set in 1912 throughout the era of american exceptionalism, the games protagonist, former pinkerton agent booker dewitt, is sent onto the floating air-city of columbia realize a'>to identify a young lady, elizabeth, who is held captive there for our last twelve years. though booker rescues elizabeth, the two main are pursued from the citys warring factions ; the nativist and elite founders that try to maintain the town for pure americans, and also the vox populi, a rebel grouping representing the common folks. booker finds elizabeth to remain central out to this conflict, which she additionally holds strange powers out to manipulate rifts within the time-space continuum that ravage columbia.
the player controls booker throughout the entire game, eventually teaming along with the computer-controlled elizabeth. like previous bioshock games, the player uses a mixture of weapons, gear, psychokinetic powers granted through vigors, and elizabeths own powers out to fight off hostile foes and earn a way through columbia. in distinction onto the restricted spaces of one's underwater town of rapture, the open-air town of columbia provides for a lot of combat challenges, together with combat that take place aboard the citys skyline rollercoaster-like rail system. this game will additionally feature a 1999 mode, harkening back out to games like system shock 2 where choices created from the player can utilize a a lot of permanent affects this game, possibly leading the player out to an unwinnable situation and requiring a restart from an earlier saved game.