There are no spoilers in this review.
I will start saying that I don't play many games fully, because I don't have the time, and this is my second review of a game ever so that should mean something from me. I have played all the Bioshock games, and this might be a hot take to some people if you have heard other opinions: Bioshock Infinite was my favorite game in the series. Before I say why I loved this game, I want to say that the biggest issue someone might have with this game is their own bias, motivation and outside influence someone else has had on them, so I think you should play this game as much as you can blindly.
Now, with that out of the way, I am a sucker for environments in games. I love exploring and seeing the details in the world. I enjoy looking at writings on the walls and reading headlines of newspapers. That is why I liked the first game, and that is one of the reasons I love this game. The world is beautiful in many ways. There has been a lot of effort here to present the world with all of its strengths and weaknesses and there are many hidden details you can miss if you are not looking for them. The game is surprisingly pretty linear most of the time with some sections being bigger than others, and yet, the world is incredibly vibrant with many hidden details you can easily skip.
The story is pretty complicated, and I think at some points it is pretty hard to follow. You will be confused and you will think you understand and you will be confused again. But I think that is the point. The main characters are not going through a nice journey about discovery and friendship. They are going through difficult times and some heavy themes are at play here: betrayal, discovery of self, loss, different perspectives, the complex nature of relationships and power. There is a lot to unfold. But I think that is a strength more than a weakness. You are finding things out together with your companion. You are going together through a very long journey with twists and turns. And at the end you will see that the journey was worth it. All the details will suddenly make sense and will change how you see the world like a baptized man ready for a new beginning. That being said, the game is not perfect and you can see some flaws if you want to. You can see some shortcomings and they can be very valid. If you try hard enough you can see some burnt bridges. But in my view these flaws do not take away from the experience. If you focus so much on some insignificant criticism to the overall plot, you will lose the beauty of the message. It is your choice.
There are enough mechanics so that the combat never gets boring. The way you can mix and match powers with guns feels really good. I like that the powers are different enough from the other games but still have some resemblance which ties in nicely with the plot. The protagonist who is sharing your journey is not a burden whatsoever and will help you in many ways. I have heard some criticism about only being able to hold two guns at the same time, but I didn't find that took away from the fun. You mostly choose two preferred weapons and stick with them. That was mostly how I have always played in the other games anyways. If you want to change your guns at any point there are plenty of others sitting around. I played on normal difficulty and the game felt pretty easy. I only died twice mostly due to my own incompetence. One thing I would say that I didn't like is that you can't manually save the game. For someone who likes exploring a lot that felt like a hindrance, but at the end of the day it didn't matter that much.
All in all I think this is a great game with interesting combat, comprehensive world building, memorable characters and an insane storyline. I heavily recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a wild adventure!
