The first Bioshock was an amazing game with a clever method of telling its story. The Player arrives in a fascinating place shortly after an interesting event has happened. It isn’t about experiencing the fall of Rapture, it’s about unearthing the tale of how and why it happened. It was a completely self-contained story with no need for a sequel. But Bioshock 2 was swiftly put in the works, foisting an unnecessary sequel onto store shelves regardless of whether or not fans wanted it. Gamers were right to be skeptical as news rolled out of a tacked-on miultiplayer mode, and retcons to the story. Yet it turned out that Bioshock 2 eventually made of the best contributions to this franchise; a DLC pack called Minerva’s Den.
Bioshock 2 got good reviews, even if they weren’t as stellar as the first game. It sold well, and the publisher decided to put out some paid DLC. This didn’t do much to endear the game to cautious buyers. The first few DLC packs were maps and characters for the multiplayer mode which was quickly becoming a ghost town. Why pay good money for extra maps on a mode that no one used?
Eventually some single-player DLC arrived in the form of The Protector Trials. This was a step in the right direction, by giving players DLC that could actually be played, but these trials were just single-player combat missions with little story. That’s fine for the average shooter, but Bioshock fans wanted more than mindless action.
Eventually they released Minerva’s Den, a proper story-based single-player DLC mission that is arguably better than the story of the main game in Bioshock 2. But it was too late. Minerva’s Den hit consoles six months after the game launched and did not arrive on PC until over a year after Bioshock 2’s launch.
Players didn’t care anymore.
Which is a shame because this DLC pack is the best thing to happen to the series since the original game released. Sure, there are new weapons, powers and enemies, but the story is what players need to get one last taste of Bioshock while waiting for Infinite.
Minerva’s Den puts players in the huge boots of Subject Sigma, a Big Daddy who has somehow run afoul of a mad scientist who runs The Thinker, the giant computer that controls Rapture’s automated systems. Sigma, and the Player controlling him will explore new locations that include Rapture Central Computing and other retro-futuristic locations not seen in the other games.
Sigma is just a pawn who needs to figure out why he’s tangle up in the schemes of several new characters. Unraveling the mystery of what happened in Minerva’s Den during the fall of Rapture is what drives the story. Clever players can read between the lines during NPC dialog, while diligent explorers can hunt down audio logs that fill in the backstory. There’s a terrific twist at the end. Maybe players will figure it out before the big reveal, but it is still a very engaging story to experience.
As a DLC pack, it isn’t very long, but Minerva’s Den is a great way for Bioshock fans to spend an evening getting re-acquainted with Rapture before venturing into the skies with Bioshock Infinite next year.
Even though it’s nearly three years since Bioshock 2 arrived, there is still no Complete Edition that bundles all of the DLC with the game for a bargain price. Alas, Minerva’s Den is still going for its initial launch price of ten dollars. It’s almost as if 2K games doesn’t want players to enjoy it.
So, despite the fact that your ten dollars could be used for a pre-order on Bioshock Infinite – Would you kindly put your Bioshock 2 disk back in your Electronic Thinking Machine and download Minerva’s Den?
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