BioShock's Big Daddy With No Helmet Is The Stuff Of Nightmares
Some things, you just aren't meant to see. Like Toad from Mario not wearing his hat (yep, it's a hat), to the anatomy of a Fall Guy, some gaming mysteries are best left where they are. A bit like seeing Darth Vader without his helmet in Star Wars, we don't need to know what's going on beneath the tough exterior of a Big Daddy in BioShock.
Since the release of the first BioShock in 2007, the lumbering Big Daddy monster has cemented itself as one of the best video game creations of modern times.
Although Big Daddies sat out the main campaign of BioShock: Infinite in favour of a robotic George Washington and giant Songbird monster, we hope they'll be back for BioShock 4. Well, just as long as they keep their helmets on.
What does a Big Daddy look like without its helmet on?
The role of the standard Big Daddy was as a protector of the Little Sisters in Rapture, however, there have since been a total of four more Big Daddy variants introduced into the mix. Not that players have dared get close enough to pull off their helmets, one designer has done it for us.
PC Gamer's Andy Kelly unearthed a concept for a helmet-less Big Daddy, and safe to say, we're horrified. Looking a bit like a potato-headed Sontaran from Doctor Who, it definitely takes away some of the Big Daddy's fear factor.
Instead of being some hulking monster, the Deco Devolution art book explained production model Big Daddies have their helmets filled with a bioluminescent chemical substance to display their state of emotion - hence green for subdued/red for angry.
Fans were suitably fuming with the concept, as one wrote, "I would appreciate it if I didn't have to see this and I refused to imagine that is what they look like because you become a big daddy at the end of the game right so so I would like to think the other big daddies are the same except just Skin & Bone". It's a good point. At the end of the OG BioShock, Jack has to collect all the parts to become a Big Daddy to try and take on the villainous Frank Fontaine.
Another horrified player added, "I prefer the concept art that explores the fact that they're genetically modified humans with their skin and organs grafted onto and integrated into a diving suit".
Will we see Big Daddies again?
In terms of where BioShock 4 goes next, no one really knows. The story of Rapture and the Big Daddies was largely played out in the first two games, but as we previously said, they were missed in Infinite. The Big Daddies returned for the Burial at Sea DLC, so there's a chance they could come back for a wholly different BioShock 4.
At the moment, it's anyone's guess where BioShock will take the story, but either way, expect it to be connected to what comes before. The ending of BioShock: Infinite teased that these worlds are all part of the same. With infinite lighthouses teasing infinite adventures, new studio Cloud Chamber can do what it wants. If BioShock hypothetically went to space, it would be easy to rework the Big Daddy concept into a futuristic astronaut.
It would also be possible to explore the glory days of Rapture in a BioShock prequel and give more to the backstory of the Big Daddy anatomy, but if this is what they look like without helmets on, we say keep them on for BioShock 4.