BioShock Infinite

""Bring us the girl, and wipe away the debt," that was the deal. The details elude me now, but you know what? The details wouldn't change a goddamn thing."

- Booker DeWitt

BioShock Infinite is the third game in the BioShock series. Announced on August 12, 2010, it is Irrational Games' newest project. It was released on March 26, 2013 for PC (Steam), Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3, and August 29th, 2013 for  Mac (Mac App Store and Steam). BioShock Infinite is not a direct sequel/prequel to any of the previous BioShock games, and it takes place in an entirely different setting, although it shares similar features, gameplay and concepts with the previous games.

Overview
The game takes place in the airborne city of Columbia, in 1912, where the player assumes the role of Booker DeWitt, a disgraced Pinkerton agent. Booker has been given the job of finding a woman named Elizabeth, who has been confined by a hulking beast called Songbird and the city's leader Zachary Comstock.

Following in the footsteps of previous BioShock games, the world of Infinite explores the chaos that results when strong ideals are taken to the extreme. Here, the philosophical concept of "American Exceptionalism" is perverted into ultranationalism, religious fanaticism, and social Darwinism. The numbers of flags, patriotic music, and propaganda posters that promote the idea that Columbia is a 'haven' from the so-called 'unwanted' of the world.

Storyline
In 1912, Booker DeWitt is taken by the Lutece twins to an island lighthouse off the coast of Maine; the structure houses a rocket silo which transports Booker to Columbia, with the mission from Luteces to "bring us the girl and wipe away the debt".

Booker's presence in Columbia goes unnoticed until a citizen identifies the letters "AD" branded on Booker's hand, a sign of the False Shepherd that Comstock prophesied would corrupt Elizabeth and bring about Columbia's downfall. Now a wanted man, Booker fights his way to Monument Island where Elizabeth is held within a tower, discovering along the way a large device at its base called the Siphon. After freeing Elizabeth, Songbird attacks and destroys part of the statue, and Booker and Elizabeth narrowly escape with their lives. The pair work towards the aerodrome, planning on taking an airship to Paris, a city Elizabeth has always wanted to see. When Booker directs the ship to New York City with the intention of delivering Elizabeth, she knocks him out. He awakes to find the airship under the control of Daisy Fitzroy and the Vox Populi. Fitzroy offers to return the ship if Booker recovers a shipment of weapons from the slums of Columbia.

Booker rejoins with Elizabeth and they venture deeper into the city. While Elizabeth uses her ability to manipulate tears to aid their journey, she grows disturbed by the physiological and psychological consequences of manipulating reality on Booker and the other citizens of Columbia. One tear leads them to a world where Booker has become a martyr for the Vox Populi cause, leading to open warfare between the Vox Populi and Columbia's Founders. This universe's Fitzroy believes that this Booker undermines her Booker's sacrifice, threatening to weaken the Vox Populi cause, and so turns her forces against him. Elizabeth kills Fitzroy to prevent her from executing a Founder boy.

As they prepare to leave Columbia by airship, Songbird attacks and they crash back to Columbia. While continuing their search for escape, they begin to unravel a conspiracy behind the founding of the city. Comstock had taken Elizabeth as his adoptive daughter to groom her as the city's leader. He had the Lutece twins construct the Siphon to subdue her powers before plotting their murder along with that of his wife to conceal the truth, and blamed their deaths on the Vox Populi. Elizabeth is captured by Songbird and taken to Comstock's mansion. Booker follows but is drawn into the future by an elderly Elizabeth who has suffered decades of torture and brainwashing in Booker's absence; she has inherited Comstock's cause and wages war on the world below. She reveals that Songbird would always stop his rescue attempts in the past, and implores Booker to stop this future from coming to pass by offering him the means to control Songbird.

Booker returns to the present and rescues Elizabeth, and the pair pursue Comstock to his airship. Comstock demands that Booker explain Elizabeth's past to her, and why Elizabeth is missing a finger. Booker becomes enraged and drowns Comstock. Booker denies knowledge about Elizabeth's finger, but she asserts that he knows but does not remember. Booker decides to destroy the Siphon so Elizabeth can access her full power and learn the truth. With Songbird under their control, the pair fend off a Vox Populi attack, before ordering Songbird to destroy the Siphon. When the device Booker used to control Songbird is destroyed, it attempts to attack him. Elizabeth opens a tear, transporting the three of them to the underwater city of Rapture, Booker and Elizabeth remain safe inside, but Songbird appears outside and is crushed by the immense pressure of the ocean.

Elizabeth takes Booker to this reality's surface and lighthouse. They travel through the building's door to a place outside space and time containing countless lighthouses and alternate versions of Booker and Elizabeth. Elizabeth explains that they are within one of an infinite number of possible realities both similar and drastically different due to choices that have been made. She shows that on October 8, 1893, Robert Lutece approached Booker on behalf of Comstock, requesting that he "give us the girl and wipe away the debt," referring to Booker's infant daughter, Anna DeWitt – Booker's "AD" branding. Booker reluctantly agreed to sell Anna but soon changed his mind. He arrived too late to stop Comstock escaping through a tear; the closing of which severed the child's finger. Comstock subsequently raised Anna as Elizabeth, his daughter. Due to the severed finger, Elizabeth exists in two realities at once, giving her the ability to open and create tears at will. Later, Robert, angry at Elizabeth's treatment and Comstock's betrayal, convinced Rosalind to help him bring Booker to the reality where Columbia exists to rescue Elizabeth.

Elizabeth explains that whatever actions Booker makes against Comstock, Comstock will still remain alive in at least one of these universes; the Luteces have tried to enlist a Booker from different universes numerous times to end the cycle. The only way to break the circle is to prevent Comstock from being born in the first place. Elizabeth transports Booker to the place he went to be baptized and cleansed of his sins after his actions at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Booker avoided baptism at the last moment, while in another universe he took the baptism, found religion, and became Comstock. Comstock, aware of his identity to Booker, engineered Anna's abduction to provide him with a blood-related heir for Columbia, as he had become sterile from exposure to the Luteces' technology. Booker and Elizabeth are joined by alternate versions of Elizabeth from other universes. Booker allows them to drown him, preventing his baptismal choice from ever being made and thus stopping Comstock from ever existing. One by one, the Elizabeths begin to disappear, the screen cutting to black on the original.

In a post-credits scene, a Booker awakens in his apartment on October 8, 1893. He calls out for Anna and opens the door to her room before the screen fades to black.

Main Characters



 * Booker DeWitt
 * Cornelius Slate
 * Daisy Fitzroy
 * Elizabeth
 * Jeremiah Fink
 * Robert Lutece
 * Rosalind Lutece
 * The Songbird
 * Zachary Hale Comstock

Locations

 * Welcome Center: The first area of the Columbia that Booker explores on his journey to rescue Elizabeth and serves as a introduction to the city and its culture. Contains the Welcome Center that new arrivals to the city are baptized into Columbia's religion, Raffle Square were Columbia's yearly raffle fair is held by Jeremiah Fink, The Fraternal Order of the Raven an organization that is devoted to protecting Columbia's racial purity and avenging the fallen saint Lady Comstock, and many homes and businesses like the Blue Ribbon Restaurant.


 * Monument Island: A massive statue of the angel Columbia that stand at the center of the city. Once the place where newcomers would enter the city, it has since been modified to be a facility where Elizabeth is imprisoned and researched. It also houses the Siphon, a device that has the power to open tears into other universes.


 * Soldier's Field: An amusement park devoted to brainwashing children into national service through propaganda conveyed through cartoon characters Duke and Dimwit. It contains Battleship Bay, an artificial beach overlooking an artificial ocean, The Hall of Heroes, a museum devoted to delivering Comstock's own warped impressions of the Battle of Wounded Knee, The Boxer Rebellion, and the Death of Lady Comstock, The First Lady's Aerodome where the First Lady Airship is docked, and various other shops and attractions to visit.


 * Finkton: The workers district of Columbia that is control exclusively by Fink Manufacturing. Here all of Columbia's goods are manufactured for the upper class while the lower class workers are abused and exploited by Fink. Workers that get on Fink's good side are allowed to enjoy themselves at the Good Time Club while those who don't forced to live in the rundown Shantytown and be oppressed by Fink's Flying Squad stationed at the Bull House Impound.


 * Emporia: The rich district of Columbia and the cultural heart of the city. Home to many businesses and influence figures like the Bank of the Prophet and the Lutece Labs. It is here that Lady Comstock's body is put on public display in the Memorial Gardens for all the city to remember her. When Booker and Elizabeth arrive in this part of the city it has been ransacked by Vox Populi and many people lay dead in the street.


 * Comstock House: A massive fortress adorned with the faces of the Founding Fathers that towers over city and serves as Comstock's base of operations. Here Comstock has undesirables brainwashed and lobotomized to be become enthralled to his version of the future.


 * The Hand of the Prophet: Comstock's personal flagship and jewel of the Columbia Military. Booker and Elizabeth board this ship to confront Comstock one last time.

Overview
Infinite features a range of environments that force the player to adapt, with different weapons and strategies for each situation. Interior spaces feature close combat with enemies, but unlike previous games set in Rapture, the setting of Infinite contains open spaces with emphasis on sniping and ranged combat against as many as fifteen enemies at once. Combat also take place while the player is traveling at great speed along the Sky-Lines, a major transport system of Columbia.

Booker gains powers and abilities by using Vigors and Gear that are found throughout Columbia. Booker can find up to 8 different Vigors and multiple Gears (separated in hats, shirts, pants and boots). Unlike the previous games Booker can now change Vigors and Gears whenever he wants to and does not have to search for machines similar to Gene Banks.

Vigors grant active powers such as telekinesis, electricity manipulation, or animal control (exemplified by Murder of Crows).

Once DeWitt has found Elizabeth, she will accompany the player at various points in the game. Elizabeth has her own set of abilities complementary to Dewitt's. Elizabeth has the ability to open up Tears to create cover, ammunition, or other useful objects during combat. The players are able to command Elizabeth on what tear they want her to open.

Infinite features several varieties of enemies. These range from seemingly average humans with weapons, to the iconic Handyman seen in trailers. Unlike the previous BioShock games, many enemies will not attack on sight, but instead will remain neutral to DeWitt unless the player performs an action that causes them to become hostile. Other powerful opponents, such as the Handyman, can act as leaders for other enemies, augmenting their abilities. The most powerful enemy in the game, known as Songbird, is the most feared creature in all of Columbia.

On January 12, 2012, Irrational Games announced the 1999 gameplay mode, which is designed to make the game more challenging for hardcore players. In the 1999 mode, (Contrary to what was promised) the enemies are merely harder to kill. Originally, your choices were going to cause more permanent and effective changes.

Enemies

 * Boy of Silence
 * Crow
 * Fireman
 * Handyman
 * Motorized Patriot
 * Siren

Weapons
Sky-Hook apart (which acts as an non upgradeable melee weapon requiring no ammo), the player can only hold two weapons at at a time, but most can be picked up if found. Each one of them has its own ammo type and can be upgraded four times. It takes 21,984 Silver Eagles to upgrade all of them in the game.


 * China Broom
 * Triple R
 * Broadsider
 * Barnstormer
 * Sky-Hook
 * Huntsman
 * Pepper-Mill
 * Paddywhacker
 * Bird's Eye
 * Burstgun
 * Volley Gun

Vigors
The player has a selection of Vigors (or abilities) to use in addition to usual weapons, which like them are limited to two at a time to be equipped. However unlike weapons, player can switch them at any time with previously found Vigors from a game menu. They all require Salts to be used, independently on which ability this resource is used, and each one of them can be upgraded twice. Not including purchasing the base Vigor, it takes 14,481 Silver Eagles to upgrade all Vigors in the game.


 * Bucking Bronco
 * Murder of Crows
 * Shock Jockey
 * Devil's Kiss
 * Possession
 * Charge
 * Return to Sender
 * Undertow

Gears
The player has access to a large assortment of gears which confer special passive abilities. Each gear is an article of clothing, and only one of each type can be wear at a time. These can be changed at any time in their related option menu, however slots can't be left empty once it has been filled with a gear. The four types of gears are as following:


 * Hat
 * Shirt
 * Pants
 * Shoes

Premium Edition


BioShock Infinite Premium Edition is a collector's edition of the game. It costs $79.99.


 * This edition includes:
 * The Art of BioShock Infinite mini art book, including art and comments by the developers, and a hand-distressed cover.
 * An exclusive 25 millimeter Handyman figure from the upcoming board game BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia - being created by Plaid Hat Games.
 * A 5 x 7 lithograph of an advertisement for the vigor Devil's Kiss.
 * 3-inch Murder of Crows vigor bottle keychain.
 * Digital soundtrack exclusive to the editions, featuring music from the game.
 * Three exclusive in-game Gear power-ups:
 * Bull Rush: Melee strikes from a sprint have a chance to knock the enemy down.
 * Extra! Extra!: Audio logs also grant a bounty of Silver Eagles, the game's currency.
 * Betrayer: Killing possessed enemies causes them to explode in a damaging fireball.
 * Platform-specific Downloadable Content:
 * Xbox 360: Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth Avatar Costumes.
 * Booker's Avatar Costume features a fedora, blue tinted goggles, a jacket, and high boots.
 * PC and PlayStation 3: BioShock Infinite Themes (Backgrounds, icons, etc.).

Ultimate Songbird Edition
This edition includes all of the above, as well as a Songbird statue. It costs $149.99. The statue is a "highly detailed, hand painted, resin-cast 9.75" statue" which is packaged in its own collectible packaging.

Retailer-Exclusive Pre-order Bonuses
BioShock Infinite featured a wide range of retailer-exclusive bonuses for pre-ordering the game:

BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution


BioShock Infinite: Industrial Revolution is a flash game provided to those who pre-order BioShock Infinite. It can be used to unlock exclusive ingame content.

Steam Trading Cards and Postcards


On July 11th, 2013, Steam added BioShock Infinite to their list of games supporting the Steam Trading Card system. This came about at the same time as the start of their annual Steam Summer Sale, which also included Trading Cards for the game specific to the sale.

Downloadable Content
The followings are the downloadable contents (or DLC) related to BioShock Infinite, and the detailed packs they include:


 * Season Pass
 * Early Bird Special Pack
 * Columbia's Finest
 * Industrial Revolution Pack
 * Upgrade Pack
 * Comstock's China Broom Shotgun
 * Comstock’s Eagle Eye Sniper Rifle
 * Clash in the Clouds
 * Burial at Sea - Episode 1
 * Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Related Media
The followings are all the other media (books and music) related to BioShock Infinite, prior and after its release.


 * BioShock Infinite: Mind in Revolt (Novel) - A short prequel to the game.
 * BioShock Infinite Signature Series Guide - Official strategy guide.
 * The Art of BioShock Infinite - Official game artbook.
 * BioShock Infinite Soundtrack

Development


Prior to its announcement on August 12, 2010, Irrational Games had used the moniker "Project Icarus" to describe their next game, creating a teaser site in late July 2010. Over the weeks leading to the announcement, the animation on the teaser site slowly built up to an animated infinity symbol on the day prior to the announcement. Employees of Irrational Games later revealed that the moniker "Icarus" began as an internal codename for the project, used in email correspondence etc., to avoid any leaks about the nature of the game.

Irrational had been working in secrecy on Infinite for two and a half years since completing the original BioShock. The original BioShock engine, a modified Unreal Engine 2.x, was inadequate to support the game mechanics of the new game, thus the development team chose to work with Unreal Engine 3, modifying it with their own lighting engine and means to simulate the movement and buoyancy of the buildings in Columbia. Because of this, all of the assets for BioShock Infinite had to be made from scratch.

In March 2012, the initial release date of BioShock Infinite for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 was announced to be October 16 of that year. However, on May 9, 2012 the release date was delayed to February 26, 2013 in order for Irrational Games to add some "specific tweaks and improvements." On December 7, 2012, the game was delayed yet again to March 26 "in order to give the team a few more weeks of this polish." On February 19, Ken Levine was proud to announce that BioShock Infinite has gone Gold, stating that it has been approved by Sony, Microsoft and the PC makers.

This new engine and technology allows the buildings to work dynamically from any scripted events. They float on their own and can be affected by changes in weather and such without assigned fashion. During a demo, a bell tower tilted over and collapsed, with the bell breaking off and sliding to a stop right at the players feet. This entire event was unscripted, and was generated by the combination of the physics engine and the in-game weather system. It should be noted that the finished game product had no such dynamic environmental systems.

Behind the Scenes

 * Ken Levine revealed in an interview with Gamasutra that the plot's conflict would have been originally about tech geeks against luddites, those who resist the proliferation of technology.
 * The previous site for BioShock Infinite was WhatIsIcarus.com.
 * One scene from the trailer has "Revenge of the Jedi" playing in the theater. This is reference to the original name for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi in 1983. The name wasn't changed until a few weeks before the movie's premiere, after quite a lot of promotional material was released.
 * This is the first BioShock game to feature a speaking protagonist during gameplay.
 * At the main menu, some of the Columbian citizens are reused models of Bottle Street Gang members from Dishonored, a game by Arkane Studios, which helped design levels in BioShock 2.
 * A newspaper in Battleship Bay mentions the RMS Carpathia and a list of those rescued, indicating that the game takes place in April 1912, just after the sinking of the Titanic.