Ken Levine Discusses BioShock's Burial At Sea

If you're a BioShock fan, then chances are pretty good that you're positively humming with anticipation for Infinite's announced Burial at Sea DLC which promises to take protagonists Booker and Elizabeth into the depths of Rapture for an all new story. While there's no ETA on said DLC, at least Creative Director Ken Levine is making the wait a little less brutal by providing the occasional interview.

If you haven't finished BioShock Infinite yet, then you might want to go ahead and stop reading, as I'm going to dive into some pretty deep spoiler territory in the coming paragraphs. Fair warning.

When I first saw the above trailer for the Burial at Sea DLC content, my inner fanboy started doing a massive happy dance. The moment when Booker and Elizabether first travel to Rapture in Infinite was one of those “entire body covered in goosebumps” moments that I won't soon forget. Our time in Rapture was short, though, and basically just a glorified (though totally welcome) bit of fan service.

Thankfully, the team at Irrational aren't done with Rapture just yet, as the studio announced two planned DLC packs that will return to Andrew Ryan's doomed city. A couple of weeks ago, Infinite's first DLC pack, Clash in the Clouds, gave everyone a chance to return to the floating city of Columbia to wage unbridled war without the need to progress a story. The next two bits will be all about story, however, as Booker and Elizabeth reunite for a second trip to Rapture. (Or, most likely the case given the Infinite's ending, a new Elizabeth and Booker, separate from the Infinite storyline).

No matter what the story holds, it looks like we'll actually be exploring Rapture before the city's fall, sort of pulling a bit of the early portions of Infinite into the original setting of BioShock. And yeah, that's pretty dang rad.

To help answer some of our questions leading into the release of Burial at Sea, Levine has fielded a few questions over on the PlayStation Blog.

“We never wanted to return to Rapture unless there was something new to say; a new story to tell that wasn't just bringing to life the story that we already told,” Levine explained.

And that's exactly what they stumbled across, “a fresh new story focused on the main characters of Infinite and the only place it could be was in Rapture.”

Levine said that the city is populated now, something they simply couldn't do back when BioShock originally released. He also said that the combat for Burial at Sea will be “quite different.”

“Stealth becomes a larger component,” Levine added. “We generally think that combat is a little more deadly but a little less frentic.”

Obviously, you'll want to go read the full interview for all of the details. I'm just happy to learn that the team has put a lot of effort into the upcoming DLC and aim to tell a story worth playing through. All in all, it sounds like an absolute blast.