Bioshock 2 Endings Guide

Bioshock 2 Endings Guide
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Bioshock 2 Endings Guide

Games with multiple endings – such as the now infamous Silent Hill, Heavy Rain or Alpha Protocol -- have a wealth of options and different outcomes for the player to play through. This may add to the longevity or replay-ability of the title and give a greater sense of impactful storytelling and reinforcement of player input in the game world itself. The Bioshock 2 endings may not be as numerous as a Heavy Rain type adventure, but they do have multiple finales for the game’s narrative. This article focuses on the different Bioshock 2 endings and explains how to get them and what they show after being unlocked through some of the choices you will make.

Bioshock 2 Endings - The Best Possible

There are four separate Bioshock 2 endings that players can unlock during the endgame. Key decisions made throughout the game impact this choice of ending and there are several smaller options for each one that only tangentially make a difference. The most obvious endings – as has become the norm for a slew of games – are the two good/bad ones. In between these two however, the game has a couple of middle-ground endings that can be unlocked by not aligning yourself with unrealistic piety or villainy. This dynamic is perhaps akin to the grey morality of Knights of the Old Republic II instead of the Black/White moral facsimile found in Mass Effect.

Firstly, the good or “best” ending available to the player. This can simply be unlocked by sparing and saving every little sister in the game – of which there are twelve. There may be a secret achievement for saving people such as Grace Holloway or Gil Alexander but it surprisingly doesn’t have an impact on any of the Bioshock 2 endings. Due to his noble actions, Subject Delta will die in Eleanor’s arms above water and have his ADAM extracted into her, as a means to be a part of Eleanor even after death. After this, Eleanor can be seen looking out into the ocean with a cavalcade of Little Sisters around her, pontificating on the future.

Bioshock 2 Endings - The Worst & Choices

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The worst ending, diametrically opposed to the best, is unlocked when the player has harvested every little sister found in the game. This causes Eleanor to repeat the actions of her evil father, becoming a villain and ultimately the Sofia Lamb theorised utopian person. Eleanor will steal Delta’s ADAM and take it for herself, in a bid to become stronger, as she looks out into a storm on the surface and plots her destructive future before the credits roll. As stated above, killing or saving the likes of Grace and Alex The Great don’t necessarily impact upon this, but for the sake of an evil run-through it is advised to kill them.

The final two Bioshock 2 endings are differentiated by a choice the player can make. Delta can either survive through Eleanor – similar to the worst ending – or decide to die without having his ADAM extracted. This occurs when at least one of the Little Sisters has been harvested but not all of them have been found or killed. In the first choice, players see Delta die as Eleanor is left alone on the surface, wondering if she can enter society anew. In the second choice, Eleanor takes after her father’s villainy and decides to wreak havoc on the world, with her father always being a part of her.