The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom features a ton of new abilities that weren’t in Breath of the Wild, including one that references a classic Nintendo toy.
As revealed in the new ten-minute gameplay showcase, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma showed off four new abilities of Link’s: Recall, Fuse, Ascend, and Ultrahand.
The last of these is named after a grabbing toy from the late 1960s. The Ultra Hand consisted of several criss-cross plastic tubes that connected a grabber on one end and handles on the other. The concept was simple: kids could use the Ultra Hand to pick things up from far away and drop them elsewhere, not completely unlike Link’s ability in Tears of the Kingdom.
Even more interestingly, the Ultra Hand was invented by Gunpei Yokoi, who would go on to create the video game console D-Pad, the Game Boy, and Game and Watch.
The Ultrahand ability in Tears of the Kingdom lets Link pick things up and move them around too, though it admittedly gets a little bit more complex than its 1960s counterpart. Link can use it to combine different objects, from logs and shields to rocks and pitchforks and seemingly everything else.
Aonuma showed how the ability could be used in several different ways, alongside revealing a ton of other details about Tears of the Kingdom including weapon durability, sky islands, and more. A limited edition Nintendo Switch console was also unveiled.
Nintendo has finally shared uninterrupted gameplay of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom ahead of its May release date. The new footage showed off four new abilities for Link, a closer look at the Sky Islands we’ve seen in all of the trailers, weapon durability’s return, and a lot more.
The gameplay kicked off with Link riding on a horse through the fields of Hyrule. The UI looks very similar to Breath of the Wild, with the temperature, weather, time, and minimap displayed in the bottom right corner, and Link’s health and inventory in the upper left. However, the Rune icon has been replaced with an Apple symbol, indicating a food menu shortcut.
Aonuma indicated there are a lot of changes to Tears of the Kingdom’s version of Hyrule, saying, “If we talk about all the changes today, we’ll run out of time.”
The camera then panned up to show one of the big land masses in the sky, which are now officially known as Sky Islands. As Link was riding by a stable, we see a big object fall from the sky. Link climbed to the object and used a new Recall ability to rewind an object’s movement. Link then rode the rock into the sky and glided over to the Sky Island.
Breath of the Wild’s Weapon Durability Returns
Gameplay then jumped to a different Sky Island featuring golden trees and some man-made structures. Link ran into a new enemy type called a Construct, which Link fought with a Tree Branch. The weapon quickly broke, confirming the return of Breath of the Wild’s durability system.
However, there is a new mechanic when it comes to weapons as well. Link walked up to a rock while wielding a Tree Branch, and used the new Fuse ability to merge the Tree Branch and Rock together to create a makeshift hammer. This significantly improved the attack power of the weapon.
Fuse will also work on two weapons, like merging a stick and a Pitchfork together to crate an extremely long weapon. You can Fuse materials to arrows to create makeshift elemental arrows, or attach an eyeball to create a homing arrow. Even enemies will sometimes wield Fused weapons.
Aonuma also showed off the new Ultrahand ability, which is the way Link will construct the vehicles seen in the latest Tears of the Kingdom trailer. Link combined three logs together, and added a fan he found on the ground to the logs to power the raft. He then easily sailed across a river using the raft he just constructed.
Next, Aonuma demonstrated the new Ascend ability, which allows Link to move through ceilings to advance to the floor above. “As long as there’s a ceiling, you can use it anywhere,” Aonuma said. This included inside a cave, where Link was able to completely skip climbing by using the Ascend ability.
The gameplay presentation ended with Link falling back to the surface, where it was revealed that players can hold R to fall to the surface faster. The gameplay chunk no-doubt included plenty of secrets, which we’ll surely all dissect today. But it won’t be long until we’re exploring this revamped Hyrule ourselves, as Aonuma confirmed that Tears of the Kingdom has wrapped development ahead of its May 12, 2023 release date.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
The archetypical bullet hell shooter — think Ikaruga or TwinBee — are top-down, two-dimensional aerial battlefields locked on an infinite vertical scroll. One daring spaceship or fighter jet must evade a wild morass of spherical, slow-moving projectiles, while destroying an armada of puny, fragile interceptors. In that sense, Luna Abyss deviates from the established tradition in some fascinating ways. This is a first-person shooter that cribs liberally from the quarter-eating cabinets of yore; your field of view billows up with floating bullets, but unlike Halo or Call of Duty, you’re not expected to duck behind cover in order to survive. Instead, in Luna Abyss, players will be squeezing through the slight crevices in between the shells in the same way you might slip through the empty space in an Enter The Gungeon shotgun blast. It’s a wild idea, and after a brief demo, there’s a chance Luna Abyss sticks the landing.
Luna Abyss dunks you headfirst into a world gone horribly wrong. You’ll take control of some sort of human-like creature named Fawkes, who has awoken — yes — with amnesia in an alien setting. The terrain evokes the inhospitable machine cities of the Matrix films; composed of slithering mechanical coils, glossy obsidian stones, and oppressive neon floodlights. In fact, almost every square inch of Luna Abyss is sheathed in black, red, and white. Fawkes will navigate a few primitive jumping puzzles before stumbling upon their first firearm — an introductory pea-shooter buoyed by no ammunition and a liberal overheat timer. Soon enough, you’ll also discover that you don’t need to do much aiming with your arsenal. The left click automatically locks on to any unlucky target in proximity with your crosshairs, quickly reducing them to dust.
This is the primary way Luna Abyss distinguishes itself from other shooters. The combat encounters aren’t structured around reflexes and mouse dexterity; you’re guaranteed to land clean, powerful shots on anyone inhabiting your field of view. With those responsibilities accounted for, you’ll spend most of your time with Luna Abyss strafing around the map, which is important, because the enemies you’ll encounter have the means of emitting ungodly barrages of plasma missiles. This is where Luna Abyss lays its bullet hell DNA bare. All of the isometric bobbing and weaving you did on a flat arcade screen must now be adapted to a fully 3D environment; victories and defeats start with your footwork, rather than the location of your cursor. It’s a brand new way to play an FPS, and once you get the rhythm down, Luna Abyss has a way of getting under your skin.
You get the sense that Luna Abyss is barely scratching the surface of the various ways it can torture us.
The best example of this dynamic is the single boss fight I encountered in the demo. I faced off against a monstrosity who was capable of unleashing a psychedelic spiral of lethal orbs. It almost felt like I was engaged in a Star Fox showdown; you need to identify the few safe spots on the floor, while slowly chipping away at their health bar. You get the sense that Luna Abyss is barely scratching the surface of the various ways it can torture us. I would not be surprised if, after a few more levels, this is a video game that gets very, very difficult.
Towards the end of my run, Fawkes discovered a brand new weapon. It works like a slow, punchy railgun, and has the capacity to obliterate the luminous plasma shields bubbling certain enemies. This added a new wrinkle to the arenas; you blow away a target’s protection before quickly mousewheeling to the machine gun in order to finish them off. (If you are a veteran of the Halo 2 plasma pistol/battle rifle combo, you’ll be right at home.) This was a promising sign that Luna Abyss will continue to find interesting ways to augment its formula the more we sink our teeth into it. I also hope the deliberate pacing of its storytelling picks up. Developer Bonsai Collective has cooked up a memorably nauseating realm, but thus far, I’m only learning more about its specifics through text logs and elliptical conversations with the occasional Dark Souls-ish NPC. I’m enjoying the sights, but I can’t quite say I’m immersed.
Then again, demos are supposed to be a small glimpse of a much bigger picture. And from everything I’ve played, I’d be shocked if Luna Abyss doesn’t have a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Player First Games, the developers behind Multiversus, confirmed that players who spent money on the game throughout the open beta will not get a refund. The news comes from the official Multiversus website under the FAQ page.
Under the question “Will refunds be available for previously purchased content?,” it reads, “This announcement does not change any current refund policies or terms offered by the storefront(s) from which Founder’s Packs or Gleamium bundles were purchased. For more information, please visit the customer support pages for PlayStation, Xbox, Steam and Epic Games. Additionally, refunds are not available as a result of the Open Beta closure. However, all progress and previously earned or purchased content will carry over when MultiVersus returns in early 2024.”
Fans have been quick to express their opinion on the matter. One post on the Multiversus subreddit declares “I want my money back,” while others took to Twitter to call out the move.
This may well be one of the most stupid decisions I’ve ever heard.
Closing your dwindling game for >1 year with zero warning to those who have spent *actual money* on it being unable to play, and presumably charging them again at full release. The gall! I’d be refunding it all.
— Ryan T. Brown ? #WASD #OLL ? (@Toadsanime) March 27, 2023
Earlier today, it was announced that Multiversus would shut down its online features on June 25 and will aim to launch the full game by early 2024. Tony Huynh, co-founder and game director at Player First Games, said, “Our Open Beta has been an important learning opportunity for us and a stepping stone to the next phase of MultiVersus.”
For more on Multiversus, check out our 8/10 review, which reads, “MultiVersus is a raucous and fun competitive platform fighter that rewards players for learning the strengths and weaknesses of its eclectic cast of characters and working as part of a team.”
Luis Joshua Gutierrez is a freelance writer who loves games. You can reach him at @ImLuisGutierrez on Twitter.
2023 might finally be the year where 2TB PS5 SSDs might actually be worth the upgrade. Last year, prices for 1TB PS5 SSDs averaged around $150, whereas 2TB SSDs hovered closer to $300. This year, we’re seeing 1TB SSDs trickle below the $100 price point and 2TB SSDs are under $200. The reason PS5 SSD upgrades are pricey is that you can’t use any old SSD and expect it to perform well on the PS5 console. You’ll want to pick up an PCIe Gen4 x4 M.2 solid state drive with a rated 5,500MB/s read speed to match the PS5’s internal drive. That means, for better or for worse, picking a top-shelf SSD.
Note that Sony recommends a heatsink attached to your SSD. Not all SSDs listed here have pre-installed heatsinks. For the ones that do, we’ll be sure to mention it. For the ones that don’t, all you have to do is purchase your own heatsink (we recommend this one for $10) and install it yourself. It’s very easy.
Samsung 1TB PS5 SSD for $75
Samsung SSDs need no introduction. They’ve made some of the most popular and reliable PS5 SSDs on the market. The 980 Pro has been out for a while now, but it’s still one of Samsung’s fastest M.2 PCIe SSD, with only the newly released 990 Pro being faster. It is fully PS5 compatible in terms of form factor and performance, with blistering speeds of up to 7,100MB/s. It goes toe to toe with other well-known options like the WD Black SN850 and the Seagate Firecuda 530.
Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PS5 SSD for PS5 for $131.99
Crucial’s newest M.2 SSD meets all the requirements for your PS5 SSD upgrade. It supports transfer speeds of up to 6,660MB/s which is well above the 5,500MB/s minimum threshold. Yes there are faster SSDs out there, but if your intention is to put this in your PS5, then that extra speed is worthless because you’re bottlenecked by the original PS5 SSD. If you’re worried about opening up your PS5 case, don’t worry it’s very easy. Crucial has an official YouTube PS5 SSD install guide to see you through the process.
WD 2TB PS5 SSD from $159.99
Amazon is offering a 2TB WD Black SN850X with preinstalled heatsink for only $179.99.The SN850X is the successor to the SN850 SSD. It has newer flash chips (BiCS5 vs BiCS4) and an updated firmware, which combined offer improved sequential and random read/write speeds. For PC gamers, there’s also an updated Game Mode 2.0 utility that’s designed to tune the SSD for better performance during gaming sessions.
Corsair MP600 PRO LPX 2TB “Optimized for PS5” SSD with Heatsink for Only $154.99
Corsair is a very well known brand for DIY PC builders. Corsair makes some of the best gaming products on the market, and that includes solid-state memory like RAM and SSDs. The MP600 Pro is the same super-fast M.2 NVMe PCIe x4 Gen4 SSD that’s marketed for enthusiast gaming PC builds. This one is “optimized for PS5” because it includes a rugged preinstalled heatsink that is slim enough to fit in the PS5 bay without any issues. Performance wise, the MP600 Pro matches the best SSDs out there with its 7,100MB/sec sequential read and 6,800MB/sec sequential write speeds.
Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB PS5 SSD for $142.99
Amazon is offering the Patriot Viper VP4300 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x 4 Internal Gaming Solid State Drive, which is compatible with the PS5 console, for only $142.99. This makes it definitely the lowest price we’ve seen for a brand name 2TB PS5 SSD, especially since this one even includes a slim aluminum heatshield. The VP4300 is an M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 x4 solid state drive with rated transfer speeds of 7,400MB/s read and 6,800MB/s write. That makes it well above the PS5’s recommended 5,600MB/s speed requirement.
More PS5 SSD Deals
There may be other SSD deals out there, but these are the PS5 SSDs we’ve tried ourselves and highly recommend. They also double up as outstanding boot drives for your gaming PC, in case you don’t need additional storage for your PS5 console.
How easy is it to install the SSD?
It’s extremely easy! Removing the case cover is completely toolless. In fact, the only screw you have to remove is the one that keeps the cover for the SSD bay in place. You don’t even put it back when you’re done. Sony has a quick and easy YouTube video guide.
What if the SSD I bought doesn’t have a heatsink?
Sony recommends you install an SSD that has an attached heatsink. If the SSD you purchase doesn’t include one, it’s simple enough to buy one for about $10 on Amazon and add it yourself. Most of these heatsinks are just attached using an adhesive like thermal tape.
For more deals, take a look at our daily deals for today.
Sega and Relic Entertainment announced that Company of Heroes 3 is receiving a new update called Operation Sapphire Jackal.
The game’s first major update includes daily and weekly challenges for players to compete in both multiplayer and co-modes. These challenges include tasks such as destroying 50 vehicles with anti-tank guns and gaining 50 veteran ranks with Wehrmacht infantry. Completing these challenges will earn players Merit, an in-game earnable currency that can be used to unlock cosmetics.
These new in-game cosmetics can be used to customize units and armies in both single-player and multiplayer modes. They can also be unlocked via War Bonds, a purchasable in-game currency, along with the earnable Merit in-game currency. War Bonds can only be earned by buying War Bond packs.
“One of our goals with the In-Game Store is to ensure there is always a balanced mix of earnable and paid content available so that players can choose how they use the store, and that there is unlockable content available to everyone,” Relic Entertainment explained in a blog post. “This will apply to everything in the store when it launches, and as we move forward.”
Additionally, there are several bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements, including a new voice-over for the Ghurka infantry and clearer descriptions to more accurately reflect abilities, units, and upgrades, as well as updated unique player color options with allies being cool colors and enemies being warm colors.
Company of Heroes 3 launched on February 23 for PC, while PS5 and Xbox Series X|S versions are coming later this year. In IGN’s Company of Heroes 3 single-player campaign review, we said, “Company of Heroes 3’s single-player campaigns remix the series’ signature WW2 combat, but they wrap it up in a boring, buggy strategic map and a mismatched story.”
For the game’s multiplayer portion, we said, “Outfoxing your human foes remains excellent in Relic’s latest, Company of Heroes 3. The heart of this World War 2 RTS’ combat and faction design is stronger than ever.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
Ubisoft will not be a part of E3 2023 after all, the company has revealed.
In a statement to VGC, the Assassin’s Creed publisher said it will hold its own, separate event in Los Angeles the same week as E3.
“E3 has fostered unforgettable moments across the industry throughout the years,” Ubisoft’s statement reads. “While we initially intended to have an official E3 presence, we’ve made the subsequent decision to move in a different direction, and will be holding a Ubisoft Forward Live event on 12th June in Los Angeles. We look forward to sharing more details with our players very soon.”
In February, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the company would have “a lot of things to show” at E3 2023, becoming the first major publisher to confirm attendance for the event. Ubisoft’s upcoming slate includes Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Skull and Bones, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, as the company plans to “launch a lot of games” in its next financial year. But now, Ubisoft pulling out of the event leaves E3’s lineup in serious question.
With Ubisoft out of the picture, as well as no presence from Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo, there are currently no major publishers announced for E3 2023. Earlier this month, E3 organizer ReedPop said that “Exhibitors from AAA companies to indie darlings and tech companies will be announced leading up to the expo.”
The in-person component of E3 2023 is set for June 13-26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. This is ReedPop’s first year handling the event, but the company has experience putting on shows like New York Comic Con, Pax, Star Wars Celebration, and more. This will be E3’s first in-person show since 2019.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
Cheat codes have been found for Gran Turismo 4, which launched almost two decades ago in 2005 for PlayStation 2.
These cheat codes were discovered by Twitter user Nenkaai, but it’s unclear how they found them in the first place. These newly uncovered chat codes provide benefits for players when the corresponding buttons have been input into the game. However, they can only be used once 365 in-game days have passed in Gran Turismo 4:
Pass any license in the License selection screen: Select, R1, Select, R1, Select, L2, L2, R2, R2, L1, Select, L1, Select
Earn a Gold rating at any specific license test in the License Test selection screen: Select, Select, R1, R2, L2, L2, Select, L1, R1, Select, R2, L1, Select
Earn a Gold rating at any event in the Event Course Selection screen: Select, L1, Up, Up, Select, R1, Down, Down, Select, L2, Select, R2, Select
So many years and this game still holds surprises, GT4 does actually have cheat codes?? pic.twitter.com/toyyIHIJKW
Furthermore, the prizes that come with earning a gold rating in events are also unlocked as well and 24-hour races can be skipped over. The codes apparently even work in the 2006 motorcycle game Tourist Trophy, which uses the same game engine that Gran Turismo 4 does.
This is quite the find for such an old game to have new discoveries, as the franchise is one of the most influential ever in the racing genre. The latest entry, Gran Turismo 7, was released last year for PS4 and PS5, as well as PS VR2 through a free in-game update.
In IGN Gran Turismo 4 review, we said, “GT4 is the greatest ideation of GT3 that’s possible on the PS2. There’s no doubt that this game absolutely kills everything else around in terms of graphics, sound effects, and force feedback. The license tests, circuits, missions, hundreds of cars, and dozens of tracks all add up to what is still one hell of an addictive racing game.”
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
In nearly every way, Remnant 2 feels like it’s shaping up to be a proper sequel to Gunfire Games’ underrated soulslike from 2019. Lovingly referred to as “Dark Souls with guns” by its community, Remnant: From The Ashes punched above its weight in many ways with just a handful of scrappy indie developers working on the project at the outset. Four years later, that team has the support of its new titanic parent company Embracer Group and has ballooned to over 60 people and counting, and in my time playing Remnant 2, the results of that doubling down were clear: this sequel seems like it’s going to absolutely rule. The gunplay is heads and tails above its predecessor, the buildcrafting is an RPG nerd’s dream, the enemies and bosses are relentless and badass, and the vastly improved procedural generation engine is one of the most ambitious things I’ve seen from a soulslike in a very long time.
The night before I got my hands on Remnant 2, I spent some time replaying the first game in my hotel room, and the thing that immediately struck me when booting up the sequel was just how much better it looks. Where From The Ashes was a bit drab aesthetically, Remnant 2 is absolutely bursting with color and detailed characters. Whether I was hanging around the rustic sanctuary of Ward 13 or running through Yaesha under the glow of an eerie crimson sun, the leap forward is no mere facelift – it’s a complete overhaul.
But more importantly, Remnant 2 feels much more on par with its third-person shooter peers than its predecessor in terms of both movement and combat. For starters, melee combat is not only a practical option compared to the first game’s wimpy slashing, but it actually feels good to get up close and beat someone down when bullets just won’t do. I used everything from shotguns to rifles, and even a crossbow, and each felt satisfying and ferocious (even if some felt a bit overpowered in the early version I played).
The number of enemies and dastardly ways they attack you also seems like a step up, just from the small number of biomes I was able to explore. Whether I was fighting giant, slippery lizards, floating tentacled aliens, or creepy root-infested cultists, there was always a new enemy waiting around every corner.
“The sequel’s killer feature though, is the ambitious improvements it aims to make to its procedurally generated levels.”
Boss fights have also been tuned up, especially when it comes to the first game’s irritating overuse of adds during them. Gunfire Games clearly heard the feedback from players loud and clear, and most bosses I took down either made light use of them or made them the primary obstacle while some other puzzle waited to be solved. For example, I fought one boss called the Mother Mind, a giant plant monster who bombarded me with explosive pollen, and faced only a few floating adds in between damage phases, while in another fight against an enemy called Legion, a dark deity who tried to drive my character insane, I fought off waves of adds while trying to figure out the trick to overcoming the boss’ maddening gaze.
Moving around has also been reworked, as jumping between gaps is now possible – and my prayers have been answered regarding the first game’s most annoying feature: the stamina meter. Now it only applies during combat, meaning you don’t have to worry about getting arbitrarily slowed down every few seconds when exploring the world. Jumping around and climbing makes exploration and engaging the bad guys a lot more interesting, since clever use of verticality and putting gaps between you and your enemy allow for some fun moments. Plus, now there’s dozens of exciting new ways to fall to your death – something I was apparently fond of doing.
The sequel’s killer feature though, is the ambitious improvements it aims to make to its procedurally generated levels. Where the first Remnant mixed up the layout of levels and which enemies would spawn, Remnant 2 takes it to an entirely new level by randomly generating practically every element of your adventure. In fact, even the tutorial will differ from player-to-player as the starting area is assigned randomly between a few different options. Beyond that, you can expect boss fights, side quests, NPCs and storylines to all differ from that of your friends, making each new playthrough feel like a significantly different experience.
Finally, there’s the numerous ways in which character buildcrafting has been improved. Instead of picking a base class and slapping on a few weapons and modifiers from there, Remnant 2 has a staggering number of options for you to choose from, like its fantastic multiclass system that lets you mix and match archetypes like the Gunslinger or the Handler to create a unique cocktail of perks and abilities. Beyond that, the number of trinkets and items you can use to customize your build has been expanded, including new ways to customize your Dragon Heart healing item that may prove to be a game changer for players.
I played quite a bit of Remnant: From The Ashes, but everything I’ve seen from its sequel points to Remnant 2 being my next addiction. Simply put, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. Here’s hoping the finished product turns out as promising as my early peek at it suggested.
A decade ago director Ken Levine and his studio, Irrational Games, introduced us to the rotting society of Columbia with a choice: would you like to throw a baseball at an interracial couple, or instead hurl it at the bigoted announcer goading you on? Will you commit a hate crime, or stand against oppression? Regardless of the option you pick, the scenario plays out identically, with the ball left aside as protagonist Booker DeWitt uses a power tool to obliterate the face of a police officer. The sequence is both a bold introduction to BioShock Infinite’s exploration of America’s sordid relationship with race and an indication that such an exploration is going to be deeply flawed.
The mishandling of this moment telegraphs all of BioShock Infinite’s problems; that it will eventually descend into a situation that paints Black revolutionist Daisy Fitzroy as a monster no better than Columbia’s ultra-nationalist leader, Zachary Comstock. That you will spend the final half of the game gunning down the oppressed working classes. That its message will eventually be lost among its multiverse ambitions. And so BioShock Infinite doomed itself to live in the shadow of its greatest mistake.
It’s impossible to forgive those mistakes. But BioShock Infinite is not just the sum of its errors. On its tenth anniversary, it remains an admirably bold FPS that confronts topics of racism and classism in a manner that few AAA games have attempted since. While those explorations falter in the second half, Infinite’s first chapters tackle its themes with unflinching confidence in both its own convictions and its audience. It deplores the opinions of Columbia’s ruling class and industrial leaders, and uses deeply uncomfortable language and imagery to depict the rancid heart of this cloudbourne city. Ten years ago, such themes in a video game were considered topical. But in 2023, as multiple prominent battles over human rights are fought in the real world, the city’s approach to evangelical populism makes Columbia more haunting than it’s ever been.
Bioshock Infinite remains an admirably bold FPS that confronts topics of racism and classism in a manner that few AAA games have attempted since.
Many of Infinite’s victories are in worldbuilding, with the lore of Columbia depicted through museum exhibit-like scenes that play out dystopian vignettes. These are showing their age – hang about too long and the illusion is shattered when you realise these characters stand in place for eternity – but they remain powerful observations of society’s crimes. I still often think about the industrial district, where workers fight a bidding war over low-paying jobs in a prescient condemnation of the gig economy.
Sequences like these are the result of Irrational’s surprising pivot from the systemic design of the original BioShock to a heavily scripted approach, crafting what is essentially a steampunk Call of Duty campaign. And I don’t say that disparagingly; while Infinite’s precise direction abandons the mechanical ecosystem of Big Daddies and Little Sisters that made Rapture feel so organic, it replaces it with a focused and purposeful rollercoaster. This provides a fair share of Infinity Ward-ish dramatic setpieces, but just as frequently uses its iron grip to slow down the ride. The first half of the story is surprisingly light on shootouts, instead content to let its examinations of oppression breathe while Booker and his NPC companion, Elizabeth, soak up the horrors of the society around them.
Using a show-don’t-tell approach, Infinite’s messages require piecing together from the cues found in its satirical, hyper-nationalistic visual design and flawed characters. The best example can be found in the Hall of Heroes, a deeply ugly monument to Columbia’s involvement in two real-world events: the Boxer Rebellion – where the US aided in the violent quashing of an anti-colonial uprising in China – and the massacre of nearly 300 Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Booker had a direct hand in Wounded Knee, and has since come to regret it. But despite making him aware of his poor choices, Infinite refuses to redeem him. “If you take away all the parts of Booker DeWitt you tried to erase, what’s left?” asks Cornelius Slade, Booker’s former comrade-in-arms. The answer is a man who recognises the world’s injustices and his part in them, but who does nothing about it beyond severing his connection to those problems. DeWitt is a messy reflection of our society’s own failings, brushing aside responsibility despite there still being work to do.
The delicate balance of story and shooting is lost in the second half. As Daisy Fitzroy’s Vox Populi rebellion kicks off, so does Infinite’s transformation into a full-bore shooter. That causes its own problems, but also acts as a showcase for a surprisingly swift and satisfying combat system that remains terrific a decade later. Multi-tiered arenas are linked by the zipline-like Sky Rails, which inject a significant amount of motion into each fight. While most shooters of the early 2010s were still obsessively following the hunker-down model of Gears of War, BioShock Infinite wanted you to leap from floor to rail to balcony to rail again in a display of athletic violence. In hindsight, it recognised the importance of continual movement years before Doom 2016 and Titanfall 2 embraced the trend and made it their own.
That momentum is paired with weapons that still largely retain their punch, but the real ballistic spice is the combination of ordnance with supernatural powers. Infinite’s vigors lost the immersive sim qualities of BioShock’s plasmids – fire won’t melt ice here – but their recalibration as a purely offensive tool is still successful. Lifting a crowd with Bucking Bronco and blasting them from the air like flailing clay pigeons is still a treat, and discovering which combinations of vigors produce special effects means combat stays layered throughout the campaign. It takes longer than ideal to hit its full potential, but when it does it proves itself as quite a singular experience. While games like Deathloop take similar delight in combining guns and magic, Infinite’s strong array of powers and the way all eight can be used in combination has yet to be equally matched.
But, as previously mentioned, as BioShock Infinite reaches its combat highs it succumbs to its story lows. In the early hours, Booker explains to Elizabeth that there’s “precious need of folks like Daisy Fitzroy… ‘cause of folks like me.” It’s his most poignant revelation; a recognition that his former years as a Pinkerton union buster caused immeasurable pain for the working class. But by the time of the rebellion he considers Fitzroy no different to Comstock, and so too does Irrational; the Vox Populi become the aggressive defacto foe to be shot on sight. It’s a baffling turn around from Infinite’s strong first half.
By ratcheting up the action there’s no space for nuance, and so the whole thing comes across as a poor reading of Malcom X.
Thanks to Elizabeth’s obsession with Paris and Les Misérables, it’s clear that this was supposed to be an exploration of the French Revolution and the dangers of violent movements fuelled by hate. But by ratcheting up the action there’s no space for nuance, and so the whole thing comes across as a poor reading of Malcom X and the US civil rights movement rather than any kind of interesting dissection of classism. And before you know it, Infinite has moved on to its grand multiverse-hopping finale; a wonderfully dramatic conclusion that sadly leaves its more serious story threads as little more than frayed ends.
Nonetheless, I still love BioShock Infinite. It challenges the idea of what a sequel should be – narratively and mechanically – which positions it as more of a BioShock from another plane of the multiverse than it is a direct continuation of what came before it. But more than that, to play a AAA game that is transparently about something is a rare treat, and to play one with the depth of world design as Irrational’s work is even rarer. Ten years later it remains bold, compelling, and arguably incredibly foolish. And I hope that Ken Levine and his team at Ghost Story Games tries to do it all over again with their upcoming FPS, Judas. There is value in a mainstream shooter that tackles society’s ills, even if it takes a few attempts to get it right.
Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Features Editor.
