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Old Man Winter Icon
WinterOldMan
OLD MAN WINTER: Freeze your foes with this Arctic ally!
Ryan Industries advertisement[src]

Old Man Winter is a drinkable Plasmid in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea. Although Old Man Winter allows the player to freeze enemy Splicers much like Winter Blast, it can also create ice traps, as well as freezing gushing water to create an icy bridge and even water puddles.

Infinite Spoilers

History[]

As an alternative to Plasmid injections, Old Man Winter was a drinkable Plasmid that had been created by Yi Suchong, sold exclusively in Jack Frost's Village of Fontaine's Department Store. When Suchong discovered that a "window" revealed Jeremiah Fink stealing and modifying his Plasmid formulas with an oxidation agent, Suchong retaliated by stealing Fink's formulas, and presenting this to Andrew Ryan as a drinkable Plasmid.[1] Old Man Winter had its drawbacks, in that it produced dry ice which never melted instead of regular ice.[2] Overconsumption also had drastic side-effects, forming large ice crystals around the user's body, as seen on Frosty Splicers. Some of the newer Bathysphere models apparently had a dangerous design flaw and tended to overheat. Rather than go public with this information, the company simply supplied a free sample of the Plasmid with purchase and labeled it as a promotional giveaway.[3]

Burial at Sea - Episode 1[]

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 1

Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth are first introduced to the Plasmid when entering Fontaine's Station. They see the Frosty Splicer, using the Plasmid to freeze a path for himself from burst pipes in the area. The duo soon realize that they need the Plasmid to access the Housewares department, which is blocked by another set of burst pipes. They venture to Jack Frost's Village where it is believed the Plasmid, and the Frosty Splicer, will be found. After defeating the Frosty, Booker opens the Plasmid cabinet but finds nothing usable. Elizabeth introduces her “new Plasmid”, (called "Tear") to bring in one bottle of Old Man Winter, and Booker is granted the cold making ability.

Old Man Winter Icon

Plasmid Combos[]

Official[]

  • Freezing a possessed enemy with Old Man Winter will infuse them with ice, causing them to freeze all other enemies around them.
  • Freezing a levitated enemy with Bucking Bronco will instantly shatter them to pieces regardless how much health they have (except for a Big Daddy) and vice versa.

Combat Strategy[]

  • Old Man Winter freezes the enemy, making it an easier target.
  • This Plasmid can be used to stop/slow down hostile enemies, which the player can use for time to recover.
  • Frozen enemies can be executed with the Air Grabber regardless of how much health they have got.
  • If the player freezes a water puddle, all enemies in the puddle will be frozen until the water thaws out.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2[]

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Elizabeth needs the Plasmid to fix the vandalized Lutece Device using the Plasmid as a heat sink. She finds some in the Test-Drive area of Bathyspheres DeLuxe. The Winter Mod upgrade is found in the locked kitchen storage of the Silver Fin Restaurant and the Winter Forget Mod upgrade is found in a safe in the Bathysphere DeLuxe Information Kiosk.

Old Man Winter Icon

Combat Strategy[]

  • Freezing an enemy will make it easy for Elizabeth to knock them out with the Air Grabber.
  • After freezing an enemy, the player can use the time the enemy is frozen to find a hiding place, or get rid of them.
  • With the right upgrade, the Plasmid will cause the enemy to forget Elizabeth if noticed when the dry ice melts.
  • The Plasmid can be used to freeze water puddles of any kind, which will prevent enemies from noticing Elizabeth from the sound of her footsteps in the water.
  • If the player freezes a water puddle, all enemies in the puddle will be frozen until the water thaws out. The Bouncer Big Daddy will be frozen a bit longer than usual, but not until the frozen puddle thaws out.

Video[]

Gallery[]

Concept and Rendering[]

Gameplay[]

Behind the Scenes[]

  • Old Man Winter originally appeared as one of the unused Vigor icons in The Art of BioShock Infinite, resembling an old man with an icy beard. It was not named until the April 2013, when a fan, nicknamed Trie215 (Joe Trinder) on the 2K Games forums, sent his fan-made poster of the Vigor via Twitter to Irrational Games. As inspiration, the fan used the icon as the bottle's visage.[4]
  • Old Man Winter is the digestible form of the Winter Blast Plasmid in the original BioShock.
  • Old Man Winter is the only Plasmid in Burial at Sea - Episode 1 which has its own presentation video, like other Plasmids had in the previous games. Also, the video uses the same sound and voice track as Winter Blast in BioShock.
  • This Plasmid's name comes from a personification of the winter season.[5]
  • Unlike other Vigors in BioShock Infinite, Old Man Winter does not have a cutscene that displays the physical effects the Vigor has on the user.

References[]

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