BioShock 2 Removed Content

Before its final version, BioShock 2 was submitted to numerous ideas from its developers, 2K Marin. This article's purpose is to reveal all recorded content that did not make it to the game, or that was modified beforehand. However, since the following elements were removed or unused on purpose from the final version of the game, they should not be considered canon to the game's history, nor as an actual part of its universe.

Soviet Invaded Rapture
"To be added"

Characters
The following will not only detailed characters who were entirely removed from the game, but also altered versions of their part in the game's story.

Subject Delta
At the point the Hunting the Big Sister trailer was released, the player did not yet have their own model. As such, the video shows the placeholder of a Rosie model to represent the player, instead.

Eleanor Lamb
Eleanor Lamb was originally to be the Big Sister, back when there was one single Big Sister in Rapture who was to hunt Subject Delta. This was also to be one of the plot twists of the game (revealing the Little Sister that belonged to you is now the main antagonist), but the developers thought this twist was too predictable. Eleanor's role had changed for the game (although she does become a Big Sister in the last act for helpful purposes), and the Big Sister became multiple Big Sister boss battles.

In some scrapped audio diaries, it was to be revealed that Eleanor is the biological daughter of Subject Delta. Apparently Sofia Lamb had obtained genetic material from Subject Delta while he was a test subject in Fontaine Futuristic and used it to produce Eleanor. For reasons unknown but much like above, this too was scrapped.

Sofia Lamb
To be added

Augustus Sinclair
Sinclair's first model was like the Cuban-American actor Desi Arnaz.

Brigid Tenenbaum
Brigid Tenenbaum was meant to have a much larger presence in BioShock 2 during development. Similar to the first game, she was meant to give the player gifts for saving Little Sisters. When the story was finalized, the designers had decided this was "not important for her", and her part was minimized, the role of rewarding kindness was given to Eleanor Lamb.

Tenenbaum did manage to get a bigger role in the Minerva's Den (DLC), by awakening and helping Subject Sigma throughout the game.

Grace Holloway
"To be added"

Stanley Poole
Stanley had another character model with a period-appropriate Hawaiian shirt. The producers stated that it was too "out of place" for the setting, and that it felt really modern even though it wasn't.

Gilbert Alexander
"To be added"

Ava Tate
Ava Tate was intended to be an important character working under Sofia Lamb. Juliet Landau, who also voiced the Little Sisters in BioShock recorded her speaking roles, but the character was mostly cut from the game. Much of Tate's character was repurposed for Mlle Blanche de Glace

Nigel Weir
"To be added"

Other Minor Characters

 * Jean-Paul Beauregard
 * Julianne Corona
 * Tommy Hanrahan
 * James Hollcroft
 * Thoroughgood Hudson
 * Earl Manley
 * Davis Pittman
 * Ghosts

Mlle Blanche de Glace
Blanche was supposed to be a lot older and "road worn" then what we see in the game. Her theme was about how she had trouble finding jobs because much younger starlets got all the roles.

Suresh Sheti
Suresh was originally going to be a female, an magician's assistant with a Rockette-style tailcoat and fishnet stockings.

Splicers
Concept art shows all of the splicers had many variations of the same model; more or less hair, a tie or a bow-tie, more or less deformed. And one that purposely can breath underwater, named Aqua Splicer. In the final game, the only variation is the colors of the splicers.

Jesters


Tall thin splicers dressed up in beautiful jester costumes and masks would have appeared in some level of the game (most likely in the early preserved Dionysus Park concept, or through the eyes of a little sister). The Jesters would have held long ribbons and possibly behaved similarly to Spider splicers, and some designs showed no visible mutations.

Survivor
Non-spliced people still surviving in Rapture, whom the player may have interacted with.

Soviets
"To be added"

Big Daddies
Some concepts show that some of them where going to be spliced with horrible deformities.

Big Sisters
At one time, there was one single Big Sister in Rapture who was to hunt Subject Delta.

Little BrothersLBconcept.jpg
"To be added"

Pneumo Trading
The Deco Devolution artbook mentions that an early idea for the game involved the player trading for supplies with isolated camps of Rapture survivors through the Pneumo tube system. "Originally, and this was very heavily affected by the story, we were going to have survivors in Rapture that had hidden out in these camps and needed a way to talk to one another and trade goods back and forth. We came up with the idea of using the Pneumo system. It was a mail system but very simplistic—old pneumatic tube air devices. So I came up with the idea that they would build these glass boxes, like fish tanks, sealed off, and inside they would take junk from Rapture, old TVs and things like that and link them together and make these cobbled together devices that they could stick into Pneumo tubes. The idea with this one specifically, the TV would show the ammo guy, his list of ammunition, and what he had in his supply cabinet. You'd click him, and he'd say "Hey, how're you doing? I've got ammo here. Do you want this stuff?" Then you would say "I want machine gun ammo." Then he would say, "Oh yeah. Here it is." He would show it to you and give you a price, then you would pay for it and then it would pop up in the Pneumo tube. In this screen, the bottom right hand corner is smashed like some Splicer hit it with a crowbar because he got mad. Each screen tells its own little story in that you come up with your own ideas about what might have happened to this particular element."

- Jim Ingram, 2K Marin UI artist

The developers had already created a model and several UI screens for the Pneumo trading machine before it was cut from final verison the game. It was ultimately removed because the survivors idea was no longer a part of the storyline.

"Splicers fear/hate drill" Mechanic
The player was originally going to be able to scare splicers with the drill are as seen from Hunting the Big Sister trailer, This removed the mechanic for reused another mechanic from unused enemy the soviet that for originally planned cut storyline that soviet navy invaded rapture and mostly replaced splicers.

The Prelude
In the finished version of BioShock 2, the level that serves as an introduction to the game is the Adonis Luxury Resort, but this level was the last to be created. Also, it is named Prelude-2 in the game's files for a simple reason: developers at 2K Marin had already created a Prelude level which was eventually scrapped. This level would have been the famous first level of BioShock (or parts of it), Welcome to Rapture, but recreated as what it looked like during the 1958 New Year's Eve and the bombing at the Kashmir Restaurant.

This introduction would have been a playable flashback in which the player controlled Subject Delta, protecting Eleanor Lamb (as a Little Sister) in the Kashmir Restaurant when the bombs went off and the 1958 New Year's Eve riots erupted. At the end of the flashback, Subject Delta would have woken up in the ruins of the flooded Kashmir Restaurant ten years after the events of the first BioShock game.

The only parts left of this unused level are the introduction cinematic of the game (which shows a slightly different version of the level), but also the loading screen images that would have been displayed during its loading (featured in the gallery below) and radio messages left in the game's files.

Pauper's Drop
Pauper's Drop was going to feature a garbage dump. There was an idea of a guy who was vending batteries and fresh drinking water at the Drop.

The Sinclair Deluxe
The Sinclair Deluxe was originally going to feature Big Daddies strung up from the upper floor balconies in the atrium. This was replaced late in the development process with Blue Morpho butterflies fluttering around butterfly feeders. The hanging Big Daddies can still be seen in one of the loading screen images at the start of the Pauper's Drop level. There would also be a round bench in the center of the atrium instead of the sand bags that are there now.

Siren Alley
Siren Alley and Pauper's Drop were originally meant to be combined in one level. They would have been one large slum, containing elements like a diner, a church, a brothel, etc. Eventually the designers decided there were too many important elements for one level, so it was split into two: the slum (Pauper's Drop), and the red light district (Siren Alley).

Dionysus Park
Dionysus Park was first designed as a totally preserved, uncorrupted, section of Rapture untouched by the civil war. Development was far along before they decided it was previously flooded. There were also to be large marionette puppets which would have made some appearance in the level. An early idea was for a doorway out of the art gallery space which led to an indoor forest. This was an experiment with spatial surrealism that ultimately failed. The entrance to Dionysus Park was to be through the atrium of Fort Frolic, which had become completely flooded since the events of the original BioShock.

Fontaine Futuristics
The Fontaine Futuristics level was to have been 90%-100% out in the ocean, rather than inside a building. The player would have to try find a way to safely float down the ocean trench behind Fontaine Futuristics to reach Persephone.

Inner Persephone
Little Brother Therapy rooms were going to be here, but the idea of Little Brothers was cut and so was this. The therapy rooms are seen in the games for Little Sisters.

Arcadia
The entrance of Arcadia would have been a part of the multiplayer map as seen from concept art.

Fleet Hall
The Fleet Hall from BioShock's Fort Frolic was to be a multiplayer level. The stage of the Fleet hall was supposed to have various sets built up, and the player could interact by dropping hanging walls to make new pathways, block pathways, and even kill other players. The idea was cut, replaced by the Triton Cinema found in Dionysus Park in single player mode.

Point Prometheus
The museum was to feature a Giant Seahorse, but in the finished game the Seahorse is covered. The museum was also going to be very bright with flashing lights and contain skeletons of animals found on the surface.

There was to be a "Plasmids Wing"  with many cardboard cutouts showcasing the power of plasmids, but in the final game the wing is under construction.

Unused Propaganda Level
There were going to be an unnamed level on sets of propaganda films.

Audio Diaries
This is a list of every Audio Diary that was not include in the final version. Please refer to the legend below for clarity in their appearance.

CoR: in the audio files and displayed on the Cult of Rapture website.

AF: in the audio files.

Tr: only present in the game's files as a transcript.


 * Adonis Luxury Resort
 * "Big Kate" O'Malley - Attention: Workers! (Alternate) - AF


 * Atlantic Express Depot
 * Andrew Ryan - Sinclair Solutions - CoR
 * Brigid Tenenbaum - Survivors - CoR
 * Augustus Sinclair - Private Interests - CoR
 * Julianne Corona - Too Dumb to Die - CoR
 * Mark Meltzer - The Ends of the Earth - CoR


 * Ryan Amusements
 * Carlson Fiddle - Journey to the Surface - CoR
 * Sofia Lamb - Ryan Amusements
 * Davis Pittman - Welcome to the Funhouse - CoR
 * Jean-Paul Beauregard - Breaking My Silence - CoR
 * Thoroughgood Hudson - Marketing Test - Tr
 * More to be added


 * Pauper's Drop
 * James Hollcroft - Gene Gin Jingle - CoR
 * James Hollcroft - A Capitalist’s Best Friend - CoR
 * Augustus Sinclair - Rise of the Underdog - CoR
 * Augustus Sinclair - Sinclair Deluxe & Sinclair Spirits - CoR
 * Gilbert Alexander - Not Nigh Enough - CoR
 * Leo Hartwig - Successful Experiment - Tr
 * More to be added


 * Siren Alley
 * Simon Wales - Before the Lamb I - CoR
 * Simon Wales - Before the Lamb II - CoR
 * Simon Wales - Before the Lamb III - CoR
 * Simon Wales - Before the Lamb IV - CoR
 * Simon Wales - Before the Lamb V - CoR
 * Simon Wales - Path of the Lamb - CoR
 * More to be added


 * Dionysus Park
 * Earl Manley - Changes - CoR
 * Tommy Hanrahan - Scout Plasmid - CoR
 * Gloria Parson - Not Your Daddy - CoR
 * Gilbert Alexander - Alpha Series - CoR
 * Stanley Poole - House of Cards - CoR
 * More to be added


 * Fontaine Futuristics
 * To be added


 * Outer Persephone
 * To be added


 * Inner Persephone
 * To be added


 * Minerva's Den
 * Evelyn Klein - Recorded Announcements - AF
 * Evelyn Klein - Second-Class Work - AF
 * Evelyn Klein - Unacceptable - AF
 * Evelyn Klein - Break Room Leak - AF
 * Evelyn Klein - Fraternization - AF
 * Evelyn Klein - Vacuum Bot Contract - AF

Radio Messages
"To be added"