BioShock Infinite Cultural References

Like the other BioShock games before it, BioShock Infinite contains many references to video games, philosophy, and real world history.

References to the BioShock Series

 * BioShock Infinite and the original BioShock have parallels to each other in a sense (revealed to be a part of the constants and variables in the infinite universes). Some of the following are parallels of BioShock and BioShock Infinite:
 * The game begins with the Lighthouse that holds transportation that will descend/ascend a user into the city the Lighthouse belongs to.
 * The man that enters the city receives a box/gift containing coordinates, a pistol, and an objective. Plus, the man has some sort of marking on their hand(s). Jack has chains tattooed on his wrists while Booker DeWitt branded A.D. on his right hand.
 * The travels to the cities are similar. While the travel to Rapture is descending in the ocean via Bathysphere, the travel to Columbia is ascending into the air via Pilgrim Rocket. Both signify the depth/height in which they are traveling until revealing the city through an obstructed view of a window followed by words that represent the city.
 * When the protagonist first enters the city, something significant catches their eye. In the original BioShock, Jack sees a whale swimming by as he enters Rapture; in BioShock Infinite, Booker sees a zeppelin flying by as he enters Columbia.
 * The Church of New Eden parallels the beginning of BioShock with a statue of its leader and the message and belief of the city on a banner. Also, developers mention that the candles on the water parallel the fiery waters from the plane crash in the original BioShock.
 * In the beginning of the game, the priest asks Booker "Is it someone new?", similar to Jack's first encounter with a Splicer in BioShock.
 * It is later revealed in the Sea of Doors that Rapture and Columbia are nothing more than constants and variables and that there is always "a lighthouse, a man and a city". Many aspects of the two games have parallels or are similar in some way. Jack/Booker, Little Sister/Elizabeth, Rapture/Columbia, Big Daddy/Songbird, Andrew Ryan/Zachary Comstock, Brigid Tenenbaum/Rosalind Lutece, etc.
 * When Booker and Elizabeth enter the Arcade of Battleship Bay, they will come across an arcade cabinet featuring Duke &amp; Dimwit called "Flawless Flintlock". When Elizabeth is presented with this game, she exclaims: "Look! It's Flawless Flintlock! It's the newest one in the series! I heard it was delayed three times!" This an obvious jab at BioShock Infinite itself because of its "new game in the [BioShock] series" and its actual delay for release of three times.
 * When Elizabeth realizes Booker has duped her into thinking they are going to Paris, she hits him with a wrench. A direct reference to Jack's melee weapon from the original BioShock.
 * The only combination lock to feature in BioShock Infinite utilizes the same code as the first combination lock encountered in the original BioShock, which also happens to be the first code used in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and was the code for the door to Looking Glass Studios, creators of Thief and System Shock. This was originally a reference to the book Fahrenheit 451, and the Firemen of Infinite may also be a reference to the novel as well.
 * Near the end of the game, Booker considers "a city at the bottom of the ocean" to be ridiculous, which was ironic considering that he was in Rapture, the setting of the original BioShock.
 * In one of Jeremiah Fink's voxophones, he mentions observing a biologist through a Tear, along with "a merger of machine and man that is somehow the lesser, yet the greater, of both parties"; this is possibly a reference to a Big Daddy. Dr. Yi Suchong from the original BioShock is later confirmed in the DLC Burial at Sea - Episode 1 to be said biologist.
 * In Battleship Bay, when Booker wakes up and is searching for Elizabeth, a baby carriage can be found with a box of pistol ammo in it, as well as another baby carriage in Emporia containing a Hand Cannon. These are obvious nods to the first gun that Jack finds in the first BioShock (a revolver in a baby carriage).
 * As a reference to the first trailer for BioShock Infinite, one of the many versions of Elizabeth that appears at the end of the game has the same character model as the one in the trailer.
 * In Burial at Sea - Episode 1's final, Comstock is impaled by the drill of a Bouncer in a similar way as the Splicer in the first trailer for BioShock.

Cultural References

 * At the Fairgrounds, after Booker passes by the ticket taker machine, Robert and Rosalind Lutece will approach and they ask him to call a coin toss (which always results in heads). This coin tossing is reference to the play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Besides, the Lutece twins also share similarities with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from the play in their play with logic, probability and language.
 * Booker's last name DeWitt might possibly be a reference to the theoretical physicist Bryce DeWitt, who advanced Hugh Everett's many-worlds interpretation (the interpretation plays a huge role in BioShock Infinite).
 * Hugh Everett (who formulated the many-worlds interpretation), was a heavy chain smoker and also had a drinking problem and was reported to be sleeping it off in his office (which sounds similar to how we see Booker for the first time in Burial at Sea - Episode 1), and was detached from his daughter, whose name was Elizabeth. Though this may be a coincidence, it might have been inspiration for a part of the plot.
 * Burial at Sea - Episode 1 and Episode 2 have references to the 1986 film Aliens. Sally's doll, Sarah, remains only just a head. This is a possible reference to Newt's doll, Casey, who is also just a doll's head. Also, a struggle between Sally in the vent is also a mirror reference of struggling to remove Newt out of the ventilation systems in the film. Towards the end of the film, one of the more iconic scenes is Ellen Ripley rescuing Newt from the Queen's Lair. Ripley holding Newt while arming herself with a gun mirrors the cover for Burial at Sea - Episode 2 where Elizabeth is armed and holding a Little Sister.
 * Just before entering the Fairgrounds in Welcome Center a man and a woman can be found discussing the Vox Populi, with the woman saying; "I do not want to be some character out of I Married a Vox Populi, now do I?" This is a reference to the 1949 film "I Married a Communist."
 * From a pre-release build of the game, we learned that the Barbershop Quartet seen in the Welcome Center is named "The BEE Sharps", which is a reference to Homer Simpson's band called "The Be Sharps" from the TV-series; The Simpsons.
 * Ryandisneystatue.jpg statue of Andrew Ryan holding a young boy's hand in Ryan the Lion Preparatory Academy is similar to that of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at Walt Disney World.
 * The maps found around Soldier's Field also look quite similar to maps of Disneyland.
 * On several occasions, Elizabeth mentions the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
 * Elizabeth comes across a girl called Cosette in the Paris sequence at the beginning of Burial at Sea - Episode 2. Cosette is one of the characters from the novel.

The Other Games

 * In the voxophone A Dog's Loyalty, the speech Comstock makes sounds similar to that of Question President Eden from the video game Fallout 3. "When I was a child, growing up in rural Kentucky, I had the best friend a boy could hope for, my dear old dog, Honey". It can be an inspiration or Easter egg.
 * The idea of only being able to have two weapons (and change them out) at a time is adapted from other first-person shooters, such as Call of Duty, where the player is only allowed to have two weapons at a time: a primary and a backup.
 * The game's 1999 Mode is a reference to BioShock's "spiritual predecessor" System Shock 2. The name itself is a reference to the game's release date and the mode featured similar, more difficult gameplay.
 * Burial at Sea - Episode 2's 1998 Mode is a more deliberate reference to the release date of Thief: The Dark Project. The gameplay of Burial at Sea - Episode 2 is also very similar to the Thief series and promotional material referenced the cover art of the game, specifically Elizabeth's attire.

Historical References

 * Zachary Comstock's last name may be a reference to Anthony Comstock, a 19th century American politician who became infamous for his extreme religious fanaticism.
 * In Battleship Bay, there is a newspaper that features an article about the RMS Carpathia rescuing people. This is likely a reference to the ship's role in the aftermath of the RMS Titanic sinking event.
 * The name Vox Populi comes from the Latin phrase "Vox Populi Vox Dei", meaning "The voice of the people [is] the voice of god", which is speaking about politics and not religion.
 * The Luteces take their name from Lutetia, a Roman city in France that later became Paris.
 * Lady Comstock's appearance is based on U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt's daughter Alice Roosevelt Longworth.
 * In Burial at Sea - Episode 1, Sander Cohen quotes Man Ray by saying "All critics should be assassinated." in his Audio Diary Critics.
 * Albert Einstein is mentioned two times in Burial at Sea - Episode 1. First in a discussion between two women on Market Street and later by Yi Suchong in his audio diary Observation #17. Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics.