Sander Cohen

Sander Cohen is a character in the 2007 2K video game BioShock. Cohen lived among the most famous individuals in Rapture. As one of Rapture's more respected musicians, playwrights and poets, Cohen resided in a lavish apartment in Mercury Suites, along with other Rapture celebrities such as Frank Fontaine, Brigid Tenenbaum and Yi Suchong. Following Rapture's civil war and the chaotic months that followed it, Cohen slowly grew extremely paranoid. Cohen was given jurisdiction over an area of the city known as Fort Frolic by Andrew Ryan, the founder of Rapture. The splicers under his domination are often subjected to Cohen's newfound sadistic enjoyment to the deaths and suffering of others. All around Fort Frolic, examples of Cohen's "art" can be found. These are in fact, Splicers encased in plaster.

Role in BioShock
Sander Cohen was invited personally by Andrew Ryan to reside in Rapture, due to their possible prior friendship and his artistic talents. Before Rapture's descent into anarchy, Cohen was a prominent playwright, artist and composer in Fort Frolic. Cohen held a hatred towards rival performer Anna Culpepper, who referred to Cohen as "Ryan's Songbird". Sharing a close relation to Andrew Ryan, Cohen had Chief of security Sullivan murder her. With the competition gone, Cohen experienced a rare era of extravagance before the Rapture Civil War forced him to close Fort Frolic.

Shortly before the Rapture civil war, Cohen was given dominance over Fort Frolic by Andrew Ryan, who locked the area down to prevent its inhabitants from escaping. Similar to Dr. Steinman, Cohen was soon driven insane, mainly due to overuse of plasmids and the frustration generated by lack of appreciation for his work. An audio diary found in Fort Frolic shows that Cohen regrets his decision to move to Rapture.

Before Jack's arrival in Rapture, 1960, Cohen apparently had four major followers (his disciples), Silas Cobb, Martin Finnegan, Hector Rodriguez, and Kyle Fitzpatrick. All of them either betrayed or displeased Cohen at some point.

During the events of BioShock, Jack is required to pass through Fort Frolic in order to proceed to Hephaestus. Just as Jack approaches the Bathysphere, Cohen blocks Jack's radio contact with Atlas and submerges the Bathysphere, trapping the player in the level. Cohen will not let Jack proceed until he takes photographs of four of Cohen's former disciples corpses, three of which must be killed. Once taken, the player is ordered to place the photographs in a work of Cohen's art in the centre of Fort Frolic, which he refers to as his "Masterpiece" - a tetraptych called the Quadtych. After the completion of this, Cohen reveals himself and allows Jack to proceed to Hephaestus, at this point the player has the choice to kill Cohen. If the player chooses to spare Cohen, he can be seen later in the game, in his luxury apartment in Mercury Suites. He will welcome the player into his home, and invite him to look around. Cohen can be killed at this point after a pair of dancing Splicers are dealt with.

Cohen's sexuality is also referenced. Silas Cobb and Martin Finnegan both refer to Cohen as an "old fruit" and Cohen himself refers to Andrew Ryan as "the man I once loved." Another example of this is in BioShock 2, The Splicer model "Brute" can also be heard saying "Sander Cohen. There was a man! Sharp suit, good mustache, took no guff!".

Concept and creation
The character of Sander Cohen was based on several real-life figures. Firstly, Cohen's last name was influenced by real life entertainer George M. Cohan, who was also (like Cohen) a notable playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer and dancer. His physical appearance, however, was based on the surrealist artist Salvador Dali. Cohen was described as a "horrible songwriter" by Ken Levine in an interview for CVG.

Promotion and reception
Employees for 2K Boston were each given a 6-inch scale model of Cohen by the studio's creative designer Ken Levine. The sculptures were designed by Irrational Games artist Robb Waters. IGN listed Cohen as the 89th best video game villain, stating that his needs are more concrete than the two primary antagonists of BioShock. They added that he, like the other antagonists, is only a few shades from when he was sane, making him seem believable.