Bioshock Infinite is one of that few games in which I was shaken to the core on completing. I loved this mind-boggling game made by Irrational games, there are really very few such kinds of games present currently in the market. It has the capability to invoke a chain of thought process and I liked how the developers left the story to be thought and woven by the players itself. The core concept of the game, the multiple parallel universes itself is so baffling that so many thoughts keep gushing our mind even after hours of game completion.
The core notion of the game solely plays around the decisions we make. Now imagine we took a decision “A” for a situation. So there is another universe created where we may have taken the decision “B”. The artwork in the game completely takes it to a different level. Though it was created by the villain, the city of skies, Columbia is damn beautiful.
While playing half of the game, the player will have no idea what is happening and where is he going through tiers etc. One thing here must be accepted is that in the last part, especially in the last 20 minutes game blitzes players with a lot of information. This bombardment is okay, but it is really hard to process all in one go. This is because so many things are dynamically happening around us. Hell, I played the game twice to properly understand it. If you haven’t played the game it, I strongly recommend playing it. Needless to say, big spoilers coming ahead.
Today I will attempt to explain all this complex ending of the game in the simplest possible way. So, grab your coffee, set back and relax. Let’s have this ride!!
Main theory in the game:
The basic approach of this game is based on millions of universe created and collapsing with every decision you make. To understand it better, let’s take a real life example here.
Say you got a date in the evening with this lucky person. Now there are two primary decisions here. Either you go for a date, or you don’t. When you decide to “Go” in this universe, there another universe is created where you “Don’t Go” to the date. All the further consequences will be based on what decision you make at that moment.
Now further these universes may have branches where you say “prepone” or “postpone” your date or say “postpone and cancel” or “prepone and cancel” etc. There will be innumerable possibilities and I guess now you get the gist of the concept is. So for each decision, there exists a universe and also there exist a universe for, where you don’t take it, or the opposite of it.
These lighthouses represent millions of universes and possibilities in the game!!
Now let’s understand how the game kick starts.
One very important event in the game: The Baptism of Booker Dewitt.
Booker is plagued with some sins from the past, which he wants to get rid of. He decides to undergo Baptism. Thus the scene of Baptism plays. But as we see, at the very end, Booker denies this Baptism, and somehow decides to continue with his life.
Exactly, at this moment, two different worlds are created, one where Booker accepts Baptism and one where he rejects. Right here two “Bookers” are created. The one which accepts the Baptism calls himself as Zachary Comstock, probably to distance himself from sinful past. However, the original Booker decides to go on by accepting his past.
The biggest irony of this game which I feel is, the Baptized Booker, goes on to become one of the biggest villains of all the time and the non-Baptized “sinful” Booker is the savior after all.
A little background check: Booker, Comstock, Anna and Elizabeth
Let’s get to know Mr. Booker Dewitt a little better:
Booker Dewitt is a normal man living his life in the simple world. He has no Idea what is he about to go through in near future. Booker has a wife, and they have a baby which is named Anna. My speculation about wife is that she dies while giving birth to Anna or maybe some other complex reason. But now she is not there.
Now Booker is left with Anna to be taken care of. Booker tries to get over this sour grief with drinking. With a lot of drinking follows the gambling. In gambling, Booker now owns a lot of debt to very dangerous people.
Say hello to Mr. Zachary Comstock the bad guy of the game:
Zachary Comstock is the creator of the city Columbia in which later we play the whole game. He builds up this empire with the help of the brilliant physicist the Lutece Twins. Lutece twins also invent of tier technology to which Comstock has early access. This tier tearing is nothing but an invention which allows traveling to another universe (made by other decision) without disturbing time-space units. Long time exposure to this makes Comstock infertile and unable to conceive a baby in his world. Due to his age factor, he must find the heir to rule the nation which is of his own bloodline.
So there must be some universe existing, where he has a baby which is, of course, that of Booker’s!! He then decides to use this tier technology, and use it to get his baby from another world. He then interferes into Booker’s world and brings his baby to his own world with help of Lutece’s help.
Anna equals Elizabeth:
So by now, you must have got clear idea that the character we play with the game is actually Booker’s daughter from his universe. Anna is actually confiscated from Booker by Comstock. So Elizabeth is a grownup or elder version of Anna. During her forcing through the tier, she gets a clean cut and loses her pinky finger. I guess this gives her superpower of opening the tiers to another world just as Lutece Twins.
Comstock has special plans for Elizabeth. He plans to implant a control device in her head, and use this power as and when he pleases. He clearly has the full idea of what Elizabeth is capable of and therefore orders to make a “siphon” tower in Columbia so that he can limit, utilize and even drain her powers. He also orders to make a huge mechanical bird, called as “songbird” in the game to protect her.
What happens to Comstock’s plans then:
Lutece twins look into this future in which they find that Comstock uses her to bring Armageddon on New York and all over the world. Hence decided to make it all right by returning Elizabeth to her original timeline. They then bring Booker to this world of Comstock with one goal, save the girl.
The actual game starts here when Booker is bought to Comstock’s world by the Lutece twins through the tier. Booker comes to this world only with one goal, that is, to save the girl. Here, in Comstock’s world, Booker suffers two memories existing in same space and time in his head, which I feel is the reason for the nosebleeds.
Now fasten your seat belt as we take a tour through the different universe.
I will now brief only the main events in the game, as we are not here to discuss the complete game. I will enlist all the important events as and when they happen in the game.
In the game, we travel mainly through 4 different timelines or let’s just say 4 different universes. The events in each universe unfold as chalked below.
Universe 1:
- You enter Comstock’s universe and start your journey.
- Travel to the tower of Monument Island and free Elizabeth
- Fight Slate
- Enlisted by Daisy to go and arm Vox populi
- Find Chen Li is dead
- Exit this timeline with help of Elizabeth.
Universe 2:
- No Elizabeth as she is moved to Comstock’s house
- Booker teams up with Slate and Burns down the hall of heroes
- Chen Li lives in this universe
- This is where you enter the universe
- But tools are confiscated by police
- Exit from this timeline at this point
Universe 3:
- Booker is killed and becomes the martyr for Vox populi
- Chen Li’s tools haven’t been confiscated.
- Vox revolt
- You enter here the timeline in this universe here.
- Elizabeth is captured by songbird and taken back to Comstock
- Because Booker was dead, he never came to rescue Elizabeth
- Booker pulled in future by older Elizabeth
- The control device is implanted in her by Comstock, nothing under her control
- Gives Booker a note to give to young Elizabeth in order to save the world
Universe 4:
- You enter universe here
- Booker rescues Elizabeth so the control device was never implanted
- Comstock gets killed
- Siphon destroyed by songbird.
The story in the game starts playing exactly where you enter that particular map. So like a hero, Booker either takes entry in every universe when the things are about to get screwed up or after they get screwed up. Elizabeth takes them through these different universes as story unfolds.
The Infinite Loop:
The ride we just had in different universes is what happens always, rather keeps happening always. The main goal of Booker is to break this loop which goes on playing so many times. The whole game we keep hearing about the constants and variables. Now we will get the clear idea of what exactly are those constants and the variables.
When siphon tower was destroyed, Elizabeth gained her full capacity and became omniscient and omnipotent. She saw a million possibilities (the universe), all the dimensions where Comstock is still alive, knew where it all starts and finally converges.
To end this never-ending loop of always losing Anna, always getting to Columbia, always getting a head on coin flipped, always getting ball number 77 and failure to finally save his daughter has to end at some point. To end this very loop, Elizabeth has to put an end to where it all started.
This is where I saw many people actually lose it. What we think is that at the end Elizabeth kills Booker and the whole loop ends. NO, it doesn’t happen that way!!
Knowledge and Wisdom:
Booker and Elizabeth have to eliminate the “constant”, where it all started. This loop will not be over when Comstock is killed but ends only when he never existed. This means they have to make sure he was never created at first place. We must observer one point very carefully here. In a loop, we always kill Comstock only in the universe you experienced. Actually, there are millions of other universes, where he still exists and still tortures his daughter.
Look at the bigger picture here, you only experience ONE of the infinite number of possible endings all happening constantly and simultaneously until this loop breaks. Luteces make it work, always bring Booker to Columbia. But in the end, it is Booker who needs to act.
This I think is why when you are playing the game and die, Elizabeth merely adopts another Booker where he didn’t die at that time from another universe.
What Elizabeth kills is the man who accepts Baptism. So rather changing variables of “He accepts Baptism” or “He does not accept baptism”, she turns it to a constant of “No, he doesn’t accept baptism”.
In this case, Comstock was never created!! So all the other things on what Comstock had an effect on, also vanish with him. Columbia was never created, Luteces were never there in Columbia, no crazy inventions, songbirds, siphon tower and most strikingly, Elizabeth, never existed.
Yes, it is really a lot to take. Elizabeth, we came to know, played with her whole game and shared a bond of caring father-daughter relation, never existed!! So in a way in the end, when she was killing Booker, she was actually killing herself, making a greater sacrifice. If she does this sacrifice, the other timeline where Anna is with Booker will always remain safe, as there is no Comstock.
Now here arises a doubt that when a universe is created when Anna gets confiscated, there must even be a universe (possibility) where she doesn’t get confiscated, right? Well, the doubt is correct, however, whatever happens in the end, Comstock always manages to take, ask or confiscate Anna and make her Elizabeth, kind of a “constant” thing. You see where it all starts and where she will always end.
Here is a precis of what all we talked till now:
I will be honest, I have never seen a girl character so beautifully crafted, ever in any game. The animation, the voice over is just wow, perfect!!
Actually, I like the way game developers at Irrational games kept some things cloudy and foggy intentionally. This helps game build good hype and also, yes, million possible universes of what might have exactly happened. Everyone has their own version of the story.
Hope I was able to at least touch the line of the depth of what game wanted players to experience. Please let me know if you enjoyed the read. Also feel free to add your thoughts to it in case I miss anything. Until then, see you next time.