Bioshock plays you in a way that isn't clear throughout the majority of the game. That's what makes it so cruel. A common criticism of many linear games is that they force you through a series of events without allowing you much control. Typically, there's some kind of narrative voice telling you exactly what you're supposed to do. To an extent, Bioshock also follows this trope. Its execution is a little more interesting than most other linear games, though. Early in the game you get a sense that the narrator, Atlas, is your ally as well as your instructor as you explore Rapture. That is until a certain, notorious, plot twist. You may have heard of the "Would you kindly?" moment. In which, it becomes clear that the protagonist Jack has been brainwashed. Whenever he hears the phrase it triggers him to obey every command that follows those three words. The person behind all this? Atlas; who reveals that his true identity is Frank Fontaine, a criminal mastermind who has been indoctrinating Jack since he was a child. It's a narrative curve ball that most players didn't see coming and there's a sense of betrayal when it's revealed that has arguably never been matched in games before or since. Bioshock toys with your preconceived notions of what it is to have free will in a linear game, and it does so with devastating effect.
