Irrational Games' own Design Director Andres Gonzalez and co-founder Ken Levine played host to one of Reddit's famed AMA's the other day, where the main subject of the day was BioShock, BioShock, and a sprinkling of...what else? BioShock. While people were quick to ask about the future of the franchise, Gonzalez and Levine seemed content to divulge details for BioShock Infinite's upcoming DLC, Burial at Sea.
We've gotten quite a bit of information on this two-part addition, what with the studio delivering the list of the game's various trophies/achievements and a nice gameplay trailer for the DLC, but we're still waiting on an official release date. When asked, the duo responded that the process was in the motion. Said Levine, "We will have both console platforms in submission by the end of the week with the first parties. After that, the ball's in their court, but it's coming. We don't have a date for part 2 yet, but we're working our asses off on it...Submission can take some time, and if the first parties bounce it back, we'll have to resubmit. We want to super sure before we have a date, but it will be before the holidays and hopefully fairly soon."
For those unaware, Burial at Sea takes players out of the skies and throws them waterlogged to where BioShock began, the underwater metropolis of Rapture, long before the city tore itself apart in a plasmid fueled civil war. As such, things are reasonably calmer for the time being, and its where alternate versions of Booker and Elizabeth call home. During this relative peace, a rather sultry Elizabeth has turned to Booker, still an investigator, to help locate a missing girl.
From the trailer, players familiar with Infinite will notice an immediate difference between the Rapture Elizabeth, and her sky-high alternate. As the duo described, "She was awesome to design, one of the [highlights] of my year. She was actually conceived by Jorge Lacera, Gavin Goulden and myself. Sarah Rosa did a ton of research on period looks and we sort of mixed and matched from Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, and like five other people. We wanted her outfit to feel very Elizabeth, but very Rapture at the same time. This isn't the same girl you met in her tower (the same person, but changed by experience)."
On returning to the depths, Gonzalez remarked, "We wanted the opportunity to show what Rapture was like before the fall and leverage the power of the Bioshock Infinite engine to build the environments in a way that wasn't possible to us before. This was a creative challenge that we found very exciting and we took full advantage by building Rapture pretty much from the ground up for the DLC." Levine was also intrigued by the prospect, saying, "Developing a functional Rapture has been awesome because we never got to do that before. I always saw it in my head, but to put it on screen and to do it in a new engine, with actual citizens around has been great. I got to geek out on Rapture in it's prime."
It's this aspect of a living, pre-fall Rapture that will help make the DLC stand out from the first two BioShock games, ensuring players won't suffer any sort of deja-vu. The first half at least. As for the second, it's "much more traditional." But as great as BioShock is, players are always asking what sort of additions can be expected?
"I can tell you that for Burial at Sea: Episode 1 we added new weapon, a new Plasmid, new Gear, Tears and we brought back the weapon wheel," explained Gonzalez. "As far as upgrades go, there are upgrades available for Plasmids and you can upgrade the new weapon."
"In fact, Zoe Brookes has made this handy little image in honor of the returning weapons wheel!" Levine added.
Obviously, Rapture and the floating city of Columbia are two distinctly different settings. Being that Rapture sits at the bottom of the ocean, it can give off a tremendous feeling of claustraphobia, whereas Columbia is wide open, and the very embodiment of "the sky's the limit." Despite the familiarity with the city under the sea, changing the setting required adapting to some of the new gameplay mechanics introduced in Infinite.
Explained Gonzalez, "Since we made the decision to set the DLC back in Rapture, we reworked and rebalanced the gameplay systems more towards stealth and resource management. This gave us the opportunity to create combat encounters that are more player initiated and give greater tactical opportunities. The main challenge we face when designing any Bioshock level is creating spaces that tell the story we want to tell and also support the gameplay. Specifically for Burial at Sea, creating spaces that allowed us to show what Rapture was like before the fall and support the new gameplay encounters was the hardest creative challenge we faced as level designers."
Players can expect to spend anywhere from 2 to 3 hours in the first part of the DLC. "We've seen more for people who dig (one guy went five!) and we've seen less for people who aren't interested in the story," said Levine. 5 hours might seem like a lot, but as Gonzalez explained, "The experience in Burial at Sea is more open than Infinite though, so there is a lot of optional content to explore and see."
While players won't be exactly re-tracing their footsteps from the first two games, they will tread on familiar ground and come across some familiar, albeit not too friendly faces. From the trailer we've already seen Little Sisters, a Big Daddy with a fancy new drill / grappling hook, and some posters hinting at a few other big names of Rapture. The duo would rather let players discover things for themselves when asked about specific characters' returns.
For the time being, this seems to be all players have to look forward to from BioShock, which is understandable. BioShock Infinite only came out fairly recently, and with the DLC not even here yet, it's still a bit premature to expect plans for a brand new BioShock game. As far as plans for more Infinite DLC go, "Clash in the Clouds and the two episodes for Burial at Sea are the only packs that are currently planned," said Gonzalez.
But as for the post-DLC future? "We really have no solid idea what's coming next," said Levine. "Almost the entire team is on Burial at Sea. I wish that was some PR crap, because life would be easier if I knew what was next, but it ain't." Gonzalez seconded Levine, saying, "In terms of more Irrational BioShock games, it's way too early to say. It will ALWAYS be dependent upon us having an idea that we're in love with and excites us. IF we don't have that, I suspect it would be another studio making one, if there was one to make. But I can't imagine doing it if we weren't in love with the idea."