At its core, a BioShock title must promise two things: aphoristic philosophical pontification and opportunities for increasingly creative murder. Creator Ken Levine’s success is due in no small part to his ability to strip the nuance of real life down to a series of beautiful set pieces, and our latest look at Columbia, the floating city of BioShock: Infinite, is a prime example. It’s a distillation of technological magic, freak shows, early 20th-century nationalism and religious revival, gruff and burly shooter protagonists, and the clear instructions that may, as in the original BioShock, expose free will for the lie it is. And yes, there are so, so many ways to destroy. Plenty of us are excited for the game’s release later this year, but anyone can enjoy the sharp worldbuilding of a fresh take on the tired steampunk aesthetic.
Take a tour of ‘BioShock: Infinite’s floating city of the past, Columbia
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
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