This is easily one of the best classic games out there.

The story is rich and full of intriguing lore, and while there aren't many characters that get many lines the storytelling for the tragic downfall of this mysterious place and the people that once lived here is beautifully told through their bouts of maddened dialogue. Their screams, their insane ramblings, the way they twitch and claw at the wall, you feel like you're walking into an apocalypse that has already settled into a state of internal routine where people with fragmented memories are going about their daily lives as if nothing is wrong. The entire place feels like an insane asylum and the atmosphere and level design greatly contributes to that.

The combat and powers are fun and well-balanced. The upgrade system is built in a way that you can make any kind of character you want, from a hard-hitting melee purist to a telekinetic gunslinging wizard to literal emperor Palpatine, you can build yourself however you want or if you want a challenge you can chose to upgrade nothing, not even your health, and have fun with a unique no-death run challenge with minimal health. However you want to play is up to you, stealth, magic, guns, brutality, you can be the hero and save the girl or you can kill her. Few games dare to give you such choices anymore.

The aesthetic and atmosphere are beautiful. A high-tech Atlantis steampunk feel mixed with gritty horror elements give this game a very iconic look and feel. All of the enemy designs look very thought out and the world is very interactive with lots of optional side quests and machinery to interact with if you so choose. If you like exploration and discovering hidden things you'll find plenty of that here but if you just wanna charge through and see the action then it's totally your choice. Bioshock definately knows how to deliver in the "choices matter" department.

10/10 would play as a lightning-crazed wrench maniac again

The original is a masterpiece. I have no interest in playing the remasters.

Just as the game journals and critics say, this game is indeed a masterpiece. For one, the gun feel is amazing, and there is a real weight to these, on top of the sense of progression you get from upgrading them. The voice acting, as usually transmitted by audio logs strewn about the world or through radio, is just stellar (I particularly enjoyed Fontaine's and Andrew Ryan's voices by Greg Baldwin and Armin Shimerman, respectively). The story is written quite intelligently, similarly to the characters, which, despite the lack of enemy variety as the game progresses (and the absense of perhaps few more ending slides, which could've reflected more thoroughly one's choices and added depth to them), made it all the more joyous to blast through this 1950s Americana jazz-infused dystopia.