Irrational Games

Brand's website: Irrational Games

Irrational Games was an American video game development studio founded in 1997 by Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey and Robert Fermier. The studio became best known for its sophisticated narrative-driven action games, which combined first-person shooters with RPG elements, environmental exploration and the ability to tackle situations in a variety of ways.

One of its first major projects was System Shock 2, created in collaboration with Looking Glass Studios. The game combined sci-fi horror, FPS and RPG mechanics, and went on to significantly influence Irrational Games’ subsequent work. It was many of these ideas that the studio further developed in BioShock.

The studio’s greatest success came with BioShock in 2007. Following a plane crash, players find themselves in the underwater city of Rapture, built by Andrew Ryan as a utopian society independent of governments and traditional social norms. Instead of a dream paradise, however, the player discovers a crumbling city ruled by violence and genetic experiments.

BioShock combines conventional firearms with special genetic abilities known as Plasmids. These allow players to utilise electricity, fire or telekinesis, for example, and can be combined with weapons and the environment. The massive Big Daddies, who protect the Little Sisters, have also become iconic characters in the series.

Irrational Games subsequently created BioShock Infinite, which left the undersea city of Rapture and moved the action to the floating city of Columbia. The main character is Booker DeWitt, who is tasked with finding the mysterious Elizabeth. The game retained the combination of first-person shooter action and special abilities, but offered a completely new setting and an expansive story exploring alternative realities, time and parallel worlds.

The studio also developed the games SWAT 4, Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich, and worked on other projects and franchises during its existence.

It is worth distinguishing between the individual instalments of the BioShock series: the original BioShock and BioShock Infinite were developed by Irrational Games, whilst the lead developer of BioShock 2 was 2K Marin.

Following the release of BioShock Infinite, Irrational Games was significantly scaled back in 2014. Ken Levine and part of the original team subsequently continued under the new name Ghost Story Games.

Thanks to titles such as BioShock, BioShock Infinite, System Shock 2, SWAT 4 and Freedom Force, Irrational Games ranks among the most significant American game studios of its era, and its work has had a major influence on modern narrative-driven first-person shooters and immersive sim games.