Sky-borne Columbia, Booker and Elizabeth, and a finale that scrambles your brain: BioShock Infinite dares everything. The shooting is simplified, but the staging, writing and soundtrack form an unforgettable ride.
Your verdict
Category
First-Person Shooter1 player18+
Description
First-person shooter by Irrational Games and 2K Games, April 2013. Booker DeWitt arrives in the 1912 floating city of Columbia to retrieve a mysterious woman named Elizabeth. Dynamic combat with Vigors and weapons in a world rich with American exceptionalism themes, mind-bending time travel and multidimensional storyline. One of the greatest games ever created.
BioShock Infinite review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
A flying city bathed in light, dazzling colours and utopian architecture: Columbia radically contrasts with the depths of Rapture. The contrast between luminous beauty and latent violence composes a striking identity. This art direction, vast and inspired, masterfully extends the series' legacy.
Still signed by Garry Schyman, the music wraps the flying city of Columbia in a majestic orchestra, punctuated by stunning anachronistic covers of modern hits in an early-century style. This play on time and nostalgia elevates the dreamlike atmosphere of the story. This sonic richness, inventive and moving, leaves a lasting mark.
Sent to retrieve a young woman in a flying city given over to fanaticism, a fallen detective is caught in a vertigo of parallel worlds. The tale takes on racism, redemption and determinism with striking conceptual boldness. Its overturning finale and unforgettable duo made it an object of passionate debate.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Streaking along skyline rails while alternating between vigors and rifle gives combat a delightful mobility and spectacle. Elizabeth's help, conjuring objects and cover, energizes every clash. While the pacing leans more toward action than exploration, the verticality of the gunplay and the brilliance of Columbia keep their appeal as vivid as ever.
BioShock Infinite, an entry that swaps Rapture for the flying city of Columbia and unfolds an ambitious narrative about America and fate, a strong critical success of the generation's end. Very widespread, its collector interest is modest, its desirability resting on its narrative stature rather than scarcity, the Japanese version being harder to find. An emblematic but accessible piece for a console set.
A cult cover
Rifle on his shoulder under a blazing sky, Booker DeWitt stands out before the flying city of Columbia, far from the series' underwater darkness. The unusual brightness and the promise of altitude renew the saga's imagery. Luminous and intriguing, it announces a journey as patriotic as it is vertiginous.
A questionable morality
Saving a young woman held prisoner in a floating city seems noble, until you take stock of the trail of corpses left behind, hopped up on tonics and swinging a skyhook. Behind its heavenly-utopia setting and its big ideas, the adventure remains a near-constant carnage you breeze through with gusto, convinced you're serving a perfectly just cause.
Is BioShock Infinite still worth playing in 2026?
Released in 2013 on Xbox 360, Irrational Games' BioShock Infinite leaves the ocean depths for Columbia, a floating city bathed in light and rotten with fanaticism. The meeting with Elizabeth, a companion written with rare intelligence, carries the whole adventure. The Skyline, the Vigors and a varied arsenal energise spectacular combat. Its take on America, religion and parallel realities peaks in a dizzying ending. A few repetitive fights do not dent the reach of the whole. For fans of narrative shooters and memorable worlds, this journey keeps its power fully intact today.
