The Bioshock Remastered Edition is literally the worst bait and switch in gaming history (hyperbole).

     I was really excited for the Bioshock Remastered edition, until I played it... I cannot begin to fathom what the developers were thinking as they showered us with pretty trailers and screenshots of upgraded effects and fancy new textures. Sure some of the textures are better and the lighting is nicer in parts of the game, but what I want to focus on is the opening.

What you see in the main menu

What the game actually looks like

     The opening moments of a game are one of the most important parts to get right.  Bioshock had a fantastic opening and from what we saw in the trailers (and the main menu!) they did a fantastic job of updating it with shiny new particle effects, a more detailed lighthouse, and a brand new super spiffy water shader... Then you load up the game and you get this:

The Main Menu vs In Game lighting, water, and  particle effects

     What...

     I mean What!!? Am I missing something?

     I understand that what you show in a trailer does not always make it to the final game. There are plenty of games that have gotten flack for that in recent years, which is an argument for another time. What I cannot understand is why you would show off features in the main menu that did not make it into the game. Especially when they are so drastically different.  What we end up with is a new skybox and that's it. they didn't even switch out the super dated water texture.

 Anyone who has taken an art class could draw a nice perspective grid using the highlights on the tiling water texture 

     Everything, the water, particle effects, and Lighthouse are completely different from what they show in the trailer and main menu which leaves me at a loss for words. How can someone downgrade a game that's 10 years old?

I want my pretty water effects from the main menu :(

The new lighthouse looks shiny, too bad you cant see it in game.

      I don't want to end this post sounding like an entitled gamer.  Neither 2K Games nor Irrational Games owe me anything. The fact that they made the PC version free if you already own the game on Steam is awesome! I was excited to go back and replay the game but this, on top of the numerous other problems with the Really Bad PC Port, might just make me uninstall it and go back to my NG+ playthrough of the Witcher 3.

This is getting a bit redundant but I'm almost done

     The only thing I can think of that would explain a "downgrade" this drastic, is that someone updated to an older build of the game right before launch and nobody noticed. That would then cause the game to release without a lot of the features shown in the trailers and in the main menu.  I really hope there is a version of this game that looks like the main menu, and I hope that they eventually patch the game and fix a lot of the problems that people are having on the PC. But as of right now I feel like I have been lied to, and even a free lie hurts.