The release of 2K Games’ surreal yet eerily grounded shooter BioShock 2 has set the hearts of impassioned gamers aflame. In an age where sequels rule the roost and new IPs are as rare as Arcadian wine, so much faith is placed upon the shoulders of games to which the torch has been passed. Will BioShock 2 recapture the same kind of trepidation and otherworldly wonder that washed over gamers within seconds of meeting a Big Daddy? And what of the harrowing climax, where we learned that a simple five-iron could be the key to unlocking Rapture-sized secrets? These are all questions that can only be answered with the completion of the game.

For those of you who have yet to live through the madness of Andrew Ryan’s utopia, there’s the following guide designed to get you up to speed. Straight from the city’s defunct welcoming committee themselves, I give to you A Newcomer’s Guide to Rapture.

Welcome, weary travelers! Welcome to Rapture. Rest. Kick off your shoes. You’re in a safe place now. Why, under Andrew Ryan’s iron fist, we’ve become a smart, industrious city. Life is great.

At least, it was. You actually came at a slightly inconvenient time. Things aren’t so hot right now. Some say the end’s coming, what with Ryan’s death and all…

Wait, how did you get here in the first place? The bathyspheres are…well, never mind. We aren’t so keen on newcomers, but you’re here, so we’ll grant you the very same amount of hospitality we would any other precious visitor.

Watch out for the Splicers. Here. Have a glass of Arcadia. With my help, you’ll know who’s who in this city faster than plasmids lead a man down a spiraling path to hell. Did I say hell? I meant happiness, of course. Sit a spell. As long as you’ve got the ADAM, we’ve got the time.

So you somehow made your way here. You’re in awe, I can tell. She’s a beaut, ain’t she? Rapture is the brainchild of Andrew Ryan, our city’s glorious founder. This massive underwater utopia was constructed by Ryan in order to escape the “parasites” crawling around the world on the surface. In a post-World War II world, Ryan needed an escape; a place where man could thrive through the merits of the individual, the “sweat of his brow.”

We thrive on capitalism here. Religion and government are nonexistent. We are governed solely by our own ideals. Only the worthy are allowed free reign of the city. And the rest of the pigs on the surface? They can rot as far as we’re concerned.

Businesses, healthcare practices, and retailers are privately owned, so if you can’t afford it, then you might as well take a trip back up top. Living here is a privilege. Pick up a plasmid (a genetic upgrade) from our various vendors to augment the body you were born with. Hobnob with some of our finest citizens. But watch out for the trash we have roaming the streets. Plasmids have begun to degrade some of my fellow Rapturians’…quality. And there are some strange little girls roaming around that you won’t want to mess with. But we’ll get to that later.

Just look at this dashing fellow. Andrew Ryan. Some might call him the king of Rapture, and they wouldn’t be too far off. During his lifetime, this man was a legend. Without his hard work and dedication, we’d be nowhere. Born Andrei Rianofski, Ryan was born in Russia. Living in a communistic country taught him the values of a man’s hard work and all that it can accomplish.

After making his way to America to escape Russian’s economic collapse, he soon found that not all corners of the world shared his views. With the dissipation of the myth that America was the land of opportunity, Ryan needed his own escape. Thus, Rapture was born.

There are those causing unrest (poor schmucks who can’t hold down a job, no doubt), thinking Ryan was leading us down a path to ruin. That he was a pompous, elitist nutjob with unrealizable ideals. But you know what I say to that? Nothing can come together without the will of the people. Ryan was no criminal. Just look around you. Take in the stunning Art Deco-styled architecture, the gorgeous yet functional transportation known as Bathyspheres, and the various works of art around the city. Could all of this have come to fruition at the hands of an incompetent fool? Certainly not. Stay a while, and you’ll see. Everyone will see…everyone that’s left, anyway. It’s such a shame that Ryan’s own son took him out. But I suppose that’s all due to that crazy  Fontaine’s schemes. Either way, we’ll never forget what Ryan contributed to our lovely (but dilapidated) home. His life. His LIFE, do you hear me?

If Ryan was the king of Rapture, then Fontaine was the king of cons. Smuggling rings, contraband items, you name it. As an “entrepreneur,” he employed the gorgeous Brigid Tenenbaum (we’ll get to her in a bit) to create one of our most precious commodities, ADAM. In fact, he hired Tenenbaum and founded the Little Sister’s Orphanage deep in the heart of Rapture, pretending it was because he’s just that nice of a guy. In reality, he just wanted to get his grubby paws on the coveted element, making beaucoup bucks off the unsuspecting citizens of Rapture. In staunch opposition to Ryan, Fontaine made a respectable — well, you can’t really call it that — living for himself.

Ryan was none too pleased about the nature of Fontaine’s ways, and increasingly scared of the power that he was gaining over Rapture’s citizens. So he saw to it that Fontaine got what was coming to him. Officially, he “died” in a shootout with some of Ryan’s men, but the suspicious rise of the everyman Atlas (Fontaine’s freedom fighter alter ego) riled a few feathers. During his stint under the guise of Atlas, Fontaine set into motion a plan that would allow an illegitimate child to become a tool of his rise to power once more…

This wily son of a gun is much more important of a man than you’d think. The illegitimate child of Andrew Ryan and voluptuous mistress Jasmine Jolene, Jack spent most of his adult life and his most infamous trip through Rapture under the control of another — Fontaine, masquerading as the everyman hero Atlas. Groomed to respond to commands prefaced by the innocent phrase “Would you kindly,” Jack found himself to be the instrument of another man’s desire to rise to power. On his journey through Rapture, Jack uncovered some very unfortunate truths about himself, as well as our underwater utopia. What’s he up to now after destroying his father and making a break for it? Well, that’s all up to you, if you know what I mean.

And these charming little lassies? You don’t want to have a run-in with them. These seemingly innocent little girls are genetically altered. Conditioned. Their purpose? One thing only — retrieve the precious ADAM from corpses. So if you happen to wander near a poor lost soul, I’d hasten my step. Where these little girls go, their guardians always follow. And you can’t blame these mewling little children for being fussy. That hag Tenenbaum had a hand in mutating them, changing them with those digusting sea slugs. You can find them hanging around Splicers (oh, you’ll find out soon enough), extracting ADAM from the “angels.” God help you if you bring one to harm, lest you deal with death incarnate.

If you happen to cross the path of a Little Sister, it’s best to run away. Quickly! Unless you want a drill to the face or the shot of a rivet gun in your groin. These behemoths are known as Big Daddies. They come in a few different makes (the Bouncer model is pictured at right), but they all serve one purpose: keeping Little Sisters safe from harm. Though the men inside were previously just as human as you and I, they’re conditioned to guard the precious Little Sisters as they pillage and defile corpses in order to get their ADAM fix. Lay one finger on their precocious little heads and you may very well find a drill lodged in your stomach. Be ware. I wouldn’t chance going near one of those…things if I were you.

Splicers. Rapture’s crawling with ‘em. Once upon a time, they were normal blokes like you and I, but the mass consumption of ridiculous amounts of ADAM via plasmid has warped their brains and their appearances into something decidedly more ghoulish. You’ll find them lurking around the darker parts of town, ready to destroy their bodies for another plasmid fix. Don’t bother indulging them. Lodge a few bullets in them, for my sake. Filthy buggers. And don’t let their ability to speak like normal people fool you. They’ve got more than a few bats in their belfry, if you know what I mean — especially when they attempt to take on Big Daddies.

Tenenbaum is looking to redeem herself after turning innocent children into the scavenging monstrosities known as Little Sisters. As the “mother” (for all intents and purposes) of the beastly Little Sisters, she’s a key player in the fall of Rapture. As the mother figure for the lost little girls, she is of course quite concerned for their safety. That’s why it’s best to leave those kids alone. Jack Ryan did quite the personable thing with a Little Sister or two, saving them from their wretched existence, making Tenenbaum a powerful ally for when he made his daring journey through Rapture. It’s said that she now dwells on the surface (poor thing), but one can’t be too sure…

Look for Spawn Kill’s upcoming review of BioShock 2 soon. Until then, know that there’s something in the sea…and have fun with the sequel!