The next BioShock game has been announced, but it’s very doubtful anyone was expecting what was unveiled by Irrational Games, formerly 2K Boston, last week. Irrational Games is hesitant to call BioShock Infinite a sequel to the first two games in the series, and for good reason: anyone expecting to revisit the world of Rapture and Big Daddies and ADAM anytime soon needs to make new plans. BioShock Infinite takes place on the floating American city of Columbia, decades before the original BioShock. Columbia, as the developers tell us, was built to be an American marvel, a showcase of talent, technology and power that would would be the envy of the entire world. It seems it was, until a mysterious devastating international incident threw Columbia into chaos.
It is into this chaos that our hero, Booker DeWitt, a detective tasked with finding a missing woman, Elizabeth, must thrust himself into. Elizabeth has powers that, later in the game, prove to be of great use to DeWitt. The locals aren’t keen on letting her go so easily, though, and the player will find DeWitt attacked by all manners of townspeople, in ways that are very similar to the original games, minus the horrible deformations and mutations. Big Daddies seem to be back in a way, in the form of giant mechanized walkers with human heads and (visible) beating hearts.
Apparently, Columbia wasn’t built to be a showcase at all. The developers have described the floating city as a “Death Star,” fueled by an era of American imperialism and pride and peppered with disturbing hints of racism, extremist gun rights activism and xenophobia. This being Irrational Games’ first BioShock game since the original (BioShock 2 being developed by sister studio 2K Marin), it appears strongly familiar thematically, with references to hard-line libertarianism akin to Ayn Rand’s novels and the feeling of being an outsider in an unwelcoming, decaying world. Columbia is not the wreckage that was Rapture, but it is falling apart at the seams, structurally and socially.
Being that it is set in the early 1900s, well before BioShock or BioShock 2, it is possible that we could see some direct connection between Infinite and its predecessors, as a prequel, but creative director Ken Levine is being decidedly silent on that topic. From what has been seen in early demos, the gameplay is similar to the other games in the series, but with the added element of Elizabeth, whom it seems will accompany DeWitt through most of the game, though it will be up to the player whether or not to take advantage of the abilities she has to offer. So far, what has been shown is tantalizing. BioShock Infinite is projected to be released in 2012 on PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, and PC.
