13 Video Game Characters You Didn't Realise Were Based On Real People

4. Andrew Ryan - Howard Hughes

Genius, visionary, pioneer, madman. You can apply those descriptions to both Bioshock's Andrew Ryan and Howard Hughes - two self-made business magnates who embodied the American Dream in the aspirational years following World War II. Both were determined to take humanity to new frontiers; Hughes hit countless milestones in both land and air travel, playing a huge part in the development of modern transport, while Ryan built Rapture - a capitalist utopia driven by individualism and entrepreneurial spirit. The two look almost alike too - slim, elegant gentlemen with crisp gelled hair and thin moustaches that in the 50s were the emblem of ultimate manliness. Perhaps as a result of their relentless pursuit of greatness, both Hughes and Ryan disintegrated into madness later in life - though admittedly Hughes doesn't quite go off the rails to the same level. Still, you can imagine Hughes in his older age, sitting in his oaken study with a whisky in his hand, madly musing about a city where brilliant minds like his own could flourish, unfettered from the confines of petty morality.