BioShock Infinite and the original BioShock have parallels to each other in a sense (revealed to be a part of the constants and variables in the infinite universes). Some of the following are parallels of BioShock and BioShock Infinite:
The game begins with the Lighthouse that holds transportation that will descend/ascend a user into the city the Lighthouse belongs to.
The man that enters the city receives a box/gift containing coordinates, a pistol, and an objective. Plus, the man has some sort of marking on their hand(s). Jack has chains tattooed on his wrists while Booker DeWitt branded A.D. on his right hand.
The travels to the cities are similar. While the travel to Rapture is descending in the ocean via Bathysphere, the travel to Columbia is ascending into the air via Pilgrim Rocket. Both signify the depth/height in which they are traveling until revealing the city through an obstructed view of a window followed by words that represent the city.
When the protagonist first enters the city, something significant catches their eye. In the original BioShock, Jack sees a whale swimming by as he enters Rapture; in BioShock Infinite, Booker sees a zeppelin flying by as he enters Columbia.
The Church of New Eden parallels the beginning of BioShock with a statue of its leader and the message and belief of the city on a banner. Also, developers mention that the candles on the water parallel the fiery waters from the plane crash in the original BioShock.
In the beginning of the game, the priest asks Booker "Is it someone new?", similar to Jack's first encounter with a Splicer (Rose) in BioShock.
When Booker and Elizabeth enter the Arcade of Battleship Bay, they will come across an arcade cabinet featuring Dimwit & Duke called "Flawless Flintlock". When Elizabeth is presented with this game, she exclaims: "Look! It's Flawless Flintlock! It's the newest one in the series! I heard it was delayed three times!" This a jab at BioShock Infinite itself because of its "new game in the [BioShock] series" and its actual delay for the release of three times.
When Elizabeth realizes Booker has duped her into thinking they are going to Paris, she hits him with a wrench. A direct reference to Jack's melee weapon from the original BioShock. Several of the same wrenches can be found throughout the game.
The only combination lock to feature in BioShock Infinite utilizes the same code (0451) as the first combination lock encountered in the original BioShock, which also happens to be the first code used in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and was the door code to offices of LookingGlass Technologies (later: Looking Glass Studios), the creators of System Shock and Thief series. The number was originally believed to be a reference to Ray Bradbury's book Fahrenheit 451,[1] but was later revealed to be the entry code to Looking Glass and just a coincidence.[2]
In one of Jeremiah Fink's voxophones, he mentions observing a biologist through a Tear, along with "a merger of machine and man that is somehow the lesser, yet the greater, of both parties"; this is a reference to a Big Daddy. Dr. Yi Suchong from the original BioShock is later confirmed in the DLC Burial at Sea to be said biologist.
In Battleship Bay, when Booker wakes up and is searching for Elizabeth, a baby carriage can be found with a box of pistol ammo in it, as well as another baby carriage in Emporia containing a Hand Cannon. These are obvious nods to the first gun that Jack finds in the first BioShock (a revolver in a baby carriage).
As a reference to the first trailer for BioShock Infinite, one of the many versions of Elizabeth that appears at the end of the game is a slightly altered character model of the one in the trailer.
To Other Video Games[]
The idea of only being able to have two weapons (and change them out) at a time is adapted from other first-person shooters, such as Call of Duty, where the player is only allowed to have two weapons at a time: a primary and a backup.
The game's 1999 Mode is a reference to BioShock's "spiritual predecessor" System Shock 2. The name itself is a reference to the game's release date and the mode featured similar, more difficult gameplay.
Burial at Sea - Episode 2's1998 Mode is a more deliberate reference to the release date of Thief: The Dark Project. The gameplay of Burial at Sea - Episode 2 is also very similar to the Thief series and promotional material referenced the cover art of the game, specifically Elizabeth's attire.
There are several scattered references to the film, which itself was a retelling of Homer's Odyssey.
The baptism scene in the Welcome Center draws parallels with the baptism scene in the movie, both also featuring parishioners walking and singing to a hymn.
The first person to guide Booker DeWitt on his journey is Preacher Witting who is blind. The first person who guides the protagonists in the film is also blind.
Booker meets Cornelius Slate, a former soldier with a patch over his left eye. The protagonists in the film meet a swindler based on the Cyclops, though with the patch on his right eye.
Both soundtracks to the game and the film contain examples of early bluegrass, country, and folk music.
Both also feature songs sung by chain gang prisoners recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax.
The brief look into the 80s.
When the player first sees Elizabeth in Monument Tower, she opens a Tear to an alternate-universe Paris in the 1980s. The cinema seen is at the time showing "La Revanche du Jedi," which translates to "Revenge of the Jedi," the original title for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.[4]
At the Fairgrounds, after Booker passes by the ticket taker machine, Robert and Rosalind Lutece will approach and they ask him to call a coin toss (which always results in heads). This coin tossing is a reference to the play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. Besides, the Lutece twins also share similarities with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from the play in their play with logic, probability and language.
Just before entering the Fairgrounds in the Town Center, a man and a woman can be found discussing the Vox Populi, with the woman saying; "I do not want to be some character out of I Married a Vox Populi, now do I?" This is a reference to the 1949 film I Married a Communist.
The quartet also is singing a Barbershop Quartet version of the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows", which is obviously a reference since it would be anachronistic otherwise.
He Saved the Union. Lincoln Delivers his Second Inaugural Address as President of the United States, March 4.
Historical References[]
Much of Columbia's design and architecture was based on the "alabaster city" of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, though it is incorporated into the storyline that it was an offshoot of the fair itself. Creative director Ken Levine also cited Erik Larson's 2003 book about the Fair, The Devil in the White City, as a starting point for getting to know the culture of the time.[6]
There are several scattered references to events from the 1893 World's Fair.
In Hudson's Fine Clothing, a man complains about the half-finished landscaping for a park with the "fountain full of rainwater". The Chicago World's Fair was notoriously incomplete at the time of opening. There was a torrential down pour the week before that showered the unfinished Columbia Fountain.
Preston E. Downs appears to be based on Buffalo Bill who also toured around with his famous Wild West Show. He was denied an official spot in the 1893 World's Fair, but set up camp on its outskirts to great popularity.
Columbia Chronicles newspapers features an article about RMS Carpathia rescuing people. This is a reference to the ship's role in the aftermath of the RMS Titanic sinking event.
The name Vox Populi comes from the Latin phrase "Vox Populi Vox Dei", meaning "The voice of the people [is] the voice of god", which is speaking about politics and not religion.
The Luteces take their name from Lutetia, a Roman city in France that later became Paris.
The name of the Veni! Vidi! Vigor!vending machine is a reference to a quote made by Julius Caesar in 47 B.C. The original quote was "Veni, Vidi, Vici", which means "I came, I saw, I conquered."[7]
On Comstock's desk aboard the Hand of the Prophet are copies of a hand written letter from Victor Hugo to an American named Charles Havens Hunts from 1864[8]. Also on the desk is a photograph of the Eiffel Tower.
Rita Hayworth served a second time in the BioShock series as inspiration for the appearance of a character. Approximately seven different people, including Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall and Veronica Lake, had a large influence on Elizabeth's femme fatale look for Burial at Sea.[9][10]
The team also used film noir (and neo-noir) classics like Chinatown and Double Indemnity as a reference for Elizabeth's behavior in Rapture.[11]
Both episodes contain references to the 1986 film Aliens.
Sally and Newt both survive in an isolated area surrounded by hostiles. Furthering the connection, both characters keep a doll that's lost the body portion of the figure. Sally has Sarah, and Newt has Casey.
A struggle between Sally in the vent is also a mirror reference of struggling to remove Newt out of the ventilation systems in the film.
Towards the end of the film, one of the more iconic scenes is Ellen Ripley rescuing Newt from the Queen's Lair. Ripley holding Newt while arming herself with a gun is reminiscent of the cover for Burial at Sea - Episode 2 where Elizabeth is armed and holding a Little Sister.
Episode 1[]
The cover art for Burial at Sea - Episode 1 was heavily inspired by the cover of the French film noir, This Gun for Hire.[12]
The Works Progress Administration poster featuring Little Miss Muffet.
Hugh Everett (who formulated the many-worlds interpretation), was a heavy chain smoker and also had a drinking problem and was reported to be "sleeping it off in his office", (similar to how Booker appeared in the DLC's beginning) and was estranged from his daughter, whose name was Elizabeth.[citation needed]
Albert Einstein is mentioned twice. First in a discussion between two women on Market Street and later by Yi Suchong in his audio diary Observation #17. Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics.
Sander Cohen quotes Man Ray by saying "All critics should be assassinated." in his Audio DiaryCritics.
In the finale, Comstock is impaled by the drill of a Bouncer in a similar way as the Splicer in the X06 trailer for BioShock. Ken Levine stated that this was intentional.[15]
Episode 2[]
The Partners statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse at Disney World.
Elizabeth comes across a girl called Cosette in the Paris sequence, one of the characters from the novel, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
One of the painters in Paris is Georges Seurat, a real-life Pointillist painter. This is of course an imaginary version of the painter, as the Paris sequence isn't real and Seurat died in 1891.
Several real-world paintings can be found throughout the Paris sequence, including:
Much like in the main game, Sir Isaac Newton is referenced in the DLC as well. He is first mentioned by Rosalind Lutece in the Sea of Doors and later by Andrew Ryan via a monitor in the Manta Ray Lounge.
↑Kat Berkley's ArtStation Profile (Archived): "Daycare sign I designed for an education center within the city of Rapture for the Bioschock Infinite DLC. I based the image off of American WPA-era signage." - Kat Nicole Berkley
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