Bioshock Infinite!

[zero]

Trailer

A message from Ken Levine:

Keeping secrets is hard.

The last three years for me have been dominated by a single question: “What are you guys doing there?”

Some of you were pretty certain it was an X-COM game, which I can now safely say it is not. It is also not part of the Freedom Force, SWAT, X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, Kingdom Hearts or Yar’s Revenge franchises. The time for discussing what Irrational Games is NOT doing is over.

Today we announce BioShock Infinite.

That’s right, this is a BioShock game.

It’s a sequel.

But it’s also not a sequel.

Let me explain.

At Irrational Games, we believe that in order to fulfill expectations, you have to defy expectations.

When we completed the original BioShock, we felt we had said all we wanted to say with Rapture, but we weren’t done with the idea that is BioShock. BioShock is so much more than a story of a single place or a single time. We had so much more we wanted to say.

There are two core principles for us that define a BioShock game. First, it has to be set in a world that is both fantastical and yet also grounded in the human experience. Second, it has to provide gamers with a large set of tools, and then set them loose in an environment that empowers them to solve problems in their own way.

It would have been easier for us to go back to the well. We could have taken the easy route. We could have simply done more of the same, but we would not have been true to ourselves as game developers. Making the original BioShock was hard. We challenged ourselves every step of the way, and we tossed aside many elements and ideas simply because they weren’t good enough.

So when we started the sequel, we said to ourselves: “We want to expand on those core principles, but beyond that, there are no sacred cows. Everything else that people know or think they know about BioShock is open for negotiation.”

You will find yourself in a completely new world. Columbia is not an unknown secret city at the bottom of the sea. It’s a creation of an America transforming from a regional agrarian collection of states into a world power with global reach.

You now play an actual character, and not a cypher who is unaware of his own identity. You are Booker Dewitt, a particular character with an established history, with a voice you will hear as he talks to himself and others in the game.

You’ve come to Columbia for a reason: to find a mysterious young woman named Elizabeth and bring her safely out of the city. She will travel with you, interact with you, and react to the situations you cause to happen, and through your relationship with her, we’re able to tell the story of this new and amazing world.

This world of Columbia presents radical differences in scale from what you are used to. You’re not crawling through corridors on the ocean floor, claustrophobic with the weight of the ocean bearing down on you. Instead you find yourself navigating through huge environments, zipping around on Sky-Lines at eighty miles per hour and getting into firefights at ranges of two thousand yards.

In fact, there is so much new and radical about BioShock Infinite that we simply can’t tell you all about it in one revelation. What we present to the world today is merely the tip of a very large iceberg. In the coming months we’ll begin to reveal more of what BioShock Infinite is all about and let the world know why we are so excited.

For now, we want to thank you all for your patience, and for sticking with us all these many months while we labored in silence.The time for silence is over. First up for the fans of this site is another episode of Irrational Behavior with Shawn Elliott that covers the announcement of BioShock Infinite and the work that led up to it. I’m sure you’ll dig it.

Down the road a bit, actual gameplay footage awaits. It’s something you’re going to want to watch more than once. Trust me on this one.

[tenaciousg]

There is no smiley big enough to describe my excitement.

Even the Old Spice Guy in my avatar seems inadequate.

Edited August 12, 2010 by TenaciousG

[probablyoliver]

I was wholly underwhelmed by Bioshock 2. My expectations will stay low.

[SRN]

If it is as shit as BioShock 2 then, meh, very much meh.

[Kaney]

I thought Bioshock 2 was done by a different studio, since the guys who did the original felt they said all they needed to with Rapture, hence the hugely different direction on this one.

[Cactus Drags]

Yeah, exactly. Bioshock 2 was actually handled by at least two developers, with maybe a third doing most of the multiplayer or something. I have still enjoyed it (so far at least, I'm not that far into story as I got sidetracked by multi and then other games coming out). But yeah, definitely not a patch on the first one, which is quite possibly my favourite game ever.

[zero]

What Kaney said. Did you guys miss the part where Ken Levine was revealed as director? He directed the first game, but not the second. The second was so underwhelming because it was a retreading cash-in. Ken Levine on board = (Y)

[HeartlineTwist]

See, I was semi-fortunate insofar as I never got to FINISH the original BioShock, so I didn't think that BioShock 2 was godawful (I actually liked it... )

This, on the other hand, looks fucking epic. Hard/foolish to speculate at this point, but are we leaving behind a city in the sea for a city in the sky? Even if not, art direction like whoa, so fuck yeah!

[zero]

I liked Bioshock 2... but really, it was just Bioshock 1.5, or Bioshock 1.25

[New Damage]

I haven't played Bioshock 2 yet (money, time, not wanting ANOTHER FPS etc.) and I did like Bioshock 1, even if I did have to start again half-way through and it was VERY hard. But seeing that trailer I was literally in shock when he bust through the glass to reveal you're in the air. Infinite is set BEFORE Rapture if I'm correct? Be interesting to see how they link it to Rapture.

[Guest jocky]

Saw the trailer. It looks like it could be as exciting as the first bioshock. Cant comment on the second one as its sitting there waiting to be played but ive got to finish bayonetta first.

[badotori]

The trailer looks un-bloody-believable and, in a way, I'm really glad they're moving away from Rapture and exploring not only a different location in the game world, but a different time as well. On the other hand, I hope that it is not treated as a complete departure from 1 and 2 and there are elements of Infinite (no matter how small) that showcase where the ideas that informed the building of Rapture later could have come from.

Definitely looking forward to hearing more about this soon.

[gunnar hendershow]

This was definitely the direction Bioshock 2 needed to go in. I'm not one in the "Bioshock 2 sucked" camp, I enjoyed it. That said, we needed a totally different part of the world to explore and not some side story like we had in Bioshock 2.

[HeartlineTwist]

Holy. FUCKING. SHIT!!!

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/ten-minute-demo-bioshock-infinite/704931

[New Damage]

This looks Damn sexy.