Note: I'm considering writing a Plot Analysis on BioShock, but figured I'll do it step by step. This is the first aspect of what might turn out to be a massive undertaking if this small review of the Vita Chamber is any indication. Strangely, this review of a simple aspect of BioShock's gameplay is longer than any movie review I've ever written.

I wrote this because I feel the need to outline how important the Vita Chamber is to the story of BioShock, even if all you see it as is an artificial "make game easy" machine. This review is essentially ONE MASSIVE SPOILER written for the people who have experienced BioShock in mind. You have been warned.

Most critics tend to automatically dismiss the use of Vita Chambers as a petty attempt at scaling down the BioShock's difficulty to a friendlier level. Granted if you just take the Vita Chambers at face value and never really ask yourself why they're there or what the whole point of them plot-wise is, then that's exactly what it levels out to. Fact is, BioShock is deliberately crafted from the ground up, which means that virtually every element of the game, pertaining to both aesthetic and UI design, has a reason. Vita Chambers are no exception.

So what exactly does a Vita Chamber do?

The phrase underscored in bold text effectively sums up the point of the Vita Chamber. Whenever you die, you immediately come back to life at the last Vita Chamber you encountered. Since Vita Chambers are a commercial product in Rapture, you encounter them several times throughout every level, which means that even the worst players (like myself) aren't overly inconvenienced by death. It's nice to let the common folk enjoy the game, but the more serious players are disenchanted with the idea since it does little more than water down the experience in their eyes. This is especially odd since a studious player should feel more immersed by their presence if anything.

Another clue to the underlying purpose of the Vita Chamber is discovered in the last moment of Suchong's diary: "Ryan will only allow it to be tuned to his genetic frequencies for testing..." By the time you discover the audio diary, you're only seconds away from the plot's revelation, so even if you're sharp enough to figure out what everything means, it's not like you're waiting very long to be proven correct. For the rest of us, it amounts to an explanation as to why Vita Chambers are an important part of the game design: you're able to use them, therefore you share Ryan's genetic frequency, therefore you must be related to Andrew Ryan! (cue dramatic sound byte)

This is where things get interesting. Vita Chambers are tuned to a specific genetic frequency, and since the player shares that frequency, this explains why the player is able to use them. But what about the rest of Rapture? What good is a widely commercial product available for only a handful of citizens, if anyone outside Ryan's immediate genetic structure at all?

The Vita Chamber: Overly successful attempt at scaling back the difficulty, or critical element of BioShock's story?

What constitutes Ryan's "inner circle" as far NPCs are concerned possibly includes the following people:

- Sullivan (Chief of police and security)
- Bill McDonagh (Rapture's general contractor)
- Sander Cohen (He and Ryan must've been fairly tight, or else I can't fathom why Ryan would hand over the keys to Fort Frolic to him)
- Mary-Catherine "Jasmine" Jolene (Ryan's mistress, so it's entirely possible)
- Dr. Suchong (Ryan's head scientist after Fontaine was "taken down")

It's not unreasonable to believe that there are other characters in the game who are able to use the bathyspheres as they please, largely because the depth of Ryan's inner circle is never explicitly known. The important thing to note is that it's entirely reasonable to believe that the same genetic device in the bathyspheres is the same genetic device in the Vita Chambers. If this is the case, then "anybody in the ballpark genetically will be able to comes and go as they see fit," and by extension live and die.

Do you ever find yourself underwhelmed by the small variety of character models and voices in game? You kill one batch of splicers, only to encounter what could very well be the exact same splicers ten in game minutes later! But wait a tick, what if those splicers are exactly the same splicers? What if they can use Vita Chambers and bathyspheres too? Wouldn't that both explain why you see the exact same enemies everywhere and lend credibility to this rather preposterous genetic device?

And here's where things really get interesting. Sander Cohen is the 'Section Eight' that runs Fort Frolic. Part of the game has you tasked with murdering his former disciples in order to complete his masterpiece: The Quadtych. Later on in Olympus Heights, you gain access to Chohen's apartment where you find two Houdini splicers dancing to his music. If you kill the splicers, Cohen appears to murder you ("When will you ever learn to take instruction, Little Moth?"). Funny thing is, Cohen needs to be able to use the bathysphere in order to come home from Fort Frolic. This proves one of two things: either Cohen is part of Ryan's inner circle, or Cohen is related to Ryan (possibly his brother). In either event, Cohen's genetic frequency is keyed into the bathysphere. After murdering Cohen (don't forget to snag the "Irony" achievement by taking a snappy of his corpse), you can return to Fort Frolic to set the Quadtych you so lovingly created on fire. Doing this causes Cohen to come back to life in what is either a glitch in design or proof of the Cohen/Ryan relation (either as family or confidant).

But what about Ryan himself? You killed Ryan, or rather Ryan had you commit his suicide, but is Ryan truly dead? All Ryan wanted was to see Fontaine dead, and Fontaine just gave Ryan what he wanted. Is it really that much of a stretch to imagine that Ryan pulled the same maneuver with Fontaine? Granted the Vita Chamber in Ryan's office was turned off, but there's no clear reason outlined why he couldn't simply use another Vita Chamber in Hephaestus or a safer place altogether.

Many have noted that for Ryan to survive is a betrayal of the philosophy he built Rapture on, but many should also note that this wouldn't be the first time he betrayed his own beliefs as this diary retrieved from the Farmer's Market, as do a selection of other diaries scattered throughout the game, reveals.

Just keep in mind that whether or not Ryan lives is a coin toss, and a likely direction for BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams.

"No Gods or Kings. Only Man"
And we all know the type of creature a man can become.

I'd appreciate feedback, especially if you'd like to see more of the details and nuances in BioShock's plot. Really, I just don't want to undertake a massive plot analysis only to find out that no one cares, so here's your opportunity to nip this in the bud. :)

Either way thanks for reading.

Awesome, Would you kindly keep it up(sorry couldn't resist). Things now make more sense.

Ah crap... Now I have to write more (I honestly didn't expect this to be so well received, so thanks for all the support).

For my next chunk, I think I will examine just what the hell ADAM is anyway. I've beaten the game four times, and I'm honestly not even too sure what to make of it yet.

Wouldn't really call this a review. Most of it seems to be your own speculation based on plot details. However I'd still be interested to see what else you have to say about the game.

I am very pleased to see your excellent writing skills applied to the world of Games as well as that of Film :D

You bring up some very, very interesting points here. Now, I'm certain that we will see Andrew Ryan in Bioshock 2 (even if it's not a prequel)...

And I will definitely read anything else you choose to write about Bioshock!

tavenos:
First, if you say that the games foreshadowing in Suchongs note about the PC's relation to Ryan AND you say that the splicers may be using the vitachambers too, then that means all of Rapture shares blood with you, or all of them are close to Ryan. Since both of these can't be correct at the same time, that means that we have to choose one, which is the first one.

There's absolutely no way the character encounters every citizen of Rapture. There's just not enough time and really you're only ever in less than a dozen different areas. It's a safe assumption that you're only assailed by a small fraction of the population, so the logic is still plausible.

tavenos:
The second suggestion can't be right because we can physically see the dead bodys of each splicer. So they can't possibly be using the vitachambers.

Actually, there's a cap on how many corpses the game will keep in a level. I'm not sure what the number is, but for sake of example we'll call it 10. The game only keeps 10 active splicer corpses lying around. If you kill 12 splicers, the first two splicer bodies you encounter turn into lock boxes saving the loot that might be on the body, and the lock boxes remain undisturbed on the ground.

The point is that splicer bodies don't hang around forever. If there's too many bodies, some get turned into lockboxes. The game also advertises the humble lock box during one of the level load screens.

tavenos:
Also, why would Ryan go through the trouble of turning the vita chamber off, if he's just going to use a different one as you suggested? It doesn't make sense
really.

Why would Fontaine set up an explosive submarine in the smuggler's hideout where his wife and child were hiding? It's just setting up a convincing facade.

tavenos:
Even if all of those fit together perfectly, it's a stupid design choice to base a major mechanic of a game on minor, though interesting details of the story. So they just built up the backstory around it to make them more acceptable and intriguing.

The back story works at being acceptable and intriguing, so I can't fault them for that.

tavenos:
If I recall correctly, Fontaine didn't have a wife or child. And the explosion was Ryans doing, right? I'm a bit hazy on this, I haven't played the game in a while.

I neglected to put "wife and child" in quotations, and it was Ryan that blew up the sub, but it doesn't change the fact Fontaine baited it. The whole point was that Fontaine orchestrated an illusion for the sake of authenticity, and there's no reason why Ryan couldn't do the same.