BioShock Infinite
Game director Ken Levine said it himself during the marketing campaign ahead of BioShock Infinite’s 2013 release: The game’s world is rooted in the concept of American Exceptionalism, or the idea that America is inherently more special, more blessed than other countries in the world. It’s a valiant concept to tackle in video games, but Infinite’s ham-handedness only manages to (accidentally) make an even more poignant observation about America: We can’t be fucking subtle.
From the evil George Washington robots to its egregious violence, BioShock: Infinite is as subtle as a MAGA hat. I can’t even remember most of it because I played it while high on Percocets recovering from knee surgery, but what I do remember is red, white, and blue: the blood-red puddles, the white fluffy clouds, the blue of Elizabeth’s dress. Nothing more.
Like Leigh Alexander wrote for Kotaku: “It has something to say, certainly. It just says more about its own self than about the ideas it wanted to explore.” That’s America, baby.—Alyssa Mercante
