BioShock Infinite

In this first-person shooter, players take control of ex-Pinkerton Booker DeWitt, sent to Columbia to recover a woman named Elizabeth. Heavy elements of Christianity, American Exceptionalism, and racism are present in the game. Players will also encounter a variety of weapons and weapon-types, fighting while flying through the air, traveling between multiple realities, and birds. Special thanks to GamePhobias & vgtriggers on tumblr for pulling together some of the information below.

• Release date: 02-26-2013
• Developer: Irrational Games
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Platforms: Linux, MacOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Triggers for this game

Animals & Wildlife

• Birds

  Many birds throughout the game, including a giant mechanical bird, crows that gnaw on flesh and people, and a vigor that allows you to sic crows to attack people and kill them (as well as an enemy who uses this vigor too).

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The giant mechanical bird will help you take out enemy airships later in the game. He dies a sad death following doing so.

  • Can't be avoided

Crime

• Attacks on Law Enforcement

  • Can't be avoided

• Being Held Against Will

  • Can't be avoided

• Explosions & Bombs

  • Can't be avoided

• Fights

  • Can't be avoided

• Guns & Shooting

  Regular guns, fire-based weapons

  • Can't be avoided

• Kidnapping

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth is kidnapped while running away from Booker

  • Can't be avoided

• Murder

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth graphically murders Daisy Fitzroy.

  • Can't be avoided

• Theft

  Must steal items from around you to survive & can loot dead bodies for supplies

  • Can't be avoided

• Torture

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth is implied to be tortured during the Asylum level. A midgame cutscene shows graphic torture, including stretching the person on a rack and beating them.

  • Can't be avoided

Death & Loss

• Abandonment

  End of game spoilers in spoiler tag

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  END OF GAME SPOILER: Booker is Elizabeth's real father and sold her off to pay off his gambling debt

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Friend

  Depending on choices

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Loved One

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Parent

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth learns Mrs. Comstock was likely her mother after visiting the memorial to the late woman. Elizabeth drowns the Songbird, who you watch slowly succumb. Comstock himself dies brutally, involving head bashing and drowning.

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of pet

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The giant mechanical bird dies a sad death following helping you.

  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Spouse or Partner

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  References to Booker's daughter Anna as well as Mrs. Comstock

  • Can't be avoided

• Drowning

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Booker nearly drowns after arriving in Columbia and being baptized, as he is dunked into the water a second time and held under until he passes out and has a flashback to a past event. Comstock dies brutally, involving head bashing and drowning.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Death & Loss

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth asks Booker to kill her if she's nearly recaptured

  • Can't be avoided

• Missing Person(s)

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Booker's daughter Anna

  • Can't be avoided

• Suicide

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  When possessing or mind controlling enemies using a vigor, they will commit suicide after attacking others. At the end of the Museum level, Slate begs Booker to kill him, clearly showing suicidal thoughts/tendencies. The player can choose whether or not to kill Slate. END GAME SPOILERS: The game ends with Booker choosing to die via Elizabeth's hands. He does not commit suicide himself but he chooses to die.

  • Can't be avoided

Disturbing Sounds & Sound Design

• Screams

  • Can't be avoided

• Sirens & Alarms

  • Can't be avoided

• Wet Sounds

  • Can't be avoided

Drugs & Alcohol

• Alcohol Consumption

  Can drink alcohol to regain health

  • Is avoidable

• Alcoholism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In flashbacks, it's implied that Booker was an alcoholic

  • Can't be avoided

• Tobacco & Smoking

  Can smoke cigarettes to regain health

  • Is avoidable

Financial & Resource Management

• Gambling

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In flashbacks, it's implied that Booker was had a gambling addiction

  • Can't be avoided

• Income Management

  Need silver eagle coins to pay for ammo refills, new vigors, or other skill/weapons improvements

  • Can't be avoided

• Scarcity

  Resources, money, and ammunition

  • Can't be avoided

Genocide

• Historical

  References to fighting against Chinese people during the Boxer Rebellion (with pride)

  • Can't be avoided

• Indigenous People

  References to the events at Wounded Knee (with pride)

  • Can't be avoided

Gore

• Amputation

  Elizabeth is missing a finger and has a prosthetic

  • Can't be avoided

• Blood

  • Can't be avoided

• Dismemberment

  • Can't be avoided

• Guts

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Gore

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A nun sets herself on fire early on in the game, causing a structure fire you must escape from.

  • Can't be avoided

• Viscera

  • Can't be avoided

Hate & Discrimination

• Ableism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The Handyman is an enemy that is physically large and does not use taunts the way other enemies do. Mostly speaking through grunts and having slightly misshapen heads, one could assert that they are examples of how intellectually or developmentally disabled folks are utilized in Columbia to serve eugenicist ends.

  • Can't be avoided

• Antisemitism

  Multiple antisemitic comments throughout the game

  • Can't be avoided

• Dehumanization & Objectification

  Players will regularly encounter harmful and demeaning comments about the Vox Populi, an underground group pushing for human rights.

  • Can't be avoided

• Eugenics

  • Can't be avoided

• Hateful Imagery

  Multiple racist images throughout the game. Players will encounter stereotypical cartoonish graphics of Indigenous people, Black people (using minstrel or monkey imagery), and Chinese people. Also, Comstock has his old Confederate uniform in his bedroom, lit up and on display.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Hate & Discrimination

  In an early scene, Booker wins the lottery and an interracial couple is brought out for him to 'punish' by throwing a baseball at. The player can choose to either hit the couple or try to hit the announcer.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misogyny

  Various messages ask the men to fight to protect their womenfolk

  • Can't be avoided

• Racism

  Overt racism, white supremacy, and the notion of "protecting our race" are all present in the game. Any BIPOC folks encountered in the game are either enslaved and treated as lesser or on the run for fighting for equal rights. Slurs are present in the game, including towards Irish and Chinese folks —the spoiler tag has specific examples.

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Slurs used include yid, gook, potato eaters, squaw

  • Can't be avoided

• Sexism

  Various messages ask the men to fight to protect their womenfolk

  • Can't be avoided

Horror Themes

• Chase & Pursuit

  • Can't be avoided

• Ghosts & Hauntings

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Comstock uses Elizabeth's powers and anger to turn Mrs. Comstock into a ghost, forcing Elizabeth and Booker to fight her. Mrs. C raises nearby corpses from the dead which you'll have to fight as well.

  • Can't be avoided

• Jump Scares

  Asylum level

  • Can't be avoided

• Mind Control

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Horror Themes

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Elizabeth is initially locked up and observed. When she finds out people have been watching her this whole time, she feels violated.

  • Can't be avoided

• Possession

  • Can't be avoided

• Psychological Horror

  Asylum level

  • Can't be avoided

• Zombies & Undead

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Comstock uses Elizabeth's powers and anger to turn Mrs. Comstock into a ghost, forcing Elizabeth and Booker to fight her. Mrs. C raises nearby corpses from the dead which you'll have to fight as well.

  • Can't be avoided

Law Enforcement

• Police Brutality

  • Can't be avoided

• Police Pursuit

  • Can't be avoided

Mental Health

• Family References

  • Can't be avoided

• Grief

  • Can't be avoided

• Hallucinations

  Booker has flashbacks that feel like hallucinations at times

  • Can't be avoided

• Psych Ward

  Asylum level

  • Can't be avoided

Natural Events

• Storms

  Thunder, lightning, blizzard

  • Can't be avoided

Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

• Altercations

  • Can't be avoided

• Assault

  • Can't be avoided

• Child Abuse

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Locking Elizabeth away on her own for ages. Daisy Fitzroy beats and almost executes a child before Elizabeth stops her.

  • Can't be avoided

• Child Endangerment

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Locking Elizabeth away on her own for ages

  • Can't be avoided

• Gaslighting

  • Can't be avoided

• Magical Violence

  You use vigors (a type of drinkable alteration) to gain new skills. Each vigor comes with animation when you first imbibe it that looks painful (hands turning into fire or stones, etc.). Vigors include the ability to sic crows on enemies, fire, electricity, storms, wind, water, tentacles, create a magnetic shield, and possession or mind control. The latter will end in the enemy targeted committing suicide.

  • Can't be avoided

• Manipulation

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

  Worker exploitation — In the Fink Manufacturing area, loudspeakers play Fink discussing how he keeps his workers safe (long work days, no vacation, paid in company store currency). However, these are not actually beneficial for workers but for him as a business owner.

  • Can't be avoided

• Psychological Abuse

  • Can't be avoided

Phobias

• Acrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Columbia is a city built in the sky, requiring players to experience heights quite frequently. In multiple instances, players must ride on barge airships and rails meant for sky rail cars.

  • Can't be avoided

• Aerophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  In multiple instances, players must ride on rails meant for sky rail cars. Mistiming jumps to solid land can lead to falling and death.

  • Can't be avoided

• Agliophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Agoraphobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Automatonophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Claustrophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Hemophobia

  • Can't be avoided

• Megalophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Overly large statues

  • Can't be avoided

• Melissophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  During a cut scene, Elizabeth opens a void for a bee to go in order to get it out of the elevator.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Phobias

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Aquaphobia (Fear of water), Basophobia (Fear of falling), Carcinophobia (Fear of cancer), Electrophobia (Fear of electricity), Hagiophobia (Fear of saints or holy things), Homilophobia (Fear of sermons), Hoplophobia (Fear of firearms), Keraunophobia (Fear of thunder and lightning), Methyphobia (fear of alcohol), Ophthalmophobia (fear of being stared at), Ornithophobia (Fear of birds), Pharmacophobia (fear of drugs), Poinephobia (fear of punishment), Pyrophobia (Fear of fire), Sitophobia (fear of food or eating)

  • Can't be avoided

• Necrophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The corpses of enemies, townsfolk, and others are plentiful in the game. You can loot dead bodies for supplies and at multiple points fight enemies who can raise the dead. One fight occurs in a graveyard.

  • Can't be avoided

• Ommetaphobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Weapons can gouge out eyes. There is also a lot of eyeball imagery, including a watchful eye image players will encounter multiple times.

  • Can't be avoided

• Thalassophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Multiple times in the game, Booker will have to walk in water. Him and others fall into deeper water in cut scenes. Towards the end of the game, Elizabeth takes Booker to the underwater setting Bioshock is famous for.

  • Can't be avoided

• Traumatophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Early into your efforts to escape Columbia, Booker can get stabbed through his right hand and show this injury throughout the rest of the game.

  • Can't be avoided

• Trypanophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  If you die, Elizabeth will revive you using a syringe. In Burial at Sea, Booker and Elizabeth both inject themselves with plasmids and Eve hypos.

  • Can't be avoided

Physical Health & Body Issues

• Misc. Physical Health & Body Issues

  Eat food to gain health

  • Can't be avoided

• Pain & Physical Suffering

  In addition to pain inflicted upon you by enemies, you use vigors (a type of drinkable alteration) to gain new skills. Each vigor comes with animation when you first imbibe it that looks painful (hands growing fire, stones, barnacles, storms, etc.).

  • Can't be avoided

• Progressive Illness

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Comstock has cancerous tumors and is dying

  • Can't be avoided

Religion & Sects

• Cults

  • Can't be avoided

• Religion

  Father Comstock is a prophet and seen as a god-like figure, leading Columbia to follow a religion that feels like a mash-up between Christianity (especially Mormonism) and American Patriotism/Exceptionalism and Civil Religion. There are hymns, a Savior child, angels, discussions of Eden, and the veneration of US Founding Fathers as prophets and god-like figures as well.

  • Can't be avoided

Sex & Erotica (Consensual)

• Sexual Commentary

  Flirtatious comments from NPCs

  • Can't be avoided

Traumatic Events

• Accidents

  Multiple airship crashes

  • Can't be avoided

• Human Experimentation

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Towards the end of the game, Comstock and his scientists experiment on Elizabeth.

  • Can't be avoided

• Structure Fire

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A nun sets herself on fire early on in the game, causing a structure fire you must escape from.

  • Can't be avoided

Violence in History

• Misc. Violence in History

  References to and reenactments of historical events including Wounded Knee, the Boxer Rebellion, and working for the Pinkertons

  • Can't be avoided

War & Military

• Fictional War

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A civil war breaks out in Columbia throughout the game

  • Can't be avoided

• Historical War

  References to and reenactments of historical events including Wounded Knee, the Boxer Rebellion, and working for the Pinkertons

  • Can't be avoided

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