I discovered that a friend had never heard of the story before, was entirely unfamiliar, and had no meaningful recollection of references to it in pop culture.

What a rare opportunity!

Had to find a printing that doesn’t half-spoil it in the blurb, but it was so worth it to get an authentic reaction from someone for whom it was actually a ‘twist’ ending.

Bioshock: Rapture by John Shirley does a pretty good job of weaving together the background details of the first two games into a pretty compelling prequel novel.