feel; the team also adjusted the order in which players receive equipment and plasmids to encourage them to interact with the environment, rather than simply using aggression. [17]

Release

Minerva's Den was announced as the final piece of BioShock 2 DLC in August 2010. [24] Minerva's Den is the only expansion for the game to offer new single-player experiences. [25] The DLC was released on August 31 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, [26] with minimal promotion. [17] Initially, there were no plans to release Minerva's Den and other BioShock 2 DLC for personal computers (PCs) [27] [28] but 2K later resumed development of the PC ports, and Minerva's Den was released for Microsoft Windows in 2011 and for OS X in 2015. [29] [30]

With the closure of the Games for Windows Live Marketplace in August 2013, BioShock 2 and all of its DLC was released on Steam in October 2013. The game was updated to support Steam achievements, Big Picture mode, and controllers. Minerva's Den was free for players who owned BioShock 2 before the update. [31] [32] [33] In January 2013, Minerva's Den and the rest of BioShock 2 were rereleased in a bundle with BioShock as BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition. [34] Minerva's Den was also included in the remastered 2016 BioShock compilation BioShock: The Collection , which has been released for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. [11] [35]

Reception and legacy

Minerva's Den received generally favorable reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [37] The Daily Telegraph praised Minerva's Den after the lackluster BioShock 2 DLC that preceded it, [9] and Eurogamer and IGN called it an excellent finale story for the setting of Rapture. [3] [34] Minerva's Den has been called one of the greatest DLC expansions of all time. [2] [41] [42] [43]

Critics said Minerva's Den plays much the same as BioShock 2 [2] [6] [44] but welcomed the new additions to gameplay. [38] Several reviewers felt the expansion offered a complete, concentrated BioShock 2 experience; [39] [45] Rock, Paper, Shotgun wrote Minerva's Den "hits the key beats of the ideas behind BioShock—manipulation, twisted technology, distorted values, ambition and folly—and it weaves all that into the improved combat system that, for some, makes BioShock 2 the superior of BioShock 1". [44] Kotaku and Engadget found aspects of the gameplay repetitive, such as the reuse of "tedious" elements from the base game, and the need to perform certain gameplay sequences repeatedly. [46] [45]

Reviewers praised the narrative of Minerva's Den. [3] [9] [38] GamesRadar 's Andrew Heyward said the story makes Minerva's Den a "must-play extension" of the game's universe, [6] and GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd wrote that while the setup for the expansion is familiar to BioShock players—voices on the radio telling the player where to go—the appeal lies with its "personal nature" and Porter's character. [39] Reviews from GameSpot and Eurogamer considered Wahl a weak villain, but Porter a compelling protagonist. [13] [39] The video game theorist Robert Gallagher praised the game as a thoughtful and complex examination of themes of technology and humanity, and evidence that video games could explore such topics well. [47]

The game's twist ending was positively received; [2] [9] [11] VanOrd called it "surprising from a plot perspective and thematically consistent with prior BioShock revelations" [39] though Engadget said that while the twist applies a retroactive motivation for the characters, it comes at the expense of the player's link to Subject Sigma. [45] Kotaku's Heather Alexandra contrasted the twist with those of BioShock and BioShock Infinite , writing, "[those] games want to impress you. Minerva's Den wants to move you." [11] Several reviewers felt the expansion's story stronger than that of BioShock 2. [6] [9]

Gaynor credited the positive experience with a small development team for changing his perception of creating games. [22] Gaynor later joined Irrational Games, and his resulting dissatisfaction with the sprawling development of BioShock Infinite led Gaynor and two other Minerva's Den developers to start their own game studio, The Fullbright Company. [22] [48] Fullbright developed the acclaimed game Gone Home , which shares Minerva's Den's nonlinear exploration and character focus. [5] [49] The final non-combat exploration sequence of Minerva's Den served as a template for Gone Home. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Levine (game developer)</span> American video game developer (born 1966)

Kenneth M. Levine is an American video game developer. He is the creative director and co-founder of Ghost Story Games. He led the creation of the BioShock series and is also known for his work on Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock 2.

<i>BioShock</i> 2007 video game

BioShock is a 2007 first-person shooter game developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, and published by 2K. The first game in the BioShock series, it was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 platforms in August 2007; a PlayStation 3 port by Irrational, 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes was released in October 2008. The game follows player character Jack, who discovers the underwater city of Rapture, built by business magnate Andrew Ryan to be an isolated utopia. The discovery of ADAM, a genetic material which grants superhuman powers, initiated the city's turbulent decline. Jack attempts to escape Rapture, fighting its mutated and mechanical denizens, while engaging with the few sane survivors left and learning of the city's past. The player can defeat foes in several ways by using weapons, utilizing plasmids that give unique powers, and by turning Rapture's defenses against them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K (company)</span> American video game publisher

2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California.

<i>The Bureau: XCOM Declassified</i> 2013 tactical shooter game

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a 2013 tactical third-person shooter video game. It was developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K. As the eighth title in the turn-based strategy series X-COM and a narrative prequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the game was released for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2013. Set in late 1962 at the height of the Cold War, the game's premise mainly revolves around The Bureau, the predecessor of the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit (XCOM), as they attempt to repel an alien invasion. As a tactical shooter, players can use the battle focus mode to issue commands to two other agents accompanying the protagonist, William Carter. Players can permanently lose their squad members so they must make good tactical decisions.

<i>BioShock 2</i> 2010 video game

BioShock 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Marin and published by 2K Games. It was released worldwide for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 on February 9, 2010; Feral Interactive released an OS X version on March 30, 2012. The game takes place in the dystopian underwater city of Rapture, eight years after the events of BioShock. In the single-player campaign, players control the armored protagonist Subject Delta as he fights through Splicers—the psychotic human population of the city—using weapons and an array of genetic modifications. The game includes a story-driven multiplayer mode that takes place before the events of BioShock, during Rapture's civil war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K Marin</span> American video game developer

2K Marin, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. Founded in December 2007 as a spin-off from their parent, 2K, the company developed BioShock 2 (2010) and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified (2013) before laying off or relocating all staff in October 2013 and silently being closed.

Sander Cohen is a character in the BioShock video game series. He debuts in the first title of the series, developed by 2K Boston, as a celebrated polymath of the underwater city of Rapture who has a deranged and sadistic personality. The protagonist Jack is forced to help Cohen with the creation of a macabre sculpture, built around pictures of Cohen's former proteges whom he kills and photographs on his behalf, before he allows him to leave his domain Fort Frolic. Sander Cohen makes another appearance in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea, a downloadable content story expansion for BioShock Infinite which sets up the events of BioShock. He is voiced by T. Ryder Smith for all appearances.

Andrew Ryan (<i>BioShock</i>) BioShock character

Andrew Ryan is a fictional character in the BioShock video game series developed by Irrational Games. He is one of the main antagonists in BioShock, and also appears in its follow-ups BioShock 2 and BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea. Ryan is portrayed as an idealistic business magnate in the 1940s and 1950s, aiming to create an underwater city called Rapture to avoid government oversight and scrutiny. As civil war erupts in Rapture, Ryan's utopian vision collapses into a dystopia, leading him to become reclusive and paranoid. After winning the war, he becomes increasingly ruthless in his control over the city's remaining inhabitants.

<i>BioShock</i> (series) First-person shooter game franchise

BioShock is a retrofuturistic video game series created by Ken Levine, published by 2K and developed by several studios, including Irrational Games and 2K Marin. The BioShock games combine first-person shooter and role-playing elements, giving the player freedom for how to approach combat and other situations, and are considered part of the immersive sim genre. Additionally, the series is notable for exploring philosophical and moral concepts with a strong in-game narrative influenced by concepts such as Objectivism, total utilitarianism, and American exceptionalism.

Rapture (<i>BioShock</i>) Fictional underwater city

Rapture is a fictional city-state in the BioShock series published by 2K Games. It is an underwater city that is the main setting for the games BioShock and BioShock 2. The city also briefly appears in BioShock Infinite, and is featured in its downloadable content, Burial at Sea. The game's back-story describes the city as envisioned by business tycoon Andrew Ryan in the mid-late 1940s as a means to create a utopia for mankind's greatest artists and thinkers to prosper in a laissez-faire environment outside of increasing oppression by the world's governments and religion. However, the lack of government led to severe wealth disparity, a powerful black market, and unrestricted genetic modification, which turned the city into a dystopia exacerbated by Ryan's tyrannical methods to maintain control. The masses turned towards political activists like Atlas who advocated an uprising of the poor against Ryan and the elite of Rapture; and on the eve of 1959, a civil war broke out, leaving much of Rapture's population dead. The remaining citizens either became psychotic "Splicers" due to the effects of ADAM, a substance that can alter genetic material, or have barricaded themselves from the Splicers to protect themselves, leaving the city to fail and fall apart around them.

Brigid Tenenbaum is a fictional character in the BioShock video game series developed by Irrational Games. She is a German Jew who survived the Holocaust due to assisting in Nazi human experimentation, and was eventually invited to the underwater city of Rapture, where she continued human experimentation. She discovered a substance that altered DNA that was highly addictive, using little girls as hosts, before developing empathy for them and attempting to save them from their parasites.

The BioShock series is a collection of story-driven first-person shooters in which the player explores dystopian settings created by Ken Levine and his team at Irrational Games. The first two games, BioShock and its direct sequel, BioShock 2, take place in the underwater city of Rapture in 1960 and 1968, which was influenced heavily by Ayn Rand's Objectivism. The third installment, BioShock Infinite, is set aboard the floating air-city of Columbia in 1912, designed around the concept of American Exceptionalism. Though Infinite is not a direct sequel to the previous games, the game is thematically linked; a short scene within the core Infinite game returns to Rapture, while the downloadable content BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea tie in many of the plot elements between BioShock and BioShock Infinite.

<i>BioShock Infinite</i> 2013 video game

BioShock Infinite is a first-person shooter video game in the BioShock series, developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K. Infinite was released worldwide for the PlayStation 3, Windows, Xbox 360, and OS X platforms in 2013. The game is set in the year 1912 and follows its protagonist, Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the airborne city Columbia to retrieve Elizabeth, a young woman held captive there. Booker and Elizabeth become involved in a class war between the nativist Founders that rule Columbia and the rebel Vox Populi, representing the city's underclass. Elizabeth possesses the ability to manipulate "Tears" in the space-time continuum, and Booker and Elizabeth discover she is central to Columbia's dark secrets. The player controls Booker DeWitt throughout the game, fighting enemies and scavenging supplies, while the computer-controlled Elizabeth provides assistance.

Elizabeth (<i>BioShock</i>) Character in BioShock Infinite

Elizabeth is a fictional character in Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite, the third title in the BioShock series. The game is set in 1912 on a floating steampunk city named Columbia which was founded on the principles of American exceptionalism. Elizabeth has been groomed in a controlled environment to take over the reins of the city once its current leader, Father Zachary Hale Comstock, dies. Elizabeth has the power to open "tears" in the fabric of reality; she is able to view every event across all of the infinite timelines simultaneously and effortlessly open doorways to them, allowing her to access parallel universes.

<i>Gone Home</i> 2013 video game

Gone Home is a first-person exploration video game developed and published by The Fullbright Company. Gone Home was first released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux computers in August 2013, followed by console releases for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2016, the Nintendo Switch in September 2018, and iOS in December 2018.

Development of <i>BioShock Infinite</i>

The development of BioShock Infinite began after BioShock's release in August 2007. The five-year development, led by studio Irrational Games, began under the moniker "Project Icarus". Irrational's creative lead, Ken Levine was inspired by events at the turn of the 20th century and the expansion of the concept of American Exceptionalism set by the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago. His story took these events to create a tale set in 1912 where the player, as former Pinkerton agent Booker DeWitt, is challenged to rescue a young woman, Elizabeth, who has been kept aboard the floating city of Columbia in the middle of a civil war between its founder Father Zachary Comstock and the Vox Populi, the underclass revolting against him.

<i>BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea</i> Episodic expansion to the first-person shooter video game "BioShock Infinite"

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea is a two-part single-player expansion to the first-person shooter video game BioShock Infinite. It was developed by Irrational Games and published by 2K Games for PlayStation 3, OS X, Windows, Xbox 360, and Linux platforms. Episode One was released digitally on November 12, 2013, followed by Episode Two on March 25, 2014. A retail version was released as part of BioShock Infinite: The Complete Edition, and later included in BioShock: The Collection for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fullbright (company)</span> American video game developer

Fullbright is an American indie video game developer based in Portland, Oregon, best known for its 2013 title Gone Home. Before forming Fullbright, Steve Gaynor, Johnnemann Nordhagen, and Karla Zimonja had worked together on Minerva's Den, the single-player expansion to BioShock 2. During the development of Gone Home, the team worked and lived together in the same house. After its release, Nordhagen left to found a new studio, Dim Bulb Games. Fullbright's next game, Tacoma, was released in August 2017. As of 2023, Gaynor is the sole employee of Fullbright.

<i>BioShock: The Collection</i> 2016 video game compilation

BioShock: The Collection is a compilation of the BioShock video games, developed by Blind Squirrel Games and published by 2K Games. The Collection features upgraded versions of BioShock, BioShock 2, and BioShock Infinite, with new textures and support for higher resolution displays and framerates. The compilation was released in September 2016 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows; versions for macOS and Nintendo Switch followed in August 2017 and May 2020, respectively.

References

  1. 1 2 Takahashi, Dean (February 10, 2010). "BioShock 2 Q&A: the trick to creating a critically acclaimed sequel". VentureBeat . Archived from the original on October 1, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Diver, Mike (August 22, 2017). "Minerva's Den is the best way to experience BioShock's iconic Rapture". PCGamesN . Network. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Gies, Arthur (May 7, 2012). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC Review". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on June 14, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  4. ↑ Pfister, Andrew (August 16, 2007). "BioShock Review". 1UP.com . IGN. Archived from the original on December 10, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Suellentrop, Chris (September 16, 2016). "How 'BioShock 2: Minerva's Den' Helped Shape Walking Simulator Games". Rolling Stone . Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Hayward, Andrew (September 9, 2010). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC review". GamesRadar+ . Future Publishing. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  7. ↑ Westgarth, Michael (February 12, 2014). "Science inches closer to real BioShock-style plasmids". Ars Technica . Condé Nast. Archived from the original on January 9, 2020. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  8. ↑ Barratt, Charlie (August 17, 2007). "BioShock Plasmid Guide". GamesRadar+ . Future Publishing. Archived from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cowen, Nick (September 20, 2010). "BioShock 2 Minerva's Den DLC review". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  10. ↑ Gies, Arthur (August 26, 2010). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den DLC Preview". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 29, 2010.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Alexandra, Heather (September 14, 2016). "Six Years Later, Minerva's Den Remains The Best BioShock Thing". Kotaku . G/O Media. Archived from the original on November 3, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  12. ↑ Gaynor, Steve (May 31, 2011). "Behind the Scenes of BioShock 2 Part 2: Who is Charles Milton Porter". 2K Games . Archived from the original on August 15, 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cameron, Phill (January 20, 2013). "Bioshock 2 - Minerva's Den retrospective". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on November 25, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  14. ↑ 2K Marin (2010). BioShock 2: Minerva's Den. Level/area: Minerva's Den. Porter: Minerva's Den has been cut off from the rest of Rapture for some time... but not cut off from splicing. Don't let your guard down.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ 2K Marin (2010). BioShock 2: Minerva's Den. Level/area: Minerva's Den. Tenenbaum: You see now why I let the machine speak for you, Mr. Porter. We needed a voice that would be familiar... comforting. Your own. With that copy of the Thinker's programming, we may return to the surface... und use it to restore you to the man you once were.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. 1 2 "The Secrets of Minerva's Den". Cult of Rapture. 2K Games. September 13, 2019. Archived from the original on April 14, 2016.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 Alexander, Leigh (September 22, 2010). "Interview: Building On BioShock 2 With Minerva's Den". Gamasutra . UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  18. ↑ Cobbett, Richard (July 11, 2016). "The RPG Scrollbars: The Rise And Fall Of Audio Logs". Rock Paper Shotgun . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on April 16, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  19. ↑ Rollin, Bishop (October 3, 2016). "A Look Back at Creating 'Minerva's Den,' the Best 'BioShock'". Inverse . Bustle Digital Group. Archived from the original on November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  20. ↑ Gaynor, Steve (May 17, 2011). "Behind the Scenes of BioShock 2 Part One: The History of Minerva's Den". 2K Games . Archived from the original on August 15, 2011.
  21. 1 2 3 Coleman, Ben (September 8, 2013). "Going Home". Portland Mercury . Index Publishing. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  22. ↑ Alexander, Leigh (August 15, 2013). "How Gone Home's design constraints lead to a powerful story". Gamasutra . UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  23. ↑ Kohler, Chris (August 9, 2010). "Story-Driven, One-Player 'Minerva's Den' Concludes BioShock 2 DLC". Wired . Condé Nast Publications. Archived from the original on December 22, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  24. ↑ Sassoon Coby, Alex (August 5, 2010). "BioShock 2 entering Minerva's Den". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  25. ↑ David Hinkle. "BioShock 2 'Minerva's Den' DLC hits PS3, 360 Aug. 31 for $10". Joystiq . AOL. Archived from the original on August 28, 2010. Retrieved May 25, 2016.
  26. ↑ Vore, Bryan (October 9, 2010). "BioShock 2's Protector Trials and Minerva's Den Never Coming To PC". Game Informer . GameStop. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  27. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (October 8, 2010). "PC Misses Out On BioShock 2 Downloadable Content". Kotaku . G/O Media. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  28. ↑ Sliwinski, Alexander (May 18, 2011). "Finally, Minerva's Den coming to BioShock 2 PC". Engadget . Verizon. Archived from the original on November 16, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  29. ↑ Rantala, Leevi (October 1, 2015). "Minerva's Den DLC for Bioshock 2 is finally out on Mac". Gamereactor . Gamez Publishing A/S. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2019./
  30. ↑ Dyer, Mitch (August 15, 2013). "Microsoft Closing Games for Windows Live Marketplace". IGN . Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 27, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  31. ↑ Devore, Jordan (October 3, 2013). "BioShock 2 drops GFWL, adds Minerva's Den on Steam". Destructoid . Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  32. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (October 13, 2013). "BioShock 2 and Minerva's Den expansion released on Steam". Polygon . Vox Media. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  33. 1 2 Matulef, Jeffrey (January 4, 2013). "BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition combines first two games and DLC for $29.99". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  34. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (March 26, 2020). "BioShock, Borderlands games coming to Nintendo Switch in May". Polygon . Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  35. ↑ "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den for PlayStation 3 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  36. 1 2 "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den for Xbox 360 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on January 29, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  37. 1 2 3 Reiner, Andrew (September 1, 2010). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den; One Last Gasp Under The Sea". Game Informer . GameStop. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  38. 1 2 3 4 5 VanOrd, Kevin (January 5, 2011). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den Review". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on November 4, 2019. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  39. ↑ Francis, Tom (July 9, 2011). "Minerva's Den Review". PC Gamer . Future plc. Archived from the original on October 8, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  40. ↑ Lane, Rick (December 23, 2015). "The Ten Best Game Expansions". Kotaku . G/O Media. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  41. ↑ Martin, Garrett (February 14, 2014). "5 Videogame DLC Expansions That Get It Right". Paste . Paste Media Group. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  42. ↑ Dyce, Andrew (March 28, 2014). "Top 10 Video Game DLC Expansions of All-Time". Game Rant. Valnet, Inc. Archived from the original on October 17, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  43. 1 2 Meer, Alex (September 22, 2014). "Have You Played... BioShock 2: Minerva's Den?". Rock, Paper, Shotgun . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  44. 1 2 3 Kietzman, Ludwig (September 6, 2010). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den review: Turing Rapture". Engadget . Verizon. Archived from the original on October 21, 2017. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  45. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (September 9, 2010). "BioShock 2: Minerva's Den Review: Thinker Man's Game". Kotaku . G/O Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  46. ↑ Gallagher, Robert (July 6, 2017). Videogames, Identity and Digital Subjectivity. Taylor & Francis. p. 115. ISBN   9781315390932. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  47. ↑ Ricchiuto, Madeline (October 18, 2017). ""I Don't Want To Work On Stuff That's This Huge Anymore" – Steve Gaynor On Why He Left Bioshock Infinite". Bleeding Cool . Avatar Press. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
  48. ↑ Wilde, Tyler (April 5, 2013). "Gone Home interview with Steve Gaynor: BioShock, the '90s, and what makes a "game"". PC Gamer . Future plc. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.