Game Over - BioShock Infinite

You have probably heard a lot about the ending to BioShock Infinite. Or you have heard absolutely nothing if you are avoiding spoilers. If you are looking to avoid further spoilers I would advise you stop reading here until you beat the game. Trust me, it is worth finding out the ending on your own.

Finished the game? Good, now we don’t have to worry about me spoiling it for you. Let's start shortly after everything goes to hell in a handbasket. You have provided the Vox with weapons needed to start a revolution for equal rights. Man I had a hard time typing that with a straight face. They get their revolution, but it is not for equal rights, it is to take over Columbia from the Founders. And they don’t stop this with just the adults. They freely kill the kids as well too, as they put it, to stop the weed at the root. Here is where Elizabeth kills for the first time. The person she killed was the leader of the Vox, Daisy Fitzroy. And that means the first person I thought would be a boss fight is dead.

Next, we visit the grave of the woman whom we thought was Elizabeth’s mom. After a fight with a ghost and constantly resurrected zombies, three backstory rifts, and another fight with the same ghost and same blasted zombies, Elizabeth puts the ghost to rest. She came to the realization that the ghost was not her mother. Her mother, and her father Comstock, are both infertile and incapable of having a baby. The ghost was created as a reflection of what Elizabeth thought her mom was. With this taken care of you enter Comstock house where Elizabeth is immediately captured by Song Bird and Booker is knocked out. When he revives he has a lengthy battle through a prison to discover Elizabeth is now over 80 years old and destroying New York, NY. Using the last of her power she sends you back to rescue her before she became this. One daring adventure to Comstocks personal zeppelin (really fun fight by the way) and you finally come face to face with the man that has caused all this, Comstock himself. After a less than friendly conversation Booker drowns Comstock in a bird path. And there goes boss fight number two.

Ok, now for a massive battle against Song Bird. Or that is what I thought until Elizabeth breaks apart one of those gold Comstock statues and pulls out a flute. She uses the flute to summon Song Bird and help you against the oncoming Vox invasion. And there goes the expected third boss fight. But you know, that is fine. The Vox invasion of the zeppelin you are on makes for one hell of a fight instead. We are talking about enemies with RPG launchers, machine guns, mechanical patriots, war boats, and entire zeppelins. In fact if it were not for Song Bird this would be impossible to have completed. When completed, you meet Elizabeth at the bow of the ship and then use Song Bird to destroy the siphon in the tower she was held in. This breaks the flute controlling Song Bird and frees all of Elizabeth’s power at once. Now things become interesting.

As Song Bird comes in to take you out, Elizabeth uses her now nearly fathomless powers to transport you to a different world. All of a sudden you are in Rapture with Song Bird being crushed under the weight of the ocean. Grabbing a bathysphere to the surface you arrive at a lighthouse. Entering the lighthouse brings you to a star field landscape. Only they are not stars, they are gateways to other worlds, each being a lighthouse. As you walk through the landscape piers, paths appears before you. It is revealed that Booker did not really go to Columbia to get Elizabeth. He went to Columbia for redemption. It was true that he had great debt, and the only way to pay it was to give up his daughter, Annabelle Booker. At the last minute he wanted out of the deal and tried to get his daughter back before she disappeared into a tear. He then spent the next 18 years living in an apartment with his guilt. Move on to Booker at a baptism after Wounded Knee, before he had Anna. He was going to be reborn, something to forget his guilt over all the horrible things he did. But he did not go through it. Continuing to walk through the area between worlds you see other Elizabeth and Booker combos walking around. Finally, after talking you come to the conclusion that the only way to stop everything is to go Comstocks origin. He must be drowned (fitting words) at the moment of his birth. Back to Booker’s baptism. Here is where you come to the realization that, if you had taken the baptism you were reborn, as Zachery Comstock. Here is when the game ends, with several different versions of Elizabeth holding you under the baptismal waters until you drown. Then, one by one, they blink out of existence.

I did view this ending as kind of screwing with your mind. Yes, there are a number of things that hint at parts of the ending. Like when you are about to go through one of the turnstiles to board Lady Comstocks airship someone calls Elizabeth, Annabelle instead. There is also the AD, Annabelle Dewitt, that tattooed into Booker’s hand and how Comstock knew to expect him to show up. There is much about this game that one play through and watching of the ending was not enough. I need to get a second time in to watch it and fully understand what is going on here. There is so much going on not only just at the ending, but through the entire game. Definitely gives me a goal to head for.