Rapture Central Control

This guide will walk you through “Rapture Central”, the ninth section of Bioshock. We will go through how to complete each area, as well as any optional items you can find along the way.

Map

1 – Arrival

Having successfully overloaded the core back in Hephaestus, you were able to shut down the magnetic seals on Ryan’s office door and are now ready to face the bastard that’s been trying to kill you ever since you arrived.

A corpse clutching at a Shotgun lies just ahead of you – not a good sign of things to come.

2 – Andrew Ryan’s Final Effort

Stepping into this main chamber darkens the lights, activates the screen ahead of you, and prompts a radio message from Ryan. After claiming that he will not raise a hand against you, he moves on to address Atlas. “You can kill me, but you will never have my city! My strength is not in steel and fire! That is what the parasites will never understand. A season for all things: A time to live and a time to die, a time to build… and a time to destroy!”

With that, the whole city rocks as if something catastrophic was just put into motion. Atlas pops onto your radio next, informing you that Ryan has set the core to self-destruct. If you don’t track down the man and reverse his actions soon, the whole city will explode (or implode?). Time to move.

3 – Vita-Chamber and Audio Diary #99

Have you ever wondered how it is that you find yourself inside a life-giving machine when reduced to zero health? According to Suchong’s “The Vita Chamber” audio diary lying on the table here, only those with the same genetic frequencies as Andrew Ryan can make use of such a device. Perhaps your “father” can explain further.

4 – Office Door

Ryan’s office door is offline, so you’re going to have to climb the north staircase and crouch down and make your way through the crawlspace on the top floor.

5 – Mind Control Revealed

Dropping down from the crawlspace above, you’ll find yourself in a room with a large bulletin board and a couple of chalkboards. Attached to the wall with the bulletin board are hundreds of notes and clippings, as well as seven pictures that seem to point out some sort of lineage line here in Rapture. Written in large letters across the entire mess are the words “Would you kindly.” Make sense yet?

If not, check the counter below for two audio diaries labeled “Mind Control Test” and “Baby Status.” In the first, Suchong convinces a little boy to break a puppy’s neck by using the mind-controlling words “would you kindly.” In the other, he analyzes the growth results of a mysterious one-year-old baby. Grab the ammunition lying about and head south to reach Ryan’s office. You’re about to find out what this all means.

6 – Andrew Ryan

Having surpassed all his defenses, you finally get to meet Andrew Ryan. The idealistic engineer is busy working on his putting game, even as the magnificent city he built is crashing down around him. He cryptically alludes to the fact that you never really had a family, that you actually hijacked the plane that crashed here, and that something – or someone – is pulling your strings. “A man chooses, a slave obeys!” is his mantra of choice for this particular moment, which he repeats over and over again. After demonstrating how the phrase “would you kindly” seems to have a mind-controlling effect on you, he hands you his putter and asks you to “kill.”

You strike out, bashing Ryan’s head with the club several times until he lies dead in a pool of blood on the floor. You’ve just unknowingly proven him right – Andrew has chosen how and when to die, while you, the slave, couldn’t control yourself. Brilliance.

Atlas comes over your shortwave radio and tells you to grab Ryan’s genetic key, adding “would you kindly put it in that goddamn machine?” And there it is. You have your instructions, puppet, so go ahead and carry them out.

7 – Vita-Chamber

Another one of Rapture’s resuscitative wonders.

8 – Self Destruct Override

Slide Ryan’s genetic key into the slot here to override the self destruct sequence that’s been put into motion. With the city saved, Atlas pops on your radio one last time to bellow out some maniacal laughter. The masquerade over, Atlas reveals his true identity – Frank Fontaine.

As the betrayal hits home, Fontaine starts running his mouth about how he’s going to run Rapture “tits to toes.” He finishes off his little speech with a “Thanks for everything, kid… don’t forget to say hi to Ryan for me” before dispatching a group of security bots after you. Time to escape!

Lucky for you, one of the Little Sisters shows up and beckons you to follow her. Chase after her, you have no other options.

9 – Exit

Crouch down into the crawlspace that these two Little Sisters have led you to. This sends you down a long, hard drop, after which you’ll wake up lying on a bed in Tenenbaum’s Safehouse in Olympus Heights, “the city where you were born.”