Old Man Winter

A bottle of Old Man Winter.

“OLD MAN WINTER: Freeze your foes with this Arctic ally!”

― Ryan Industries advertisement

Old Man Winter is a new drinkable Plasmid in BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea that works similar to a Vigor. Although Old Man Winter allows the player to freeze enemy Splicers much like Winter Blast, it can also create ice traps, as well as freezing gushing water to create an icy bridge and even water puddles.

History

As an alternative to Plasmid injections, Old Man Winter was a drinkable Plasmid that had been created by Yi Suchong, sold exclusively in Jack Frost's Village of Fontaine's Department Store. When Suchong discovered that a "window" revealed Jeremiah Fink stealing and modifying his Plasmid formulas with an oxidation agent, Suchong retaliated by stealing Fink's formulas, and presenting this to Andrew Ryan as a drinkable Plasmid. Old Man Winter had its drawbacks, in that it produced dry ice which never melted instead of regular ice. Over consumption also had drastic side-effects, forming large ice crystals around the user's body, as seen on Frosty Splicers. The Test-Drive Apparently, the newer model Bathyspheres had a dangerous design flaw and tended to overheat. Rather than go public with this information the company simply supplied a free sample of the Plasmid with purchase and labeled it as a promotional give away. 

Burial at Sea - Episode 1

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 1

Booker DeWitt and Elizabeth are first introduced to the Plasmid when Booker tries to Air Grabb his way over the gated way too the Department Store and his grabber gets stuck in the Freight Hook. While being unable to move, Booker sees that the floor has collapsed, reviling some burst pipes, pouring in water. His attention is drawn to the voices of men, coming from a hole in the wall on his right. Suddenly an older man — with bluish skin and crystals coming out of his body — jumps out of the hole, followed by two deranged Splicers. The old man shoots projectiles out of his hands, which causes the water from the bust pipes to become a solid pathway and runs to the elevator up a head. The elevator doors close just before the two Splicers gets to them. As Booker and Elizabeth continue through the department store, they come across several other burst pipes, one of which leads to the Housewares department, that they need to enter to find the missing girl Sally. They need to get over the watery grave and Booker notes that the Splicer they encountered earlier had no problem getting over such an obstacle. Elizabeth notices a sign for Rapture on Ice located on the third floor in Jack Frost's Village with advertisement for a Plasmid with the name Old Man Winter. There’s no doubt that their “Frozen Friend” was headed to the ice rink and frozen objects on there way through the Menswear department only support their theory. When reaching the village, they both react to the change in temperature when walking through the main entrance and assumes that the cold is not just coming from the ice rink. They open up the doors to the ice rink and see the Frosty Splicer, surrounded by his minions on top of the ice rink, near a closed cabinet. Booker and Elizabeth work together to fight their way through the hoard of Splicers and manages to get to the cabinet, hoping that at least one bottle of Old Man Winter is left. Booker opens the cabinet only to find empty flasks of the Plasmid and gives up on the idea to get over with the use of the Plasmid. Elizabeth has another idea, she introduces Booker to a new Plasmid, called: Tear, which lets her “bring in things that might exist, but don't”. She uses the “Plasmid” and brings in one bottle of Old Man Winter, and Booker is given the ability to freeze objects. From this point on, Booker can also ask assistance from Elizabeth, with her “new Plasmid”.

Old Man Winter On Cast: Throws a ball of dry ice, freezing enemies or turning broken water pipes into ice bridges. Attacking frozen enemies shatters them. Charged Effect: Lays down a shard of ice crystals, which encases nearby enemies in ice upon detonation. Cost: 25% of base EVE (Cast), 50% of base EVE (Trap) Manifestation: Icy blue frost covers the player's forearm and small icicles sprout from the back of their hand. Upgrade: Winter Boost - Increases frozen state duration. Cost: $125 Upgrade: Winter Mod - Adds an area effect to the projectile that can freeze multiple enemies. Cost: $225

Combat Strategy

• The Plasmid freezes the enemy, making it an easy target.
• The Plasmid can be used to stop/slow down hostile enemies, which the player can use as time to recover.

Burial at Sea - Episode 2

Main article: Burial at Sea - Episode 1

Elizabeth needs the Plasmid in order to fix the vandalized Lutece Device. She finds some in the Test-Drive area of Bathyspheres DeLuxe.

Combat Strategy

• Freezing an enemy will make it easy for Elizabeth to knock them out with the Air Grabber.
• After freezing an enemy, the player can use the time the enemy is frozen to find a hiding place, or get rid of them.
• With the right upgrade, the Plasmid will cause the enemy to forget Elizabeth if noticed, when the dry ice melts.
• The Plasmid can be used to freeze water puddles of any kind, which will prevent enemies from noticing her from the sound of her footsteps in the water.

Behind the Scenes

• Old Man Winter originally appeared as one of the unused Vigor icons in The Art of BioShock Infinite, resembling an old man with an icy beard. It was not named until the April of 2013, when a fan, nicknamed Trie215 on the 2K Games forums, sent his fan-made poster of the Vigor via Twitter to Irrational Games. As inspiration, the fan used the icon as the bottle's visage.
• Old Man Winter is the ingestible form of the Winter Blast Plasmid in the original BioShock.
• Old Man Winter is the only Plasmid in Burial at Sea - Episode 1 which has its own presentation video, like other Plasmids had in the previous games. Also, this video uses the same sound and voice track as Winter Blast in BioShock.
• This Plasmid's name comes from a personification of the winter season.
• Unlike other Vigors in BioShock Infinite, Old Man Winter does not have a cutscene that displays the physical effects the Vigor has on the user.

Gallery

Full render of the bottle.

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Using Old Man Winter.

Poster for Old Man Winter seen in Burial at Sea - Episode 1.

The original fan made poster for Old Man Winter by Trie215.

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Old Man Winter animation.

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The Plasmid in action.

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Fighting near the village entrance.

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Empty Old Man Winter bottles found in Rapture on Ice.

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Old Man Winter in Test Drive

Video

Old Man Winter Väterchen Frost Werbeflim

Bioshock Infinite Burial At Sea Ep 2 - Atlas HQ Old Man Winter Acquired Elizabeth Sequence

The advertisement of Old Man Winter Jingle of Burial at Sea -Episode 2