Collecting audio diaries in BioShock 2 is mostly not necessary to completing the game on Xbox 360 or PS3. Some will provide valuable information to proceed such as door codes, but by and large they can be skipped.
If you want the full BioShock 2 narrative experience, you’ll want all these collectibles – or at least as many as you can find. Each audio diary a small snippet of the Bioshock 2 story unavailable anywhere else in the game.
To help you find all the audio diaries, we’ve cobbled together the following Bioshock 2 audio diary locations guide that spells out where all of the 129ish (there might be more?) gadgets are located in the game by level. For the most part they are listed in order as you might find them in the game with the diary’s author and name preceding each location description.
Good luck, diary collector. And remember: once you complete an area and it floods there is no going back. So be sure to have a save slot designated for the beginning of an area in case you miss an audio diary.
Adonis Luxury Resort (7 Total)
Audio Diary #1: “Big Kate” O’Malley: Attention Workers!
A Big Sister will greet you in a large room with a pool. Look to the left side while facing Plasmid Therapies for the audio diary.
Audio Diary #2: Rachelle Jaques: Fitness
Find the steam room and use the code written on its door window to gain access. The diary is inside.
Audio Diary #3: Sofia Lamb: To My Daughter
Find a hallway with restrooms in the newly available area after restoring power. A “Dames” restroom holds the audio diary in its rear.
Audio Diary #4: Brigid Tenenbaum: Return
Stumble into two splicers in the water and look for a bench on the right.
Audio Diary #5: Mark Meltzer: They Called It Rapture
Keep your eyes open for a door called “Rapture Metro.” Within this door is on the floor in front of a metal gate.
Audio Diary #6: Andrew Ryan: Generation
After sweating it out and defeating the first Big Sister, the audio diary can be found in the same room on the bar countertop.
Audio Diary #7: Sammy Fletcher: Escape From Rapture
While on your first underwater stroll, keep peeking left for a Bathysphere pod. Dead bodies inside the pod hide the audio diary.
The Atlantic Express (8 Total)
Audio Diary #8: Andrew Ryan: The Great Chain Rattles
A train car will automatically plummet to the ground after entering the station. Look to the left for the “Train Workshop” door and within that room find the audio diary on a desk.
Audio Diary #9: Eleanor Lam: Mr. Tape Recorder
Obtain the Telekinesis plasmid, turn around and find the steps exiting the water. Look behind a circular vent for the audio diary.
Audio Diary #10: Prentice Mill: Just a Fad
A pack of Splicers will be in a room with a balcony and gas tanks above. Find the audio diary on the drafting desk.
Audio Diary #11: Mark Meltzer: What Happened to the People?
Located the second large station where a train car doesn’t plummet to the ground. To the right are some steps that lead to the audio diary near a mattress.
Audio Diary #12: Sofia Lamb: Ryan vs Lamb: Reality
Behind the cafeteria and kitchen is a dark storage room with a painting and some boxes. The audio diary is on the floor to the left of the painting.
Audio Diary #13: Sofia Lamb: Know the Beast
A large door opens after the wrench is yanked from the gears. Go through, make a left and look for the audio diary along the hallways on a box in front of glass doors.
Audio Diary #14: Gil Alexander: Improving on Suchong’s Work
Exit the lenghty elevator ride and head up the stairs to the “Manager’s Office.” The audio diary is on a file cabinet to the left of the desk with the corpse and typewriter.
Audio Diary #15: Brigid Tenenbaum: The Situation
After talking to Tenenbaum and fending off some Splicers, find the audio diary on some benches before exiting on the train.
Ryan Amusements (19 Total)
Audio Diary #16: Sofia Lamb: Eleanor’s Progress
Head from the station to the park and you’ll spot the audio diary perched on the “We Will Be Reborn” candle altar.
Audio Diary #17: Carlson Fiddle: The Old Sheepdog
On a table in the security basement. If you remote hack through a window, you went too far.
Audio Diary #18: Nina Carnegie: Volunteer
Stare at the “Journey to the Surface” sign in the Rapture Museum. The audio diary is on the front left side in front of the sign.
Audio Diary #19: Eleanor Lamb: Eat Dog
The gift wagon that holds the Drill Power tonic also holds this audio diary.
Audio Diary #20: Mark Meltzer: “Child” and Guardian
While in the El Dorado Lounge and facing Big Daddy, check an open suitcase near the far windows.
Audio Diary #21: Nina Carnegie: You, Me, and 1959
Located on a desk in the Journey to the Surface ride maintenance room.
Audio Diary #22: Nina Carnegie: Deterioration
There is a hidden walkway up above the “Coercion” display in the Journey to the Surface ride. Go up there to get the audio diary.
Audio Diary #23: Carlson Fiddle: Escape Plan
Next to one of the Harvest corpses sprawled out on the floor.
Audio Diary #24: Andrew Ryan: Lamb the Problem, Sinclair the Solution
The “Comformity & Co.” arrow sign points towards an “Ordinance” door. The audio diary is on the ground between the two.
Audio Diary #25: Sofia Lamb: Truth is in the Body
Locate a staircase on a building near “Chaos Corner” that overlooks the track. A room off these staircases has the audio diary near workbenches.
Audio Diary #26: Stanley Poole: Working for Sinclair
Move past the animatronic scene with a family watching TV and find a small room with an ammunition vending machine where the audio diary is at.
Audio Diary #27: Mike Novak: Doctor Lamb
Find a door blocked by boards near the end of the Journey to the Surface ride. Break into the small nook and find the audio diary on a wall under a circular vent.
Audio Diary #28: Andrew Ryan: Efficacy
Just inside the door to the “Ride Maintenance Employees Only” area. It’s on the floor in some rubble.
Audio Diary #29: Devin LeMaster: Dating Tip
Exit Journey to the Surface and find a door previously locked when you entered now open. The audio diary is inside.
Audio Diary #30: Gil Alexander: A Father’s Love
In “Hall of the Future,” right below the Vita-Chamber.
Audio Diary #31: Silas Bantam: Cutting Corners
There is a safe in the back of the gift shop. Look to the left of it next to a bookcase.
Audio Diary #32: Sofia Lamb: Rapture is Deliverance
Next to the candles in he “Dames” restroom in the gift shop. Electro Shock the door to gain entry.
Audio Diary #33: Grace Holloway: Disappeared
Stuck in the top of a big pile of ice. Nearly impossible to miss.
Audio Diary #34: Augustus Sinclair: Wooden Nickels
Defeat the last Splicer attack when Sinclair boards the train. A door previously locked will now be open, and the audio diary is inside.
Pauper’s Drop (21 Total)
Audio Diary #35: Sofia Lamb: Ryan vs Lamb: Religious Rights
Look just inside Marlene’s Flower Emporium.
Audio Diary #36: Grace Holloway: Better Times With Lamb
On the ceiling of Marlene’s Flower Emporium which is accessed via a ramp from the Fishbowl Diner.
Audio Diary #37: Augustus Sinclair: Wrong Side of the Tracks
On the floor in the front office of the Sinclair Deluxe.
Audio Diary #38: Prentice Mill: The End of the Line
Circle the edge of the outside downtown area and find the office space for rent sign with the altar to Prentice Mills that has “RIP” written above it.
Audio Diary #39: Tobias Riefes: Clinic Code at the Fishbowl
Look to the lower right of the Fontaine Clinics front doors. Use code 0047 to enter the Fontaine Clinic.
Audio Diary #40: Rock Flanagan P.I.: Camera in Hock
Head to the second floor of the Hamilton and find R. Flanagan’s office. The audio diary is on his desk.
Audio Diary #41: Sofia Lamb: Arrangements
While approaching the Pawn Shop, look for a Little Sister altar with “We Will Meet Again” written on it. The audio diary is here.
Audio Diary #42: Sofia Lamb: Therapy with Grace 1
On the Pawn Shop roof is a wooden walkway to luxury rooms where the audio diary is.
Audio Diary #43: Mark Meltzer: Blood and Lamb
In the front of the Books store. You will need to hack in through the Pharmacy first.
Audio Diary #44: Stanley Poole: Mole
Head towards the Limbo Room and you’ll find an area with fire. The audio diary is in the corner of this room.
Audio Diary #45: Jackie Rodkins Sunday Services
Head into the apartments and look for a room with a record player and corpses on the ground. The audio diary is also on the ground.
Audio Diary #46: Andrew Ryan: Pauper’s Drop
From the last room, look for a walkway to a hidden room near the Pharmacy. The audio diary is tucked into an alcove.
Audio Diary #47: Grace Holloway: Closing the Limbo Room
Find Grace’s dressing room in the Limbo Room. The audio diary is in front of a makeup dresser.
Audio Diary #48: Grace Holloway: A Gift from Lamb
It’s in the bathroom at the back of room 106 in the Sinclair Deluxe.
Audio Diary #49: Augustus Sinclair: Profit Coming, Profit Going
While still in the Sinclair Deluxe, look for stairs near where the floor from above has collapsed creating a ramp up. Up the stairs is a small area where you have to jump to get the audio diary.
Audio Diary #50: Gloria Parson: Where has Harry Gone?
Once up the ramp, look for a room that houses a turret and a safe. It’s in this room.
Audio Diary #51: Gideon Wyborn: The Butterfly
There is a room with a purplish glow before you head to the fourth floor of the Sinclair Deluxe. The audio diary is inside on a table.
Audio Diary #52: Elliot Nelson: What a Snap
Sitting on the balcony across from Grace’s room on the fourth floor of the Sinclair Deluxe.
Audio Diary #53: Eleanor Lamb: Barbarism
Under a blue single bed in Grace’s apartment.
Audio Diary #54: Grace Holloway: Failing Lamb
On Grace’s larger bed in her apartment.
Audio Diary #55: Leo Hartwig: Field Trial #1
Defeat the Brute Splicer near the Fishbowl Diner while escaping Pauper’s Drop and find the audio diary on his body.
Siren Alley (20 Total)
Audio Diary #56: Father Wales: A Silent God
Start the level and look on the left for a giant painting of the plane crash from BioShock. The audio diary is to the right of the painting.
Audio Diary #57: Eleanor Lamb: Misbehaving
On the counter of the Poisoned Apple Bar. Access the bar through the roof.
Audio Diary #58: Gil Alexander: The Rumbler
Head to the restroom in the Mermaid Lounge. The audio diary is under a big pile of ice.
Audio Diary #59: Jamie Byass: Plasmid Shipment
Look for a table to the right of slot machines in the Mermaid Lounge.
Audio Diary #60: Augustus Sinclair: Farther to Fall
Access the Mermaid Lounge’s Power to the People station by dropping through the hole in the floor after using a hack dart to break the bar window.
Audio Diary #61: Daniel Wales” Father Simon Wales
On a desk in an office of the Pink Pearl brothel (main floor).
Audio Diary #62: Dusky Donovan: Double Standard
Head to the second floor of the Pink Pearl brothel. It’s in the front of the room with the dead prostitute on the bed lit by the purple light.
Audio Diary #63: Daniel Wales: Wales an’ Wales
Top floor of the Pink Pearl brothel, on a desk in Daniel Wales’ office.
Audio Diary #64: Daniel Wales: The Date is the Code
Defeat Daniel Wales and then search his body.
Audio Diary #65: Father Wales: Lamb’s Salvation
Look next to the “Securis” door outside the entrance to Plaza Hedone.
Audio Diary #66: Gil Alexander: The Pair Bond Mechanism
To the left of the door that enters Little Sisters Orphanage while in Plaza Hedone.
Audio Diary #67: Andrew Ryan: Bury Her Memory
Find a room in the Plaza Hedone’s second level with a fridge. The audio diary is to the left of the fridge.
Audio Diary #68: Sofia Lamb: The Requirements of Utopia
A small alley on the ground level of Plaza Hedone has a hole to a sewer. Drop down and find the audio diary near the Vending Expert tonic.
Audio Diary #69: Frank Fontaine: An Empty Niche
Press the switch that opens up a lab behind the Green Grocery. In this lab are bathtubs with bodies. The audio diary is on a table next to one of the tubs.
Audio Diary #70: Mark Meltzer: Lamb’s Operation
Find the smugglers’ den above the Green Grocery. It is located behind a steel door. The audio diary is on a big box.
Audio Diary #71: Eleanor Lamb: My Name is Eleanor
Locate the bunk beds in the Little Sisters Orphanage. The furthest one from where you entered has the audio diary on the bottom bunk.
Audio Diary #72: Sofia Lamb: Shackled to the Great Chain
Enter “Pump Control Substation 5” and move up and to the left. Find a locked office door, hack the door and find the audio diary on a table just inside.
Audio Diary #73: Father Wales: Guidance of Lamb
The bottom of the altar to the right of the Temple of Lamb entrance.
Audio Diary #74: Sofia Lamb: Therapy With Grace 2
As you approach Father Wales’s church, hang a left towards Sofia Lamb’s office and find the audio diary in that room.
Audio Diary #75: Father Wales: The Creed of the Faithful
Enter Father Wales’ church, head to the main altar and grab the audio diary below the butterfly woman painting.
Dionysus Park (14 Total)
Audio Diary #76: Stanley Poole: Patronage
Defeat all enemies in the room with the blanketed statues. Head towards the exit stairway and find the audio diary on a box.
Audio Diary #77: Billy Parson: A Gift from Billy
Before exiting the same room, head down the stairs on the opposite side and grab the audio diary near some rubble.
Audio Diary #78: Andrew Ryan: Lamb’s Time is Over
After using Billy’s code to open a door, you’ll find a rose and the audio diary just beyond it.
Audio Diary #79: Andrew Ryan: Lamb’s Idea of Art
Reach the top of a frozen stairwell and find some Splicers bickering amongst each other. A statue nearby has the audio diary.
Audio Diary #80: Mark Meltzer: Lost and Found
Big carousel. The audio diary is on the center of it.
Audio Diary #81: Stanley Poole: Lamb Flouts the System
A promenade with a central funky statue has the audio diary next to a trash can near the room’s center.
Audio Diary #82: Sofia Lamb: Learning Poker
The basement of the Triton Theater has a locked room. Hack in and find the audio diary.
Audio Diary #83: Gil Alexander: Growing Up
Alongside the Triton Theater hallway leading to the projection booth.
Audio Diary #84: Sofia Lamb: A Spy
Enter the theater and find the audio diary on a balcony’s edge.
Audio Diary #85: Gil Alexander: A Secular Saint
Exit through the theater door to the left of the screen and find the audio diary at the end of the hall.
Audio Diary #86: Sofia Lamb: The Voice of the Self
Atop the piano in the piano bar.
Audio Diary #87: Frank Fontaine: Falling Into Place
Frozen in the ice in the frozen Imago Gallery hallway. Thawing some of the ice is required to free the audio diary.
Audio Diary #88: Stanley Poole: Gotta Keep it Together
At the very end of the J. Fischer Gallery, left side of the hallway.
Audio Diary #89: “Big Kate” O’Malley: Dionysus Park’s Weakness
Climb the stairs left of Lamb’s Garden and you’ll find the audio diary next to a door.
Audio Diary #90: Stanley Poole: A Plan
Stanley is in a newly accessible security booth. The audio diary is on the ground.
Fontaine Futuristics (17 Total)
Audio Diary #91: Andrew Ryan: Alone at Last
Hang a left after walking through the level’s first door to spot the audio diary.
Audio Diary #92: Gil Alexander: Agnus Dei
To the left of the reception desk.
Audio Diary #93: Sofia Lamb: Means of Control
After entering the door that opens up most of the level, spot the “Fired” body tacked onto the wall and the audio diary to the right of it.
Audio Diary #94: Gil Alexander: Prototype
A room in Fontaine’s Plasmid Spectacular Theater has a body in a chair with “Help Me 5254” written behind him. The audio diary is nearby.
Audio Diary #95: Eleanor Lamb: Life After Sisterhood
Clinb the main staircase in Fontaine Futuristics Tower and the audio diary is just to the left at the top.
Audio Diary #96: Sofia Lamb: A New Cognitive Model
Access the Plasmid Presentation Room from the ceiling and find the audio diary towards the middle.
Audio Diary #97: Gil Alexander: Source of Volunteers
A room near the Marketing Department of Fontaine Futuristics is flooded and the water is electrified. Find the audio diary on a submerged desk top.
Audio Diary #98: Frank Fontaine: Goodbye to Fontaine
Frank Fontaine’s office has a boar’s head that can be turned to reveal a safe and the audio diary.
Audio Diary #99: Gil Alexander: Abort the Experiment
The Plasmid Laboratory has a table with an empty Big Daddy helmet. Also on this same is the audio diary.
Audio Diary #100: Gil Alexander: Solving for X
Gil Alexander’s tank room has circuits used to restore power. Near one of these circuits is the audio diary.
Audio Diary #101: Sofia Lamb: Gil’s Place in the Plan
In the same room, look just to the right of Gatherer’s Garden.
Audio Diary #102: Gil Alexander: Outlived Usefulness
Resting on a large control panel that faces an observation room.
Audio Diary #103: Eleanor Lamb: Goodbye, Dr. Alexander
Look under the Big Sister vent in the Live Test Facility.
Audio Diary #104: Gil Alexander: Big Sister
At the back of the locked Surveillance Office.
Audio Diary #105: Andrew Ryan: Betrayal
Find the prison cells near the Live Test Facility. You’ll need to melt the ice on the cell holding the audio diary to get it out.
Audio Diary #106: Sofia Lamb: Meltzer’s Choice
On the Big Daddy body that you wipe out. Be careful with this audio diary.
Audio Diary #107: Sofia Lamb: The People’s Daughter
To the right just before the elevator that ends the level.
Cult of Rapture: Persephone (5 Total)
Audio Diary #108: Augustus Sinclair: Selling Ryan Short
Check the examination rooms that have TV monitors facing chairs. The audio diary is under the Big Sister vent in one of these rooms.
Audio Diary #109: Withholding Visitation: Sofia Lamb
Sitting on the chair in Lamb’s office.
Audio Diary #110: Blessing in Disguise: Eleanor Lamb
There is a big red Dr. Alexander statue in the common area. To the left is a mini-sub. The audio diary is next to the sub.
Audio Diary #111: Behind Mother’s Back: Eleanor Lamb
On the desk with the Big Sister helmet.
Audio Diary #112: Freeing Father: Eleanor Lamb
Check around Eleanor’s bed when bringing her the pieces to the Big Sister suit.
Cult of Rapture: Inner Persephone (17 Total)
Audio Diary #113: Warden Nigel Weir: Out with the Old…
Look on the desk in the security office (Security Checkpoint A).
Audio Diary #114: Thomas: The Definition of Despair
It’s on a cafeteria table with a TV above it near the window.
Audio Diary #115: Dodge: A Trade
Located in Cell Block D.
Audio Diary #116: Mattson: First Two Digits
Located in a Cell Block D toilet.
Audio Diary #117: Gloria Parson: No More Hope Left
A corpse dangles from the ceiling in Cell Block B. Search the corpse by entering through Cell Block C.
Audio Diary #118: Murphy: A Generous Offer
In front of the corpse in Cell Block A that is jammed into the side wall.
Audio Diary #119: Connor: Last Two Digits
Signs lead you to the Cell Block South Quad. Look for a glowing hole towards the floor where the audio diary is located.
Audio Diary #120: Warden Nigel Weir: Magic Sauce
Inside the security watch tower where Sinclair is.
Audio Diary #121: Dr. Edward Grimes: A Simple Question
Right by the electric chairs in the Intensive Treatment Room of Therapy Wing.
Audio Diary #122: Harold Darby: Legs, Mouths, Arms, and Eyes
Find the corpse in the Recreational Therapy Arts Room and search it for the audio diary.
Audio Diary #123: Eleanor Lamb: Destructive Learning
To the right of the sign that points left toward the Pediatric Ward.
Audio Diary #124: Augustus Sinclair: Sacrifices
Under the window in the Administration Office room with the desk in its corner.
Audio Diary #125: Andrew Ryan: A Stratagem for Sinclair
Bottom floor of the Administration Offices, to the right of the large butterfly on the wall.
Audio Diary #126: Wilson: Such Freedom
The long hall to Ward A has a room at the end on the left. This room has the audio diary.
Audio Diary #127: Warden Nigel Weir: My Prison
In the Quarantine Area next to the Power to the People weapon upgrade station.
Audio Diary #128: Dr. Edward Grimes: They Feel Pain
In the surgery area of the Infirmary, the room with all the x-rays on the wall.
Audio Diary #129: Dr. Edward Grimes: Alleviating Pain
In the Autopsy room, sitting on the sink. How sanitary!
Be sure to let us know in the comments section below if you come across any audio diaries in BioShock 2 not included in this list.
