Chapter Summaries

Zhang Yi guided Booker from a sinister Lighthouse to the breathtaking floating city of Columbia, where he learned that the city worshipped its ruler, Comstock, as the Prophet. Blocked from leaving the church without a baptism, Booker underwent a forceful ritual that stunned Zhang Yi.

• Zhang Yi explored the Lighthouse and found bloody handprints, a bound figure, and instructions for opening the door at its summit.
• Zhang Yi had Booker sit in the Lighthouse chair, and a mechanical capsule launched him through the clouds toward Columbia.
• Booker arrived at a church in Columbia, where Zhang Yi admired the city and heard a solemn hymn.
• Zhang Yi explored the church and learned that Comstock ruled Columbia as the Prophet and that his child was called the Lamb.
• When church staff stopped Booker from leaving without a baptism, Zhang Yi let a priest perform the ritual, and the priest forced Booker's head underwater.

Zhang Yi explored Sky City Columbia as Booker, trying to understand the strange memories and the city’s religious culture. A raffle revealed the city’s brutality, and Booker was recognized as the false shepherd when he tried to throw a ball at the host.

• During the baptism, Zhang Yi saw a memory of Booker refusing to kidnap Elizabeth, followed by a glimpse of a city engulfed in war.
• After waking in New Eden, Zhang Yi explored Columbia and learned that its citizens revered Founders such as Franklin, Washington, and Jefferson while treating Lincoln as a heretic.
• A newsboy gave Booker a telegram warning him not to let Comstock know he was there and not to pick number 77.
• Zhang Yi toured the city’s attractions, learned an ability to control machines, and drew ball number 77 in a raffle.
• The raffle forced Booker to choose the fate of a newlywed interracial couple, and guards seized his arm when he tried to throw the ball after seeing the AD mark on his hand.

Zhang Yi played BioShock Infinite, learning that Booker was branded a false shepherd and was fighting his way toward Elizabeth while the game’s mysteries and Columbia’s oppression deepened. After Comstock forced the airship’s crew to die and Booker escaped along the sky-rails, Zhang Yi was left eager to uncover the truth behind the Prophet, Booker, and the city.

• A guard recognized the AD mark on Booker’s hand and accused him of being the false shepherd who would take down Elizabeth.
• Zhang Yi fought through Columbia’s violent guards and found the game’s story and magic-based combat more complex than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
• Booker fought toward Monument Island, where Elizabeth was held, and Comstock’s projection revealed that he knew Booker’s past and mission.
• Booker and his companions seized Comstock’s airship, but Comstock appeared and forced the crew to kill themselves as the airship crashed.
• Booker escaped by riding the aerial rails with his sky-hook, while Zhang Yi noticed Columbia’s racism and exploitation beneath its bright appearance.

Zhang Yi guided Booker through the Monument Island facility, where he found Elizabeth and learned that she could open spatial rifts. After Booker freed her and they escaped Songbird, the pair reached a floating island, where Elizabeth enjoyed her first taste of freedom before the island went into lockdown.

• Zhang Yi explored the facility inside the angel statue and discovered that it had been built to study Elizabeth’s ability to open spatial rifts.
• Booker found Elizabeth and used the key from the mysterious siblings to lead her out of captivity.
• Songbird attacked the escaping pair, destroyed the angel statue, and chased Booker and Elizabeth across Columbia’s sky-lines.
• Booker and Elizabeth landed on a floating island, where Elizabeth wandered and danced by the shore while Booker recovered.
• Zhang Yi encountered the mysterious siblings again and chose a bird accessory for Elizabeth.
• The island’s citizens saw the damaged angel statue, panicked, and imposed a lockdown as Zhang Yi prepared to see Elizabeth help them.

Zhang Yi watched Booker and Elizabeth fight their way through Sky City, while Elizabeth’s lively, resourceful support made the game feel easier and more immersive. After Booker admitted he planned to take her to New York to pay his debt, Elizabeth knocked him out and escaped, leaving their partnership in a sudden crisis.

• Elizabeth supplied Booker with ammunition, medkits, and money, helped him in combat, and interacted with the world around them.
• Booker and Elizabeth defeated Slater, took control of the First Lady airship, and entered its flight coordinates.
• Zhang Yi noticed clues suggesting Booker had participated in the Wounded Knee Massacre, though he could not yet connect the history to the plot.
• Elizabeth recognized that Booker had set the airship for New York rather than Paris and demanded an explanation.
• Booker admitted that someone would pay his debt in exchange for Elizabeth, so she pretended to cry, struck him with a wrench, and escaped on a Sky-Line.

Zhang Yi played through BioShock Infinite as Booker and Elizabeth navigated Columbia, where the game revealed that Elizabeth’s spatial rifts led to parallel worlds. The chapter left him eager to learn how the game would resolve its growing mysteries after Booker found himself celebrated as a dead hero in a new world.

• Daisy sent Booker to Finkton to retrieve weapons from the gunsmith Lin, and Elizabeth rejoined him despite her anger over his deception.
• Booker and Elizabeth reached the secret prison, where Lin was dead and the weapons were confiscated, so Elizabeth opened a spatial rift and took them to another world.
• Booker and Elizabeth discovered that Lin was alive in the new world but had gone insane, then found that the rebels’ weapons had already been seized.
• Elizabeth opened another rift, bringing them to a world where the People's Voice had won and Booker was revered as a fallen hero.
• Booker's memories changed as he crossed worlds, leaving Zhang Yi to wonder about Elizabeth’s powers, the Lutece siblings, and whether the game could deliver on its mysteries.

Booker and Elizabeth uncovered the truth behind Columbia, Comstock, and the Luteces while trying to control the Songbird and escape the city. The Songbird seized Elizabeth and took her to Comstock's mansion, leaving Booker alone to pursue her.

• Daisy tried to kill Fink's son, so Elizabeth killed Daisy and fled with Booker aboard the First Lady airship.
• The Songbird attacked the airship, forcing Booker and Elizabeth back into Columbia, where the Luteces directed them toward Comstock as the key to controlling it.
• Booker and Elizabeth entered Comstock's domain, but the security system rejected Elizabeth, so they went to the graveyard and fought the First Lady Ghost.
• The Luteces revealed that they were two versions of the same scientist from parallel worlds and that Comstock had used their research to build Columbia and obtain Elizabeth.
• Booker and Elizabeth learned how Comstock killed his wife and framed Daisy, and how his experiment left the Luteces existing across parallel worlds.
• The Songbird attacked again, and Elizabeth let it take her to Comstock's mansion to protect Booker.

Zhang Yi played through the eerie, snow-covered mansion to discover that an elderly Elizabeth had brought Booker there from a doomed future. She gave Booker the means to control the Songbird, leaving Zhang Yi hopeful but worried about whether Elizabeth and Booker would get a happy ending.

• Zhang Yi fought through the mansion’s masked madmen and altered Silent Boys while hearing Elizabeth’s terrified cries from spatial rifts.
• Booker met an elderly Elizabeth, who revealed that she had guided him to the mansion and used her remaining strength to show him the future.
• Elderly Elizabeth showed Booker a war-torn New York and explained that years of failed rescue attempts and Comstock’s brainwashing had turned her into a world-conquering religious leader.
• Elderly Elizabeth gave Booker a way to control the Songbird and sent him back to the present to prevent that future.
• Zhang Yi worried that Chen Xu might give Elizabeth and Booker a tragic ending, but hoped they would defeat Comstock and survive.

Zhang Yi played through Booker and Elizabeth’s confrontation with Comstock, whose death led to revelations about Elizabeth’s connection to Booker. Elizabeth then used her fully unleashed power to transport them and the Songbird to a war-ravaged underwater city.

• Zhang Yi fought through Comstock’s mansion, shut down the siphon, and watched Elizabeth open a rift that sucked away the researchers.
• Elizabeth refused Booker’s offer to escape and insisted on finding Comstock; Booker promised to stop Comstock for her, and they fought toward his airship.
• Comstock blamed Booker for Elizabeth’s suffering and urged her to ask about her severed finger; Booker drowned Comstock in a fit of rage.
• Elizabeth realized Booker had forgotten what he had done, and Zhang Yi suspected the truth involved memories and parallel worlds.
• Booker and Elizabeth used the Songbird to repel the People’s Voice and destroy the siphon; Elizabeth then transported them and the Songbird to a ruined city beneath the sea.

Zhang Yi watched BioShock Infinite reveal that Booker and Comstock were the same person and that Elizabeth was Booker's daughter. The ending showed Elizabeths drowning Booker to prevent Comstock from ever existing, leaving Zhang Yi wondering how the next BioShock game could continue.

• Elizabeth showed Booker the many Lighthouses and explained how choices created different worlds.
• She restored Booker's memories of selling Anna, losing her finger, and being brought back by the Luteces.
• Booker learned that Elizabeth was his daughter and proposed traveling back to kill Comstock.
• Elizabeth revealed that Comstock was another version of Booker and that every Booker had to be drowned before baptism to prevent Comstock's existence.
• Countless Elizabeths drowned Booker, and the game faded to black as the Elizabeths disappeared.
• Zhang Yi praised the game's story, then wondered how another BioShock could follow Booker's death and Elizabeth's disappearance.

Players finished BioShock Infinite and debated whether Booker and Elizabeth had died in its shocking ending. After three days of speculation, Chen Xu said Elizabeth was still alive but would no longer be the sole protagonist, and promised the final ending would not disappoint.

• Players who had finished BioShock Infinite praised its twist ending, explored Columbia’s story, and celebrated Elizabeth as an unforgettable companion.
• Players debated whether Booker and Elizabeth had died, pointing to the fading Elizabeths and the final scene as evidence for different theories.
• Three days after the game launched, players continued asking Chen Xu on his Official Blog whether Elizabeth and Booker were truly dead.
• Chen Xu said Elizabeth was still alive, would no longer be the sole protagonist, and would appear in an ending that would not disappoint.
• Players grew excited after interpreting Chen Xu’s response as a sign that Elizabeth would return and the story might have a happy ending.

Players eagerly anticipated BioShock: City of Rapture after Chen Xu promised that Elizabeth survived and a good ending existed. At Nebula Games, Chen Xu explained the sequel’s tragic story to his team, while a preview revealed Elizabeth in a new look.

• Players discussed Chen Xu’s assurances about Elizabeth and uncovered clues suggesting the Luteces had repeated the coin-toss experiment 122 times before Booker.
• Qin Yi told Chen Xu that City of Rapture’s ending left him distressed, especially over Elizabeth and Booker’s fates.
• Chen Xu said the sequel had a good ending in which everyone survived and joked that Nebula Games had strong security.
• Chen Xu explained that BioShock’s story and setting made sorrow and sacrifice necessary to its ending.
• Nebula Games released preview material showing Elizabeth in a new look, exciting players.

The BioShock: City of Rapture preview revealed a mature Elizabeth and a Booker searching for his daughter, leaving players with questions about their connection. Song Ren began the game as Jack, survived a plane crash, and descended toward the underwater city of Rapture, wondering where Elizabeth was.

• The promotional video showed Booker demanding his daughter back before meeting a mature Elizabeth, whose identity and relationship to him puzzled players.
• Players celebrated Elizabeth’s return and speculated about parallel worlds while waiting for BioShock: City of Rapture to unlock.
• Song Ren started the game and learned that its protagonist was Jack, a passenger on a plane that crashed into the Mid-Atlantic.
• Jack reached a Lighthouse, entered its bathysphere, and watched Andrew Ryan introduce Rapture as a utopia for scientists and artists.
• Song Ren saw Rapture through the bathysphere window and wondered where Elizabeth was.

Song Ren explored the ruined City of Rapture as Jack and learned how Elizabeth and Booker’s past connected Rapture to Columbia. The chapter left him bewildered by Elizabeth’s death, her strange existence across time and space, and her choice to become mortal to save Sally.

• Song Ren explored City of Rapture as Jack, following Atlas’s directions and discovering its plasmid-based combat and its Little Sisters and Big Daddies.
• Song Ren switched to Elizabeth’s perspective and saw Rapture at its height, while uncovering its links to Columbia and Adam.
• Elizabeth guided Booker to recover his memories, revealing that he had become Comstock, killed his daughter in another world, and fled to Rapture, where he adopted Sally.
• A Big Daddy killed Booker and Elizabeth, after which Elizabeth entered a state of quantum entanglement and could observe events across time and space.
• Elizabeth chose to give up her observer form and become an ordinary person, losing some memories, then made a deal with a rebel leader to save Sally.

Song Ren uncovered how Adam, Little Sisters, and Big Daddies shaped City of Rapture as he followed Jack toward Andrew Ryan. Ryan revealed that Jack was a conditioned slave controlled by the phrase “Would you be so kind?” and Jack killed him while Song Ren could not intervene.

• Song Ren learned that Andrew Ryan founded City of Rapture on absolute capitalist freedom, while Tenenbaum’s discovery of Adam and Fontaine’s funding led to addiction, unrest, and the creation of Little Sisters and Big Daddies.
• Song Ren considered Elizabeth’s reasons for saving Sally, recognized Fontaine as the one who had made a deal with her, and recalled Daisy’s self-sacrifice in BioShock Infinite.
• Song Ren guided Jack through a secret passage toward Andrew Ryan and discovered a room displaying Jack’s photograph beside City of Rapture’s key figures and the phrase “Would you be so kind?”
• Andrew Ryan confronted Jack and explained that Jack’s memories were fabricated and that he had been conditioned to obey commands.
• Song Ren lost control of Jack as Ryan ordered him to kill, and Jack struck Andrew Ryan’s head with a golf club.

Song Ren learned that Jack had been conditioned by Fontaine, who had posed as Atlas, and sent to City of Rapture to seize control using Ryan’s DNA. Elizabeth’s plan saved Sally and the Little Sisters, but Elizabeth died after giving Fontaine the activation phrase, leaving players stunned.

• Song Ren realized that Jack’s plane crash had been orchestrated and that “Would you be so kind” had been used to control him.
• After Jack killed Andrew Ryan, Atlas revealed that he was Frank Fontaine and ordered Jack to disable the city’s self-destruct system.
• Elizabeth’s recovered memories revealed how Fontaine had arranged Jack’s creation and used her to retrieve the note containing the activation phrase.
• Fontaine tortured Elizabeth, who told him the phrase was “Would you be so kind,” and he left to use Jack to take over City of Rapture.
• Booker appeared holding Sally, while Sally later held Elizabeth’s hand beside her lifeless body.
• Song Ren and the players realized that Elizabeth had died.

Song Ren completed BioShock: City of Rapture, where Jack defeated Fontaine, saved the Little Sisters, and later lived with them as family. Elizabeth’s sacrifice brought the BioShock story to its conclusion, leaving Song Ren shaken by the game and its ending.

• Jack broke free of his mental conditioning with Dr. Tenenbaum’s help and went to confront Fontaine.
• The Little Sisters drained Fontaine’s Adam and life, then gave Jack the control-core key to City of Rapture.
• Jack led the Little Sisters to the surface, where Elizabeth’s narration called their rescue hope and described the family they formed.
• Elizabeth’s singing played over a scene in Paris as BioShock’s story ended.
• Song Ren watched the credits and reflected that Jack’s happy ending came at the cost of Elizabeth’s sacrifice.

Players condemned Chen Xu over Elizabeth’s fate, while critics praised the BioShock duology’s storytelling, art, and connection between Columbia and City of Rapture. The series reached a memorable endpoint, leaving players unsure whether another game would follow.

• Players reacted angrily to Elizabeth’s death and discussed the recurring father-and-daughter tragedies in Nebula Games titles.
• Major outlets, including GameSpot, gave the BioShock duology exceptionally high praise for its presentation, themes, characters, and narrative structure.
• Critics highlighted how Elizabeth connected the independent stories of BioShock: Infinite and BioShock: City of Rapture into a closed loop.
• The BioShock journey from Columbia to City of Rapture ended with Elizabeth’s words about a lighthouse, a man, and a city.

Chen Xu reviewed Hutu’s Onimusha proposal, which combined a musou-style action game with sword-fighting film aesthetics, and offered him a chance to join the headquarters studio. He outlined a new supernatural setting rooted in a war between Tang and Baekje, leaving Hutu puzzled about how it connected to the proposed style.

• Chen Xu considered World of Warcraft’s dominance and the difficulty rival MMORPGs faced in overcoming its loyal player base.
• Chen Xu reviewed Hutu’s Onimusha proposal and learned that the designer wanted to make a sword-fighting film-style game set in Japan’s Warring States period.
• Chen Xu invited Hutu to work with the headquarters studio, explaining that his planned game would differ in direction and setting from Hutu’s concept.
• Chen Xu described how the Cherry Dragon came to Ashina and how Fountainhead Palace’s residents sought immortality through its power.
• Chen Xu explained that the Ujigami’s need for vital essence led to the War to Protect the Nation, while Hutu listened in confusion.
• Chen Xu said the setting supported an important gameplay core point and invited Hutu to learn more at a later meeting.

Hutu arrived at Nebula Games headquarters, where Chen Xu introduced Sekiro, a sword-fighting action game with Souls-like map and story design. The chapter ended with the team learning about its posture-based combat, resurrection, prosthetic tools, and skills.

• Hutu arrived at Nebula Games headquarters and joined the core members in the conference room.
• Chen Xu presented Sekiro concept art and said the ninja identity did not make it a stealth game.
• Chen Xu described the game as a sword-fighting action game drawing on Dark Souls and Bloodborne’s map and story concepts, but without stamina limits.
• Chen Xu explained that players and bosses used Posture Bars, with perfect blocks, blade clashes, and executions shaping combat.
• Chen Xu outlined Dragon's Heritage resurrection, prosthetic tools, and learned skills as ways to support players in battle.