13 Years Ago Today, ‘BioShock Infinite' Was Released—And Nothing Was the Same

When gamers are asked to think back and pick some of the video games that defined and re-defined the medium, here are some of the titles that will usually appear in the conversation: Final Fantasy 7, Silent Hill 2, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Nier: Automata, and BioShock.

The third (and currently final) entry in the BioShock series, BioShock Infinite, changed the way modern video game narratives are told 13 years ago today, on March 25, 2013, and nothing has been the same since, with BioShock Infinite often cited as one of the greatest narrative games ever made.

BioShock Infinite takes place in an alternate reality, in 1912, and follows the story of Booker DeWitt as he explores the floating city-state of Columbia. In Columbia, DeWitt must rescue a girl with powers named Elizabeth to pay off his gambling debts and come to terms with who he actually is.

BioShock Infinite's narrative features the use of Columbia and environmental storytelling to comment on several complicated themes and ideas, such as American exceptionalism, racism, prophets, cults, alternate realities, and much more.

Many concepts explored in the game are left for player interpretation, with many critics and fans, such as Adam Sessler, noting that the game's story could only work in the video game medium, and not as a film, book, or television show.

On Metacritic, BioShock Infinite sits at an impressive 94 metascore, making it the second-highest-rated game of 2013, just behind the original PlayStation 3 release of The Last of Us.

Since 2013, and the BioShock Infinite DLC expansions, the series has been dormant. Original developer, Irrational Games, was shut down in 2014, after BioShock Infinite director Ken Levine expressed a desire to make smaller, narrative-focused games. Parent company, Take-Two Interactive, shut down Irrational Games, but Levine began and is currently leading Ghost Story Games, which has several members of the original BioShock trilogy team still employed and is also owned by Take-Two.

Currently, Ghost Story Games is developing a spiritual successor to the BioShock series called Judas. Not a lot of information is available about the game, but back in July 2025, Levine confirmed the game was still in active development and that it would be single-player and would not feature microtransactions or any modern online requirements or functionalities.