I've always considered Bioshock a horror game but not everyone agrees on this. The developers have stated they were inspired by survival horror games like Resident Evil but inspiration from a genre doesn't automatically make it that.
this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
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Idk, OP asked if the game is considered horror. So horror being so high up on the list of user tags seems to answer their question pretty directly. Checking back on this post it also seems like the overwhelming majority of users here also agree with the tag, anyway
Maybe the discourse I've encountered isn't as popular a take as it seemed to me. In the past, even recently, when I've been asked for horror game recommendations, and I include Bioshock in the list, I've had push back on Bioshock being considered horror at all, which would devolve into a conversation about what makes something horror. They would argue that Bioshock wasn't horror because it wasn't supernatural or "scary" or gorey enough but I would argue it contains all of those things but also that horror doesn't have to be scary or gorey to begin with. It's hard to remember the details of our debate now but that was the gist.
I hear that, yeah it’s kind of in-between. If someone asked for a horror recommendation you’d probably think twice about it.
But at the same time, if someone said “I absolutely do not want a horror game” then you’d also be thinking twice, right?
I think it’s fair to call it a blend. Not too heavy on the horror but it’s there. Plenty of games are like that. Sorry people tried to fight with you about it lol, some people get bent out of shape too easily
The debates were usually with my friends so it wasn't heated, just a bunch of nerds arguing about games but I've definitely had conversations about it in other gaming communities.
Y... yeah. Still, I would like to see an official studio listing of Tags or description of their own game.
As I see the comment chain I also see how the Tag Horror is different in context
That’s no problem. The official description of Bioshock directly from the developers is
Other than that, what do you mean about the horror tag being different in context? There’s only one horror tag on steam. People tag the games if they feel like the tag is appropriate. If you want the further context, you come to discussions about it such as this one