Bioshock Infinite's Burial at Sea Gets Mockumentary Trailer

[Steven Bogos]

Bioshock Infinite's Burial at Sea Gets Mockumentary Trailer

The mysterious 80s VHS-style documentary seems to be the start of some kind of Burial at Sea ARG.

Irrational games has just released a new trailer for its upcoming return-to-Rapture Bioshock Infinite DLC: Burial at Sea: Episode 1, but it's not quite what you'd expect. Rather than showing off actual gameplay footage, it seems to be a rather clever alternate universe version of the "truth from legend" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122153-BioShock-Mockumentary-Separates-Truth-From-Legend] mockumentary we saw pop up during Bioshock Infinite's promotion. Could this be the start of a new ARG, similar to the "there's something in the sea" ARG of Bioshock 2?

The trailer has all the cheesy sound, video, and voice over effects of a 1980s VHS tape, and documents reporter Myles Bloom as he strives to uncover the mystery of Rapture. Curiously, only Part 2 of the video is available.

Bloom finds a few of Rapture's artifacts that fans of the series may recognize, and ends up at the house of a woman in upstate New York who apparently grew up in Rapture. I know what you're thinking, but the woman is blonde, and bears no resembalence to Elizabeth. However, it is a painting of Booker and Elizabeth that causes her to become violent towards the reporter, so perhaps she is a little sister rescued by our heroes?

Burial at Sea: Episode 1 will be avaliable by the end of this year, and will set you back $14.99 if you buy it separately, or $20.00 if you purchase it together with Episode 2 and Clash in the Clouds in the game's season pass.

Source: YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsJDrsKNYxI]

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[J Tyran]

I hope they finish these ones off, they said the ones for the main game where going to be a "series" but they just stopped.

 

[Metalrocks]

looking forward to it. since i took the risk my purchasing the season pass. wasnt really fond of the latest DLC but this really sounds and looks interesting.

 

[weirdee]

strange pricing plan. who would say "nah, i don't need the second one, i won't pay these five more dollars for it"

 

[JediMB]

Could this be the start of a new ARG, similar to the "there's something in the sea" ARG of Bioshock 2?

Well, this link doesn't work. Despite what the HTML says, the site tries to direct us to
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/"there's something in the sea"
rather than
http://bioshock.wikia.com/wiki/There's_Something_in_the_Sea

 

[james.sponge]

Yessss I love those, need more! By the way did you know that in some countries season pass for B:I was included in normal retail price?

 

[rusad]

I think the woman is a little sister. Bioshock was set in the 60s, the video is set in the 80s, she looks about 20-30 ish.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

I think the woman is a little sister. Bioshock was set in the 60s, the video is set in the 80s, she looks about 20-30 ish.

Agreed. That's exactly what I was thinking.

Somehow a gigantic city that is bright as all hell at the bottom or near bottom of the sea where its fairly dark suddenly can't be found? Not exactly smart when you build huge skyscrapers in the ocean with big huge lights near a mysterious lighthouse that planes just "disappear" over.

I mean, people look into that kind of stuff. Not exactly a sound way to not rouse suspicion by... having huge creepy buildings built by a millionaire that went missing right after it was constructed and makes other people go missing when they are near it too.

"where's that plane full of people that didn't arrive, mr. airline CEO?"

"They got stuck in traffic. probably."

I don't think that it's unfindable. I think it's that the Scientific Community just doesn't care. I mean, it's not like the main-stream scientific community is pouring billions of dollars into finding Big Foot or El Dorado (The Fabled City of Gold). I'm sure anyone curious enough with a Submarine could go down there and actually see Rapture. It's just the Scientific Community is labeling it as a "Myth" or a "Legend" instead of actually looking for it (A La Atlantis).

And a Millionaire going missing? He could have just went into hiding with his riches in some 3rd world country. Remember, this was the 50's when he built it, people could still re-imagine themselves back then (A La The Count of Monte Cresto). He also never talked about building Rapture with anyone but a select few. A Lighthouse just existing in the middle of the ocean? Probably built by some idiot who thought sailors needed the information that they were still in the ocean: Nothing important there. Lastly, they heavily imply that absolutely no one, save that one woman, has escaped Rapture and lived. By the 80's, 80% of the Society has pretty much gone insane and drug ridden, and the last 20% either don't care or don't have the means.

 

[Driller64]

Does anyone know when the release date for this DLC is?

 

[James Joseph Emerald]

strange pricing plan. who would say "nah, i don't need the second one, i won't pay these five more dollars for it"

That's an age-old marketing tactic.

Did you ever notice in movie theatres how medium popcorn is only about 20 cent less than large? In some cases it's even more expensive than large. This isn't because large is cheap, it's because medium is SO over-priced it makes large look like a good deal. They've done studies where, without changing the prices, you get rid of medium, and suddenly sales plummet because large looks like such a rip-off.

It's the exact same thing happening here, except replace large with "season pass" and medium with "only the content I want."

 

[Ihateregistering1]

You know, after watching this, I really have to wonder why people can't find rapture. It never occured to me until they brought up the "its a big conspiracy secret angle." Was Ryan that much of a genius uberman or is it more objectivism that the rapture people were much smarter and all around better than the primitive and stupid surface dwellers?

Somehow a gigantic city that is bright as all hell at the bottom or near bottom of the sea where its fairly dark suddenly can't be found? Not exactly smart when you build huge skyscrapers in the ocean with big huge lights near a mysterious lighthouse that planes just "disappear" over.

I mean, people look into that kind of stuff. Not exactly a sound way to not rouse suspicion by... having huge creepy buildings built by a millionaire that went missing right after it was constructed and makes other people go missing when they are near it too.

"where's that plane full of people that didn't arrive, mr. airline CEO?"

"They got stuck in traffic. probably."

Well, this video actually sort of answers one of the questions that I had about the first "Bioshock", because they never really made it clear about whether people knew of Rapture's construction and existence or not. Clearly, it's sort of a "Roswell UFO Crash" type of thing.

Actually, depending on how deep Rapture is supposed to be, it's possible that you wouldn't be able to see it from the surface. Sunlight only penetrates about 1000 meters into the sea, and (if I remember correctly) Rapture is in the atlantic ocean, where the deepest point is over 8,500 meters deep, so it would be possible to put it so far down that even with all the lights on you wouldn't see it from the surface. Sure a sub could see it, but, hey, it's a big damn ocean.

That being said, you just gotta take the whole thing with a grain of salt, since the idea of them having the technology in the late 1950s to build a massive, functioning city thousands of meters beneath the ocean's surface is obviously science fiction.

But I love these weird 80's VHS movie things, they're really creepy.

 

[weirdee]

strange pricing plan. who would say "nah, i don't need the second one, i won't pay these five more dollars for it"

That's an age-old marketing tactic.

Did you ever notice in movie theatres how medium popcorn is only about 20 cent less than large? In some cases it's even more expensive than large. This isn't because large is cheap, it's because medium is SO over-priced it makes large look like a good deal. They've done studies where, without changing the prices, you get rid of medium, and suddenly sales plummet because large looks like such a rip-off.

It's the exact same thing happening here, except replace large with "season pass" and medium with "only the content I want."

i guess that's also why it's split into two halves, although why somebody would just buy the first half of the pack is beyond me, pricing plan or not

 

[Dalisclock]

That was fun to watch. Particulary considering the ones they did for BS:I. Want to see more.

 

[Endocrom]

I love these, I used to watch reruns of "In Search Of" and shows like it all the time back in the 80's

For those too young to remember:
Narrated by a mustached Leonard Nimoy FYI

 

[Shinkicker444]

Is there a full sized version of the little picture on the front page preview thingy of Elizabeth holding a Little Sister?

 

[EHKOS]

You know, after watching this, I really have to wonder why people can't find rapture. It never occured to me until they brought up the "its a big conspiracy secret angle." Was Ryan that much of a genius uberman or is it more objectivism that the rapture people were much smarter and all around better than the primitive and stupid surface dwellers?

Somehow a gigantic city that is bright as all hell at the bottom or near bottom of the sea where its fairly dark suddenly can't be found? Not exactly smart when you build huge skyscrapers in the ocean with big huge lights near a mysterious lighthouse that planes just "disappear" over.

I mean, people look into that kind of stuff. Not exactly a sound way to not rouse suspicion by... having huge creepy buildings built by a millionaire that went missing right after it was constructed and makes other people go missing when they are near it too.

"where's that plane full of people that didn't arrive, mr. airline CEO?"

"They got stuck in traffic. probably."

To answer your questions in order, read Atlas Shrugged, or get the gist of it through Cliff Notes, it's harder for light to go through water, so you won't see glowing water at the surface, one plane disappeared, and since it was the late 1950's I doubt they had the technology to obtain decent coordinates. Although, yeah, that lighthouse is easy to spot from the air.

OT: I can't wait to watch a playthrough of this on youtube. I'm in the minority where B:I was a big letdown, so I sold my copy despite knowing I could come back to Rapture. I'm sure it will be as good a story as Minerva's Den, which had a great twist that I worked out moments before it was revealed. I just could have used the cash from the trade in more than I needed to play the DLC.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

You know, after watching this, I really have to wonder why people can't find rapture. It never occured to me until they brought up the "its a big conspiracy secret angle." Was Ryan that much of a genius uberman or is it more objectivism that the rapture people were much smarter and all around better than the primitive and stupid surface dwellers?

Somehow a gigantic city that is bright as all hell at the bottom or near bottom of the sea where its fairly dark suddenly can't be found? Not exactly smart when you build huge skyscrapers in the ocean with big huge lights near a mysterious lighthouse that planes just "disappear" over.

I mean, people look into that kind of stuff. Not exactly a sound way to not rouse suspicion by... having huge creepy buildings built by a millionaire that went missing right after it was constructed and makes other people go missing when they are near it too.

"where's that plane full of people that didn't arrive, mr. airline CEO?"

"They got stuck in traffic. probably."

The ocean is a big place, and from what we know from the previous ARG Rapture is set in the northern parts of the Atlantic ocean, near Iceland. ( http://images.wikia.com/bioshock/images/0/0e/1000px-Greenland_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg.png )
It might be a bit out-of-the way for most normal sea traffic, and Rapture most likely has some sort of defense force to capture people who discovered them.