The game is set in the year 1912 and follows its protagonist, Booker DeWitt, who is sent to the airborne city Columbia to retrieve Elizabeth, a young woman held captive there.

BioShock Infinite is set in 1912 and takes place in a floating steampunk city-state in the sky called "Columbia", named for the female personification of the United States.

[5] The city of Columbia was founded by self-proclaimed prophet Zachary Hale Comstock, and funded by the United States government as a floating world's fair and display of American exceptionalism.

[18] Since stopping Comstock requires intervening in his birth, Elizabeth takes Booker back in time to a baptism he attended, in the hope of atoning for the sins he committed at Wounded Knee.

One notable missing person from the original BioShock team was Jon Chey, who had worked with Levine since their days at Looking Glass Studios in the 1990s, and who headed the Australian branch of Irrational.

[57][58][59] By selecting the hypothetical date of July 4, 1912, the team identified films to draw imagery from, like The Music Man, Meet Me in St. Louis, and Hello, Dolly, which exhibited ideal views of Americana at the turn of the 20th century.

[62][32] While initial designs of the flying city were darker and closer to Art Nouveau, Irrational felt this made the game world too claustrophobic and too similar to Rapture.

[87] The development team found that the implementation of open spaces created new gameplay options for the player, such as deciding between long-ranged attacks or finding a means to move in for short-range or melee combat.

[95] Originally working with a more orchestral approach, Schyman later used very intimate small string ensembles with anywhere from three to ten players to compose the game's relatively simpler score.

[102] The story's theme of multiple realities in particular was also commented as drawing parallels with the fact that, in contrast to previous BioShock games, Infinite only had a single ending despite the in-game morality decisions it offered.

In addition to overt depictions of racism, the possibility of multiple realities, and the themes explored by the concept of constants and variables, the game was interpreted as tackling political and social problems.

[111] Other themes discussed by commentators within the context of Infinite's setting and story include American exceptionalism,[112] extremism,[112] fundamentalism,[113] nationalism,[114] fanaticism,[115] cultism,[115] populism,[116] religion,[116] dichotomy,[101] free will,[117] hope,[117] self-loathing,[100] denial,[100] rebirth,[118] and redemption.

[108] The National Liberty Federation, a group in the Tea Party movement, used a propaganda mural from the game espousing the Founders' racism and xenophobia on their Facebook page before its source was recognized and later taken down.

[122][123] In another case, a player that considered himself a "devout believer" of Christianity was offended by the forced baptism that Booker receives prior to entering Columbia proper, prompting him to request a refund due to being unaware of this content in the game.

[132] For the cover and other parts of the game's promotion including live-action commercials, the directors hired Anna "Ormeli" Moleva, a Russian cosplayer that had earlier attracted attention for her recreation of Elizabeth back in 2011.

"[164] Identifying it as a "masterpiece that will be discussed for years to come", Joel Gregory of PlayStation Official Magazine concluded that Infinite was the latest game to join the hallowed ranks of Half-Life, Deus Ex and BioShock as "the apotheosis of the narrative-driven shooter.

[157][170][171] The story's exploration of mature themes was well received,[25][172] with Time's Jared Newman praising its ability to prompt commentary and critiques from players as the game's true value.

[173] Several critics, including Adam Sessler of Rev3Games, also praised BioShock Infinite's storytelling, noting that its ability to finesse player agency and interaction resulted in a narrative that could only work in a game.

[158] Some critics who overall praised the ending did concede that it suffered from plot holes and leaps in logic,[164][176] with Edge calling it "a finality that doesn't make sense within the universe the game has created.

[156][22] Critics also enjoyed how the game encouraged them to explore more of Columbia,[164][179] with Juba explaining "whether you're looking at a piece of propaganda, listening to an audio log, or participating in a horrifying raffle, almost everything you encounter contributes to your understanding of the floating world.

[22] Edge called Elizabeth "a technical triumph, the most human-seeming AI companion since Half-Life 2's Alyx Vance",[153] with Sullivan stating that her "behavior makes you forget she's a video game character.

[165][175] Mikel Reparaz of Official Xbox Magazine explained that "the evolving interplay between [Elizabeth] and Booker is the heart and soul of what makes BioShock Infinite such an involving, memorable experience.

[180] The audio and soundtrack also received positive responses,[155][166] with Cheat Code Central's Josh Wirtanen stating, "from the absurdly talented voice actors to the so-happy-it's-actually-creepy music selection to set the mood, this game sounds fantastic from start to finish.

[153] Tom Francis of PC Gamer and Hoggins felt that Infinite's overall combat was an improvement over the previous BioShock games largely due to the dynamism of the expanded environments.

[22] In contrast, the gameplay was criticized by some as monotonous and repetitive,[176] with VideoGamer.com's Steven Burns explaining the game's lack of real sense of escalation in either abilities or enemies made combat very tiresome and grating.

[160] Some also noted that Infinite had regressed into a simple shooter compared to the role-playing System Shock games,[172] with Newman stating that "combat feels too constrained as a result.

[22][175] Critics expressed disappointment that the game limited the player to only two weapons,[160] with Reparaz feeling that this, along with the lack of outlandish upgrades, made Infinite's "less inventive" combat "not quite up to BioShock's high standards.

Hamilton acknowledged that Infinite likely would have been difficult to sell at the mass market if it lacked the first-person shooter elements, but still said that the violent kills felt "indulgent and leering" and unnecessary for the game.

[183] Dean Takahashi of VentureBeat felt that the game's nature as a first-person shooter limited its audience appeal due to the extreme violence inherent in the genre.

The first piece is Clash in the Clouds, a non-story arena-based combat mode where the player is faced with increasingly difficult waves of enemies on various maps based on in-game settings.