There’s a strangeness to Rapture that we could only piece together before, but here we see it center stage, paraded around with an eccentricity and insanity that we’d expect from a city with minds like Sander Cohen at the forefront. It’s a stark contrast to the terror and uncertainty when we first saw this sign before entering the bathysphere to Rapture in the original Bioshock. The familiar sign that reads “No gods or kings, only man,” is an incredible sight when juxtaposed with the bright lights of the underwater city and sea life passing through. It’s easy to forget that Rapture was once as beautiful and astounding as its aeronautical counterpart. That’s not to say what’s here isn't worthwhile, as there are certainly intriguing developments in context of Infinite’s harrowing finale. Without spoiling anything, it’s worth nothing that (at least in this first part alone) Burial at Sea’s plot acts as a side story rather an essential piece of fiction that reshapes our knowledge of the core game. Why are Booker and Elizabeth in Rapture? Is this the same pair from the events of the main game? Why is this Elizabeth so cold and detached in comparison to the one we remember? We’re teased with a few hints here and there before the rug is pulled out from under us in spectacular fashion, just like the main game. Our objectives and existence are left vague in the context of Bioshock Infinite’s dimension bending constants and variables. We’re back in the shoes of Booker Dewitt, with an evidently more noire themed Elizabeth as our companion through Rapture. It’s certainly a delight to visit this unseen era of Rapture, but it becomes quickly apparent that all is not as we were expecting. With this first of two story add-ons for Bioshock Infinite, we’re at long last given a brief look at the bustling beauty of Rapture before its messy and violent collapse. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the city, it was ravaged by splicers, psychopaths, and internal politics to the point of near total abandonment.
Six years ago we got our first glimpse at the destroyed beauty of Bioshock’s Rapture: the impressive underwater city built upon the ideologies of self-interest and progression at all costs.