I admit it’s kind of hard to even pretend to be objective about this DLC for Bioshock Infinite since this is actually the last piece of content produced by Irrational Games. Although Ken Levine (writer and creative director) and the others will continue to work in the gaming industry, they will do so separately. Bioshock francize has been handed over to 2k and whilst I am sure we haven’t quite seen the end of Bioshock, the amazing story brought by Mr. Levine will continue no more.
Episode two’s story starts right after the events from episode one. You continue your return to Rapture but this time you play as Elizabeth in an attempt to save a little sister. I won’t spoil more of the story but there are a few things I want to say. Firstly, the game itself is longer and feels properly adjusted for the story it tells, it took me about 3 hours to finish this and frankly I didn’t feel wanting more…to be quite honest I was left disappointed. There will be plenty of things that contradict (or simply don’t make much sense) the previous games, which is quite a shame because there was a nice potential to end this with a bang. Do not be worried though, the story is resolved so you will not be yearning for more, but what you do learn in these episodes may leave you disappointed and plenty of times confused.
It’s quite sad that after the spectacular ending of Bioshock Infinite this is the story that we get and it pains me even greater because as usual the environments are great: Rapture looks breathtaking, providing a setting in which a great story and conclusion to Infinite could have been told. For those nostalgic for the old Rapture these DLCs will provide your fix and not much else.
Now, in general additional content are a great opportunity to play around with the game’s mechanics and try to make something innovative (after all it won’t affect the main game that was released). In this regard episode 2 succeeds better as the game mechanics have been focused on stealth. The developers said they don’t want to make “Booker in a dress” so you will have a dart gun and a few more gadgets that will allow you to put the splicers of Rapture to sleep. You will have to sneak around and be crouched most of the time, while you melee enemies from behind. It’s an interesting change of pace from the past and (although the stealth mechanics are not complex) a welcomed one at that. Of course you can still carry weapons (like the shotgun or the hand canon) but they will feel clunky and reload slower so sneaking around is really your best bet.
If you wonder why I haven’t mentioned tears it’s because you can’t make them. Even though you play as Elizabeth the story provides an explanation (week of course) as to why you aren’t able to create them so instead you now pick locks. The entire lock picking mechanic revolves around pressing a button at the right time. It’s nothing complicated really, it’s simple and it does the job…still I would have preferred messing around with tears.
In the end, after finishing both episodes I am left with a bitter taste and even though I will pretend the story in burial at sea never happened it will be hard for me, when replaying Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, to not think of the explanations provided here. Episode 2 may have a better gameplay then one and offers less frustrations in that regard but the story will probably leave you disappointed. If you are huge fan of Bioshock you probably bought these DLCs already, otherwise there isn’t any point to play them.