BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Adds Thief-Inspired "1998 Mode"

[Andy Chalk]

BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Adds Thief-Inspired "1998 Mode"

The upcoming BioShock Infinite DLC Burial at Sea Episode Two will include an all-new "1998 Mode," inspired by the stealth classic Thief: The Dark Project.

BioShock Infinite's highest difficulty level was called "1999 Mode," a tip of the hat to Irrational's brilliant System Shock 2, which came out that year. Today, the studio announced that the Burial at Sea Episode Two DLC will include something similiar: a "1998 Mode" that requires players to complete the game using only non-lethal means.

1998 was the year that Thief: The Dark Project made its debut and while it was developed by Looking Glass Studios, Irrational boss Ken Levine was a key figure on the game. It was possible to commit all sorts of mayhem while playing the game, but the acme of excellence was to get the job done without killing anyone - which was actually mandatory in several missions at the highest difficulty level.

"In Burial at Sea Episode Two we put a focus on balance and stealth mechanics," Levine said. "As we were developing this new style of gameplay, we started to see people self-impose non-lethal playthroughs. Given the fan reception of 1999 Mode, we thought it would be cool to give them another way to play Burial at Sea that challenged their mastery of stealth tools."

Irrational made no specific mention of Thief in the announcement but in case there's any doubt about the connection, it also released a very cool piece of 1998 Mode art that clearly references the cover art, and even the box design, of the original Thief games - a very nice touch indeed. Perhaps this will deliver more of the Thief experience that so many people have been longing for.

BioShock Infinite: Burial At Sea Episode Two comes out on March 25.

Source: Irrational Games [http://irrationalgames.com/insider/announcing-1998-mode/]


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[Rad Party God]

Well, Irrational and Looking Glass were pretty close back then, this is really awesome, now I'm glad I bought that season pass (at a discount).

 

[otakon17]

Yeah, I can see this NOT working the way they envisioned it. It's an FPS engine trying to do stealth and it wasn't originally designed for stealth. Hell the ORIGINAL Bioshock didn't do stealth well and then you were mostly required to get the drop on foes to beat them(early on).

They want to deliver a Thief experience? Make a Thief game.

 

[LTK_70]

1999 mode was a total cop-out. Checkpoints should never have been in there and specialization is a joke. I doubt it will be better this time around.

 

[weirdee]

I just wish somebody would get body dragging and hiding mechanics right for once.

 

[MrBaskerville]

1999 mode was a bit of a joke in Infinte, it was basically what the game should have been from the beginning only with enemies that had waay too much health. It almost fixed the stupid checkpoint system, but since money is practically useless in the game, you were pretty much immortal anyway, It was kinda pointless to call it a 1999 mode, since it didn't have anything to do with System Shock 2 or any other game released in 1999. Atleast this new mode seems to have just a tiny relation to what it references...

 

[Steven Bogos]

Thank good for this! Games are way too fucking easy these days, it's nice to see developers working on additional challenges for those of us that like to be actually challenged by video games

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

Yeah, I can see this NOT working the way they envisioned it. It's an FPS engine trying to do stealth and it wasn't originally designed for stealth. Hell the ORIGINAL Bioshock didn't do stealth well and then you were mostly required to get the drop on foes to beat them(early on).

It's Unreal Engine 3. Same engine as Dishonoured and probably several other stealth games.

I don't think engine means what people often assume it does. For instance, Civilisation 4 is on Gamebryo, just like Oblivion and Morrowind. And Catherne, apparently. They're all very different games.

Am I to assume you mean that you believe the central mechanics that the game is built on don't support stealth?

 

[otakon17]

Yeah, I can see this NOT working the way they envisioned it. It's an FPS engine trying to do stealth and it wasn't originally designed for stealth. Hell the ORIGINAL Bioshock didn't do stealth well and then you were mostly required to get the drop on foes to beat them(early on).

It's Unreal Engine 3. Same engine as Dishonoured and probably several other stealth games.

I don't think engine means what people often assume it does. For instance, Civilisation 4 is on Gamebryo, just like Oblivion and Morrowind. And Catherne, apparently. They're all very different games.

Am I to assume you mean that you believe the central mechanics that the game is built on don't support stealth?

Bingo, the central mechanics of the game itself do not support good stealth gameplay. It was a same complaint in Dishonored to, there was no way to gauge how much nose you made and stealth was almost entirely based on line of sight. Metal Gear Solid got it right even if they made the soldiers nearsighted but it was still made for stealth compared to Bioshock Infinite.

 

[otakon17]

I just wish somebody would get body dragging and hiding mechanics right for once.

Go play Mark of the Ninja.

 

[Tanis]

So part of me is like:
O Gaia, yes...my body is ready.

Then the other part of is like:
Yet it's going only be like 5 hours long, and cost 20USD.

But then the other part of me is like:
O, that's right, I'll wait for the 'GOTY' or whatever edition to drop.

 

[SKBPinkie]

Stealth in first person makes no sense to me.

I don't find it immersive in the least. Peripheral vision, which is crucial for spatial awareness, is garbage in a first person game.

It's like the same people who say that a driving game is more "realistic" in the cockpit view. I just couldn't disagree more. You're restricting your view of the world to a 24-32 inch 2D screen, where you have no idea of lateral G force, very little feedback as far as understeer or oversteer goes, and terrible depth perception. Why handicap yourself in a world where you already lack several necessary inputs?

 

[MrHide-Patten]

It would be strangely hilarious if the new DLC for BI turned into better Thief game than the new Thief. That aside, I'm happy to be playing as Elizabeth, and too see more of the characters they were teasing at.

 

[BloodRed Pixel]

What a blow in the face for Eidos/SQEEX: they make a whole new game a then a DLC comes along and most probably - no not stealing, more like reaping the crown while browsing by...


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