Remember those weird pseudo-documentary style trailers 2K was putting out for BioShock Infinite that kind of looked like the sort of late-80's specials you'd see while you were faking sick to get out of school? OK, maybe that was too obscure of a question. Those "Truth from Legend" episodes, that were trying to ascertain the fate of the mythical floating city of Columbia. Got your attention now? While, they're back in grand order, with the Bloom family turning its attention away from the the sky and towards the inky black waters that hold the sunken city of Rapture, where BioShock began, and where it's returning with some new DLC.
The Burial at Sea DLC for BioShock Infinite looks like it's going to be an interesting take on the many alternate realities we saw Booker and Elizabeth play havoc with throughout the events of the game. While it was brief, seeing the familiar underwater warzone was a nice reminder of the game's roots, but players should really relish returning to the city under the sea in the DLC's film-noire style.
Whereas the first two games took place after nine kinds of hell took hold of the city, with splicers, Little Sisters, and Big Daddies wreaking havoc left and right, Burial at Sea takes players back right before the city began its wet, downward spiral - New Years Eve, 1958.
The DLC takes place in an alternate Rapture with a few subtle differences, mostly the involvement of Infinite's two protagonists. Booker is still a detective, hired by Elizabeth to find a missing girl named Sally. If the trailer's to be believed, it looks like Sally may have made it out of Rapture fine, but wasn't too happy about her experience there. See for yourself below.
Granted, the trailer does playout like a bad episode of "Unsolved Mysteries," but I'm still excited for the DLC.
Similar to Infinite, NPCs will be a more animated part to Rapture than in the first two BioShocks, which were notably absent of anything not trying to kill you. As both games took place after the famed riots, Burial should be a nice look at a calmer Rapture. At least until everything goes to hell in a handbasket all over again.
BioShock creator Ken Levine explained the reason for the DLC's return to Rapture, saying "...we were really excited, having done all the work on the population - a living, breathing population in Columbia - because Rapture was a tomb, y'know? Originally we wanted to show Rapture when it was fully alive, but do it in the context of an interesting story, not just to go back and talk about Midi-chlorians, you know? To do it in a sort of integrated way, but to tell a story we thought was important to tell with these characters as well."
For the ensuing chaos, Booker will do have his usual tricks up his sleeve with the God-like powers given to him by plasmids, and the usual array of gut-blasting weaponry. Even the skyhook's back for more, alongside a few new tricks and tools, such as new plasmids. Elizabeth is also said to handle much the same way she did in Infinite, but playing as her will be an entirely different experience.
Despite her god-like reality warping powers, there's still some challenge to the DLC. Eve for example, the fluid that powers your plasmids, is significantly more scarce this time around.
Speaking with IGN, Lead Level Designer Andres Gonzales said, "We rebalanced everything to be more toward resource management and stealth, which changes the way that the encounters play. It's more player-initiated. You hear enemies off in the distance. Because these are BioShock Infinite systems, tweaked to create the experience of the original BioShock, it's sort of a hybrid of the two. We had to create the environments to support that gameplay."
Levine added, "We substantially changed the awareness system from Infinite to this, so it felt more like BioShock 1. It took a fair amount of work. There were things about the AI that just worked so differently. We just bit the bullet and said, 'if we want it to feel like BioShock 1 we're going to have to make all these things happen.' If it didn't feel like Rapture, it would just feel like a coat of paint. We knew we didn't want to do that."
Levine explained the reason for the DLC's return to Rapture: "...we were really excited, having done all the work on the population - a living, breathing population in Columbia - because Rapture was a tomb, y'know? Originally we wanted to show Rapture when it was fully alive, but do it in the context of an interesting story, not just to go back and talk about Midi-chlorians, you know? To do it in a sort of integrated way, but to tell a story we thought was important to tell with these characters as well."
The DLC is free to those with the Season Pass, but will cost $14.99 for non-holders. An official release date still hasn't been given.
