BioShock is, as just about everyone knows, based upon the writings of Ayn Rand. Her one book that has the most effect on the world of Rapture is quite obviously Atlus Shrugged, and it seems to be the book of choice for founder Andrew Ryan. It revolves around the global strike of leaders of industry, which forces the common people and governments onto hard economic times. During the strike, the business magnates form their own society in Colorado under the enigmatic John Galt, who reflects Ayn Rand's own beliefs of Objectivism. The end of the book sees the Objectivist society prospering while the collectivist society of America collapsing due to its lack of strong leaders. Some other aspects of the book include its art deco style and rambling philosophical dialog, with the speech at the end taking up a whopping 70 pages. It was negatively reviewed upon release as being a monster of a pedantic book, but has received much more acclaim over the years since release

Unlike most references in media to the Objectivism philosophy Ayn Rand pushed forward, the city of Rapture is hardly perfect. It's a decaying city, full of insane junkies and horrific monsters in diver suits. The character of Atlas (an obvious reference to Atlas Shrugged) is a greedy, corrupt businessman who seeks to completely dominate the city of Rapture for his own ends. Andrew Ryan is an insane idealist that refuses to moderate his viewpoint to save his city. The Objectivist philosophy is the direct cause of all the pain and suffering on Rapture, with the presence of ADAM merely acting as a catalyst to trigger the horrific events seen before and during the game. This is a dystopia caused by Objectivism, not the dystopia saved by the powers of reason in Ayn Rand's novels Still, the character of Andrew Ryan is sympathetic in his unwavering ideals, even as he tries to kill the player and kill himself indirectly.

Much like how BioShock was based around Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, BioShock 2 appears to be based around the exact opposite philosophy of collectivism. This philosophy emphasizes the power of community over the power of the individual, and can best be summed up with the phrase, "The whole is better than its parts." The main antagonist of BioShock 2, Sofia Lamb, appears to adhere to this philosophy and pushes it upon the crazed inhabitants of Rapture with the help of various figures, especially the Big Sister.

The artistic influence of Rapture can be traced to two sources: the art deco movement and retro-futurism. Art deco is the most apparent source of inspiration behind the city, with architecture and artwork that one would not be surprised to see being produced in the 1930s. It's very beautiful, and the level of detail is absolutely stunning in its execution. There's something to be said about the successful execution of a beautiful art style, and BioShock does exactly that. The retro-futurism is present in the genetic engineering and weaponry seen throughout the game, with blatantly impossible designs being seen through the lenses of art deco and retro-futurism. Just look at your weapons' appearances after you modify them. It's part steampunk, but all awesome.

BioShock built upon a legacy of previous games. In specific, it is a successor to the venerable System Shock franchise, which applied the same critical eye towards philosophy and fiction towards cyberpunk and hard science fiction. The original System Shock has you playing a hacker that has removed the moral protocols on a space station AI called SHODAN, rendering it murderously insane. The second game, imaginatively titled System Shock 2 and developed by BioShock developer Irrational Games, has you playing a soldier that has received cybernetic implants while he has been in cold sleep during the test flight of an interstellar ship. As you travel through the ship, you find that things have gone horribly wrong, with the AI SHODAN making a reappearance after her destruction in the first game. She's not the only threat, though, as a collective consciousness of mutants labeled The Many also want to kill or assimilate you.

The story may be vaguely similar (replace SHODAN with Atlas, Ryan with The Many), but the gameplay is very much a direct rip of System Shock 2. With the exception of Big Daddies, most of the enemies from System Shock 2 are present in BioShock, only under different names. The inventory of guns, the different ammo types for your guns, and the weapon modifications are a major part of System Shock 2, just as they are in BioShock. However, the inventory system was simplified between games. The different logs from System Shock 2 play a major part in BioShock, especially audio logs, and ghosts are also present in both games. Finally, plasmids are BioShock's version of the psionic powers from System Shock 2, although plasmids are universally helpful while many psionic powers were borderline useless.