Warning: Burial at Sea Episode 1 Spoilers Ahead!
The Bioshock series has taken us from the depths of Rapture, to the highest heights of Columbia, and in the case with Burial at Sea right back into the city of Rapture. But with the DLC we were all left wondering how the two universes were ultimately connected and thankfully Burial at Sea Episode 2 answers that question with a perfect bittersweet conclusion.
We left off with Booker and Elizabeth after their fight with the Big Daddy trying to save Sally. Unfortunately, Booker is taking out by the Big Daddy as Elizabeth had hoped all along, but now she’s left alone to fend for herself in Fontaine’s department store. Even worse she is now in Atlas’s clutches and without her tear power. In order to bargain for her and Sally’s life she offers to help Atlas escape back to Rapture. Her only help is the ghost of Booker Dewitt who claims not to be Booker.
Gameplay
Since Elizabeth lacks Booker’s raw strength the gameplay requires more stealth when confronting enemies. It adds a fun new contrast to the running and gunning used in previous Bioshock installments.There are a number of ways you can get around silently. The most notable areas it effects are your plasmids and weapons.
Not far into the beginning of the story Elizabeth is given the skyhook as her melee weapon. However, it is only effective when you’re attacking enemies from behind. Hitting them after you have their attention results in a harmless push.
Weapons
But, the weapon you’ll be sticking with for most of your stealth means is the crossbow. You’ll be able to use three different varieties of ammunition.
A tranquilizer dart for knocking out single enemies is your main ammo, but can also use a noise maker dart to distract enemies and a knockout gas dart to take out large groups of enemies.It’s a fun weapon to use once you understand each bit of ammo.
Plasmids
Plasmids also add to the stealth gameplay by introducing the Peeping Tom plasmid. It allows you to see enemies through walls and find items in the world as well as finding ventilation shafts you can climb into for hiding and exploring the environment. It’s very similar to the Arkham series detective mode. Of course, you can run out of eve and the power becomes useless until you find more eve.
But, the most appealing part is Burial at Sea’s story. I won’t say much in order to prevent spoilers, but plenty of old faces from the first Bioshock make a return, with plenty of plot twists as well. And the ending is not only surprising, but incredibly bittersweet as well, tying the entire series together beautifully.
Overall
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From its story to its successful use of stealth in its gameplay, Burial at Sea Episode 2 is a game worth playing to see how it all ends and the way the series comes full circle in Irrational Game’s final game.
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