Ryan Amusements (game level)

* Connects From Atlantic_Express_(game_level)
* Connects To Paupers Drop
* See also Rapture Map
* See also Entertainment_In_Rapture
* See also BS2
* See also Amended_Game_Level_Maps
"Journey To The Surface" - An Experience that No Citizen of Rapture can afford to miss - Andrew Ryan.
The original Map is 90 degrees from a normal north-towards-top Orientation ( was determined by the direction the Station/Traincar points which would be East towards Paupers Drop ). The revised diagrams were not reoriented.
FIX: The Westbound track from the Station ( if it ran as shown on the original level map ) would smash thru the "Journey to the Surface" ride on the same level. The Map requires modification/adjustment to have a cohesive spatial representation - by shifting the Train Station down to basement level ( level 1 -- It was already downstairs from level 3 anyway ). Then stretch the stairs to descend a bit further so that the Station Tracks can clear the 2nd floor. Shift the station sideways to avoid the basement of the ride area on the lowest level ( the pump/maintenance room ).
As is common on many of these level maps, there is a spatial inconsistency -- Some grand windows as placed would look out directly upon a nearby building's side ( often another part of the same building ). A Skybox/Skydome (background view) covers the error in the game. Illogical/defective structural arrangements like this need to be resolved for the MMORPG ( which (now) DOES require Spatial Consistency -- No faked views ).
I could not really indicate position of the adjacent buildings that you see out the level's windows because they are about 1/3 full size ( go out with the Cheats and look at their windows close up ) and '3 X' closer than what they are supposed to represent. Some are even place on top of the Memorial Museum room to look like tall buildings looming out through the skylight. If you look at them all from different windows, each viewed building's direction angle/position is wrong from each viewpoint.
So, my reworked Ryan Amusements map does not indicate adjacent building in the cluster sited around the local Transit Hub. Those views out the building windows imply a number of tall buildings fairly close, which tower over the rather squat Ryan Amusements building. There are at least a dozen buildings represented in the immediate vicinity and larger ones further away on the (repetitive) Skybox background - It represents a fairly built-up area which Ryan Amusements is located within ( Probably a bit overdone/overloaded/crowded -- unless Rapture is only 1/2 mile square - the size of Disneyland Raptures size is NOT The "Size of Disneyland" or we would not need any Transit system. Some of the larger level maps are about a quarter of a mile on a side by themselves.)
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That School Class and Teacher ( in the Audio Diaries sequence ) got 'locked in' to the "Journey to the Surface" -- Apparently long enough for all of them to die of starvation ( or be killed by Splicers ). Where were they camping out originally ?? It is not exactly a choice spot amongst all the fake scenery and illusion-creating and potentially finger-crushing machinery.
A Field Trip dormitory and facilities have now been added ( through a blocked door in about the right place ) to give a proper location for that Class and Teacher to actually be there on that fateful New Years Eve in 1958. Guests could arrange to conveniently stay at the 'Park', to more enjoy Ryan's vision of the outside world and the other attractions. 
How they got 'locked-in' might reflect a weakness in the Ride's safety arrangements -- Like what happens if there is a fire, or a major leak -- Emergency Doors ( which open from the inside ) are 'not that expensive' a safety measure. This is NOT the "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory", where the sweatshop-like workers had to be locked inside to keep them working ... 
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Rapture Power Pump Station is added on lower levels. One of the many hot water pumping units used to move hot water from Hephaestus to most of the City ( via large concrete pipes ) for heating the living spaces. The system would have much redundancy, as a complete failure would eventually drop any area to the temperature of the water outside, which is often close to freezing.
Added/Improved the 'Journey To The Surface' Ride's "Bathysphere" pod repair center and spare pod storage area. The number of active pods would be adjusted to the customer traffic ( The riders get off very close to where they get on so the line of 'empties' has to be kept short ).
Are those Phones in the Gift Shop meant to be usable by Wizard of Oz munchkins (so low) ?? - They are awfully close to the groundThe Game Avatars 'Point of View' apparently is set to be about 'chest level' so you can sight down the gun and Plasmid hand. The phone position seems set for that.. I also still think those Pay-phones should have allowed you to bash them to steal change ... OR had them play odd recorded 'Out of Service' messages and such ( or a crazy Splicer on other end ?? ) -- Well, the MMORPG can improve on them.
Storage Lockers (in the Ryan Amusements Lobby) - Shouldn't they all have been busted open/destroyed, since in Lamb-land everyone shares and nobody (officially) 'holds out' on "The Rapture Family" ???? "Locks get in the way of Unity" -- Yet Sofia Lamb lived behind locked doors ...
Ideas for Redoing the "Journey to the Surface" ride ( by New Rapture eventually when the area is rebuilt ) :
* to include collectivist Sofia Lamb's control/enslavement and individualism destroying insanity
* to include the lawless gangster and assassin Fontaine
* to include that murdering pretend-collectivist Atlas's greed for power which wrecked Rapture.
* to include uncontrollable addiction - ADAM Plasmids/tonics and the resulting corrosion of civilization.
* to include *Escape to NEW Rapture* ( "Where the Past is NOT Forgotten", and the Future is being rebuilt )
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The 'Security Monitoring Room' could have been alot better, with at least one 'monitoring station' spot, with a whole bank of TV monitors to watch the people on the ride and other points. It should have had a 'Lost and Found', which might have had alot of weird (amusing) stuff which people had lost, and which no one since had ever wanted to take.
Security station details (add/improve) :
* Security Status Board ( like we saw in Medical Center ) - [] Emergency Access Panel
* Armory ( we saw in BS2 ), ammo supply would be logical addition ( including 'Nightsticks' for that kinder gentler Rapture of the 'before time' )
* Fly-bot Station ( A Staffed Flybot refuel/reload/service station - added/expanded during 'civil war' )
* Monitoring Station ( a bank of TV monitors for watching ride patrons, and later security scanners )
* Secure Restroom for Staff ( doubles as a holding cell )
* Communication Center ( Security comm network hub )
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Those 'Bathysphere' pods used on the 'Journey to the Surface' Ride could potentially be reused for a New Rapture tour thru the Tenenbaum Clinic, and its ancillary facilities ( a constant reminder of the purpose of saving Splicers, and restoration of Rapture to its greatness ).
Interesting that at the end of the BS2 "Journey to the Surface" Ride, Ryan asks the kids to suggest people who might want to come to Rapture -- which puts its recording date before 1952. But then, the ride operated until the Kashmir Incident in 1958 ( as per the Audio Diaries about the teacher and kids trapped there ) and wasn't corrected ( ??? Or were people still being brought there after 1952 when the City building was 'Completed ? ). Perhaps more selective immigrants were being brought to make adjustments for various shortfalls in attaining the 'self-sufficiency', or were some of Ryan's employees who had remained on The Surface to work the Project from that end.
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Ryan Amusements did (added) have a connection to the nearby Plaza Transit Hub ( and the Rapture's 'Street' network ) which allowed continued public access to the Park in the Post-AE-Bankruptcy period ( after the AE Trains lost most of their passenger traffic and the Trolley/Bathyspheres largely took over ). The long Viaduct connection has an innovation of a Moving Sidewalk (both directions) added to ease foot travel from the local Transit Hub and Plaza ( with its Shopping Arcade ). Children often found the Moving Sidewalk more interesting than most of the 'attractions' in the Park.
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Journey to the Insanity :
"The Journey to the Surface" ride diagram (level 2) looks like it could almost be used verbatim by a retro pixel style Mini-Game -- Where you are a patrol Fly-bot who has to protect ride-goers from Splicers, who break into that place. As time goes on, more and more visitors enter the ride and more Splicers come in to try to terrorize them. As you fly by, you can hear the spiels from the different displays, Ryan monologues, and strange noises that give you a clue where the Splicers are lurking ( which includes behind the false-front walls, and in the many crawl-spaces ). Periodically, you have to get back to Fly-bot base to refuel and reload. THE RIDE MUST GO ON !!!
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This Game Level is the place you really start to enjoy some of Sofia Lamb's little Inspirational public announcements. It would have been nice to be able to 'shoot up' the loud speakers ( only to later find yet another set somewhere else that continues to spew at you ). Is she piping these things in from Persephone ? Or is there a local automatic system that plays recordings of her 'Be One with the BodyA Star Trek reference https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Archons_(episode) .' Propaganda ? Played 'Day and Night', drumming it into the "family" Splicers heads -- ADAM might not be the only reason many of them are insane.
Some of those announcements can still be heard in The MMORPG, in areas where the remnants of 'The Rapture Family' are still trying to make believe that their 'Dear Leader' is still around 'to take care of them'.
In the 'El Dorado Lounge' : There are 2 wrapped corpses and a pile of Unity and Metamorphosis books -- That about spells it all out right there. More of Lamb's 'volunteers' ?
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The windows in the El Dorado Lounge are more like what most windows in Rapture actually should be like -- arched/curved ( the ones there are semi-spherical - doubly curved ) to structurally transfer the water's pressure into compression onto the building's concrete structure, and with heavy metal reinforcements for the small panes to support all that force upon the 'glass' ( even if that glass is pretty thick ). The huge flat window panes in Neptune's Bounty were ridiculous/impossible ( and a rather unlikely expensive waste to have within an industrial plant -- Increase the dimensional size and CUBE the required engineering and its COST ).
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Also in the El Dorado Lounge, above the Bot-Shutdown station, there is a grill labeled "SECURITY INVENTORY", which as a 'home' for a Security Flybot, would be a logical decentralized system ( even though it is the only one I've seen, and it is only really there to justify a Flybot inactive on the ground for you to Hack for fighting your first Big Daddy ). The INVENTORY Grill looks originally built-in - not some kludged security added in a rushed fashion during the 'civil war'/Atlas Terrorism. Perhaps Ryan had been testing such units long before the 'civil war' caused them to be placed everywhere - as we saw in BS1.
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Lots of utility passages in the "Journey to The Surface" area ( with all those false fronts along the Ride's path ). Spider Splicers would have loved this place, with all its nooks and crannies and dark ceilings to lie in wait on.
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Lamb Shrines - All Those Candles :
They ( The Rapture Family Cultists ) sure use up alot of CandlesCandles - Levine seems to have some strant Candle Fetish with the number we saw to a ridiculous extent in Columbia. It may have just been a simpleton 'lighting effect' for a game prop filler. ( How likely is it they decide to have their little Lamb-Worship service always just before you get there ?? ). By now (BS2 time) shouldn't they be running out of Candles ? Or are there some giant ADAM-enhanced Bees somewhere to provide the most obvious source of wax ? Perhaps also : the candles which Sofia Lamb supplied to her Cult had a few "additives" to encourage their compliant and obedient behavior ( ?? Some new Pheromone Control/trigger we heard first about in BS1 ) ??
What was shown in that additional (currently wrecked) scene in the Memorial Museum ?? "Completion and Immigrants Arrival" ( Happy faces with mushroom cloud off in the distance ? ). When rebuilt, it might be "New Rapture Rising !"
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Additional 'Park' Attractions ( It was pretty Meager to Start With ) :
* Game Arcade :
** Whack-a-Parasite - Brought to you by Beef-E ( wholly owned subsidiary of Sinclair Chemicals )
** The Great Chain Pull - Test your Strength - raise the achievement level to win a prize
** Plugged Nickel toss - "Parasites can't be Choosers" game
** The first electronic comp-u-ter game : "Spitfire" ( brought to you by McClendon Robotics )
** Shooting gallery ( You can imagine the type of targets there would be ... )
* Diver Dan's Puppet Theater - showing good Rapture themed 'Kiddee Puppet Shows' ( character and Prop items available in Gift Shop ). Fancy special effects to beat what 'the kiddees' see on TV. Bad (often impromptu) 'groan inducing' jokes to keep the parents from falling asleep.
* A Popcorn Stand - someone figured out how to grow the right corn type on a Rapture farm ( much better than those vacuum-chamber popped Peas that they had before ).
* Funhouse -- another commercially funded attraction ( Rapture Chiropractor Association ) - A classic funhouse with barrel roll, air jets, moving/tilting floor/steps, rotating floor discs, slides, distortion mirrors, silly faces, strobing lights ...
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The El Dorado Lounge has gotten an upgrade to broaden its appeal ( now a Bar Restaurant ) as a destination in itself for more than "Parents with children in tow" ( Actually the sign out in the AE Train Station does say "Eat at El Dorado Restaurant", even though there was no kitchen or locked doors leading to any food preparation site inside it. ) My new expansion makes use of that block of building that sticks out from the rest of the complex ( which otherwise is the typical bunker-like monolithic shape ). A lower floor now has private dining rooms. A Le Cordon Bleu chef made this place a rival to "the Kashmir" at one time.
A bit strange that on "Journey to the Surface", the various scenes/lessons had an activation button -- When they should really be triggered by the movement of the 'Bathysphere' Ride Pods along the track. I know that they did it that way because the ride is not operating when WE are there ( seeing the pods still rolling might have made for interesting situations -- Will have to have THAT in the MMORPG ). But maybe they could have had some simple electric eye mechanism that you trip as you walk by just ahead of the scene ??? ( And if you get sick of activating them over and over, you can try to hop over them ... )
I wonder, since there is (allegedly) that 'No Laws in Rapture' (Player misunderstanding), IF they can tell you at the start of the ride to "keep your arms inside the Bathysphere at all times ..." ( Maybe they just have a 'warning wall, with all the arms/hand/heads that have been torn off - tacked up on it, OR some 'warning diagrams' showing what might happen to you in cartoon graphic detail ... )
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Newspaper Rack vending machines, still with newspapers from the time of Kashmir Incident ( and like the Bubblegum and various other vending machines, they must be made of Ryanium, as they are indestructible. ) Paper can be a useful item and has many uses (ie - TP). It is Amazing that there is anything left in ANY of the Vending Machines by this time.
It might have been interesting for the Game Developers to put in-game a few 'late' Newspaper Editions - entire newspaper pages ( viewable after taken from machine ) with the various stories from those last times before things were rapidly/catastrophically falling apart ( So to use it to fill-in/corroborate some of the backstory ).
The MMORPG might have such newspapers generated periodically (weekly ?) about the New Rapture doings. Typesets and headline fonts are easy to edit. They can have Headlines of recent important happenings ( some done by Players, with fillers by NPCs ). A Sports page, Ads page (always), Comics Section, etc ... Such a game-feature would need proper Server-generated filler for When the Players don't feel like supplying appropriate materials. "Latest Raid by Splicers turned back", "Repaired Traintrack to XYZ Nears Completion", and other such events. Part of those auto-created Asset bundles would be form-letter-like 'news articles' used to facilitate this feature (Templates).
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In the AE Station near the end of our visit, we meet Sinclair who comes out of a small closet/storage room.
There is very much we don't know about Sinclair -- Like how he survived the many years since Ryan's demise, and the resulting Chaos - and being thrown out of his Hotel by Sofia Lamb's squatters. He probably had many cleverly hidden 'bolt-holes', where he could safely reside while he continued to pull strings throughout Rapture. You might notice the front of a Metro Traincar above on the wall as a "Atlantic Express" decoration. A nice cozy multilevel living space would fit there ( with a secure secret door from that storage room, who's own door (if you noticed) was originally locked ). Sinclair did alot of contracting and projects all over Rapture, and so he had access and opportunity to build many such 'insurance policies' for himself. Some of his 'stashes' are still being looked for in the MMORPG.
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One of the strange things I saw was in some of the employee serviceways ( Where ride customers couldn't possibly see it ) : Brickwork that was a (fake) thin veneer ( damage showed cement immediately beneath the veneer ). You can understand using faked veneer for all the 'false-fronts' of the ride path areas ( all those eclectic styles/materials ) facing the customers. But why have it where only Employees would see ( ... it only created extra work/expense/maintenance ) ?
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Sofia Lamb's Little Motivational Spiel Over the Announcement System :
""Ryan saw the individual as a hero, a noble survivor. And Rapture was his paradise, a shrine to the supremacy of the self. The result ? Slavery, genocide, Chaos. Now that the tyrant is dead, we are a true collective, a single Family.""
Slavery, Genocide, Chaos - Sofia Lamb is actually naming the crimes she and the other arch-parasite Fontaine/Atlas were guilty of perpetrating -- Taking advantage of a society massively disrupted by the 'Bio-Shock' of ADAM addiction/insanity ( a poisoning largely perpetrated by Fontaine ) to try to seize power for themselves. There is nothing new about evil people accusing their enemies of their Own crimes. ( AND Worse : the Collectivists Stalin/Lenin/Mao/Pol-Pot who murdered MILLIONS in the name of their collectivist agendas. )
Unfortunately, we don't really get a proper face-to-face with Sofia to argue a rebuttal.
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Shocking !!! :
Those nice electrical 'shorts' all over which we see ( a good visual effect for Rapture's dark ambiance ). It might have been good to have them also be a hazard that would shock you if you brush against them ( like the effect fires do if you are too close ). They could have had a few tight places like they did where you had to carefully inch past a fire hazard ( and also : add wet floors, with a 'short' going thru it, which could make a whole area that was a hazard to avoid --- or to sucker Splicers into ). Even more fun : if the Players activating a short also started fires in adjacent combustible fluid puddles, and/or a whole chain reaction of exploding things ( combustible drums/ammunition/gas-cylinders/etc ... ). SO much potential lost ...
Thinking along similar lines : having more (optional) things to activate via the 'Electro-Shock' would have been nice. As would other triggerable things that could act as alternate tactics in various situations ( to break up the endless/repetitive "use Plasmid attack on Splicer, then shoot Splicer to death" pattern of Combat ). The BioShock MMORPG should offer alot more ways of getting such things done.
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All the wrecked 'Bathysphere' pods in "Journey to the Surface" still have their lights on ( off track, upside down, etc ... ) They must've used some of the new long-life Bioluminescent Light tech which Rapture had developed so to stay on so many years-since any maintenance was done ( and many not being on any track to power them ).
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"Transit Authority" seen on the Station Clocks ( Railroads were the ones who originally pushed for Standard Time ).
But that makes me think about : Rapture would have had some Central Time Clock which the whole city was synchronized to ( a Master Clock ). The whole City would use one Time Zone ("Rapture Time") which might still match the 'surface' time for convenience of people like Fishermen ( who still go up/near the Ocean Surface ) who might actually have a need for their time to match the Sun. Most of the other people of Rapture cannot see the Sun at their Depth - Maybe just a brighter murkiness for those who are a bit closer to the Ocean Surface depth ( in top floors of tall buildings/shallow areas on the side of Mt Ryan ).
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Looks like the schooling standards were a bit better in Rapture than today's ( they were anyway in the 1940s/1950s ) -- with such long words/vocabulary/concepts presented on a 'Kidee Ride' :
* Taxes Ave.
* Bureaucracy
* Censorship Bureau
* War St.
* Conformity and Co.
* Ordinance
* Welfare St.
* Sanctions
* Laws
* Courthouse
* Chaos Corner
* Collapse Ave.
* Authority Inc.
* Persecution Blvd.
* Turmoil
* Oppression
* Curfew
* Social Services Ln.
* Special Interest
* Internment
* Coercion
* Tariff Office
* Taxes Ave. (again)
* War St. (again)
* Disease
* Chaos Corner (again)
* Collapse Ave. (again)
* Escape to Rapture
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In the "Journey To The Surface" Ride, that row of Jail cells ( bars with big keyhole/lock ) you ride between ( just past 'Internment' ) was interesting -- But they forgot the 'Pirates trying to lure the dog with the keys in its mouth' Cell & Dog with Keys = Pirates of the Caribbean reference. The stockpile of giant grasping/reaching Arms/Hands which you find was also amusing. Recycle enough of the hydraulics and some lucky Splicer might build his own 'Handyman' rig ...
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Austen Streamliner Submarine Ad in the Gift Shop -- "Best of Year 1952" -- which means that there was more than one model/company making Private Subs ?? Advertised in a common public venue might imply more than just rich people could afford them ( or it is just creating the Prestige Image for those RICH people, who COULD afford them AND the expensive facilities required to operate them ). 
One hopes they also sold Garages with the Subs, as they are pretty useless without them. The elongated shape would not fit in any of the Metro Bathysphere Station's docks, so to have usefulness, there would have to be separate (exclusive) Submarine Dock facilities somewhere/everywhere ( something never seen/mentioned in the game, but there are a few I've added on my amended level maps ).
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A Logical MMORPG Adjustment To El Dorado Restaurant :
The El Dorado Restaurant (Ryan Amusements) - Inca/Aztec/Mayan/Conquistador could have a exotic Indian ( Native American/Pre-ColumbianHistoric Mezo-American - NOT the Infinite BS themez ) themed Art Deco type decor and a show (and Tequila/Rum specialty cocktails - artificial flavoring when required ).
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Ryan Amusements - I can see why that AE Line was not overly successful/used-much ( What reason anyone have to go there more than once ?? El Dorado Lounge ?? You have to pay full admission to get access to it. )
* "Journey to The Surface" was hardly 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ( at least it didn't present the image of an 'A-Bombs blowing up The Surface' scene ). An Animatronics scene of Bolsheviks murdering Ryan's family might have been interesting.
* Needed something more friendly for the kids - like costumed characters walking around - like Sammy the Sea Slug or Diver Dan ...
* An Attraction called 'Parasite Patrol' might have fit in ( arcade type shooting gallery game -- operating in-game Mini-Games have been done inside various published games lately - usually as a parody/caricature ).
* Another Ride called 'This is Money' or 'Cascade of Money' ( whence the bounty flows when one works hard ).
* "Carnival" ( about a third of a mile North of Fontaine Futuristics ) was much more popular, and thus was connected via the convenient Metro Trolley lines.
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The Rapture Memorial Museum was obviously an Indoctrination Exhibit ( as most museums are ), reinforcing Rapture's Achievement Oriented Society .
An exaggeration of a significant event. A mythos for a great achievement. ( Scene likely to have really taken place in front of an office desk full of Survey reports ).
What isn't apparent, perhaps to the Player, is what a huge effort building Rapture would have been ( Fleets of Freighters ... making MANY runs ). Many people in Rapture would understand.
The gamemakers 'toss in' some crass commercialism. But they had 'scant else' they 'tossed in' -- for a place which was supposed to be an Amusement Area ( The venue calls for things which would supposedly keep children busy for more than 5 minutes ).
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Improved Animatronics For Journey To The Surface
With the MMORPG adding the Ryan_is_still_Alive Epic Twist to the Redo of BS1, somewhat better animatronics would be there in Ryan Amusements - Possibly added in several other spots. McClendon would be the obvious contractor for the Robotics used.
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