BioShock Infinite Trailer: What You May Have Missed

Earlier this week a new gameplay trailer was released for the upcoming BioShock Infinite (above). Leading up to this premiere, Irrational Games’ community manager Chris Remo has been posting one bit of information on the new in the ten-day run up. He reminds the viewer, “pay close attention for small details that may not be immediately apparent upon first viewing.”

And my, have we been paying close attention.

The first irregularity in the video occurs around the 1:45 mark. Take a close look at Columbia’s 4th of July banner. It seems to shimmer black a white for several seconds (this is very hard to see in a screenshot; here you can see the A and R melting away). If you take the time to slow this part down, you’ll see there is an overlay image that quickly burns away–specifically, the word YEAR’S in a font that seems familiar…almost as if we’ve seen it before, in a game called BioShock. The plot thickens!

Next up we have the speech being given by Saltonstall.  Around 3:20 when you grab a gun he starts to freak out at you–but if you’re looking at his face you are looking in the wrong place my friend. The American flag-style badge on his chest suddenly changes to the hammer and sickle on a green background. This symbol, commonly associated with Communism, would not even be used until around 1918, becoming the official symbol of the movement in 1922. Pair that with the line in Saltonstall’s speech where he claims to have seen the future, and we have quite a puzzle on our hands.

The last bit of mysterious shifting scenery in the trailer occurs when you walk into the bar. If you look at the painting directly in front of you (around 5:55) you’ll see George Washington in front of a rather foggy Statue of Liberty (let’s just pretend he didn’t die almost 100 years before the Lady Liberty made it to the US). Everyone in the bar is ready to toast you–and then something unusual happens. Around the six-minute mark, as the view moves to the left the painting shifts, as if made of shifting square bits. The next time you see it, the visage of a stern looking man greets you, as well as the angry yells of the bartender. The face in the painting looks strikingly similar to one of the two men feature on the front of The Columbia Chronicles. Could this man be Warden Watts?

There are plenty of crazy theories flying around as to the significance of these little added bits. How is this connected to the original BioShock? How has the Communist symbol made its way into Columbia ten years early? And is the man watching you from the painting trying to warn you of danger, or trying to warn others about you? Hopefully some of these questions will be answered in the coming days. For now, you can pop over to the lovely Irrational Games’ forums (who deserve most of the credit for their awesome detective skills) and speculate, or start a new thread in Nukezilla‘s own forums instead. Happy sleuthing!