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"The mind of the subject will desperately struggle to create memories where none exist..."
R. Lutece, Barriers to Trans-Dimensional Travel, 1889

BioShock Infinite is the third game in the BioShock series, released in 2013.

The year is 1912. Booker DeWitt is a washed-up ex-Pinkerton Detective whose gambling debts catch up to him and force him to accept one final chance to wipe the slate clean. He finds himself sent to Columbia, a floating city that was once the pride of the United States before it went rogue and became a sovereign city. There, he must extract a young woman named Elizabeth and bring her unharmed to his Mysterious Employers in New York.

But all is not well in the city of Columbia, once heralded as an embodiment of The American Dream. Tension is bubbling under the surface between two opposing factions: The Founders, an ultra-nationalist, xenophobic and fundamentalist ruling class led by "Father" Zachary Hale Comstock; and the Vox Populi (led by the radical Daisy Fitzroy), a movement who once sought fair and just working conditions for the underclass of Columbia, but has since degenerated into a terrorist group fuelled by blind hatred and bent on shooting everything on sight.

Booker soon discovers that Elizabeth holds an incredible power within her, one that Father Comstock is determined to keep under his control. They must work together to escape the powderkeg that is Columbia, all while evading the dreaded Songbird: a deranged robotic guardian determined to stop Elizabeth from ever leaving.

Infinite begins as a stark departure from the previous BioShock titles, as not only are the setting and plot in a completely different universe from Rapture, the experience shifts away from horror and instead treads more into action. Gameplay retains a mix of gunplay and assorted superpowers (instead of Rapture's gene-splicing "plasmids", Columbia provides quantum-powered "vigors"), but Infinite is more of a swashbuckling run-and-gunner amidst vast environments, with the Sky-Lines scattered across the city allowing for dynamic shootouts in the open air. Of course, this is still very much a BioShock title, and not only does Infinite tread on similar narrative themes of politics and free will, it soon begins to unravel even stranger domains of time, space, constants, variables, and everything in between.

Multiple DLCs have been released, the most notable one being the two-parter arc, titled "Burial at Sea". The arc was first released in November 2013, with the conclusion following in March 2014. The trailer for Part One can be found here. Note that the Part Two trailer is built on spoilers if you haven't finished the main game and the first part; nevertheless, it can be viewed here at your own risk.

Aside from the Burial at Sea DLC, the game has also seen Clash in the Clouds, a pack which takes the form of four arena maps. Booker and Elizabeth square off against fifteen waves of enemies and face optional challenges. It also allows the unlocking of concept art, music and other supplementary material. Furthermore, players can purchase a season pass which, aside from getting all DLC at a discount, provides the Early Bird Special Pack pre-order boosts for the main plot: four unique perk outfits, five free infusion bottles, and the machine gun and pistol get free damage boosts and golden skins.

A prequel novel called BioShock Infinite: Mind In Revolt was released in 2013.

Columbia appears as a stage in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale along with the original BioShock's Big Daddy as a playable character.

An Updated Re-release containing all DLCs came out in November 2014.


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Songbird and high pressure

Because Songbird was created for Columbia - a city in the clouds - it cannot stand pressure any lower than the high altitude and thus cannot enter water, something later used to put him out of his misery.

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