Elizabeth changed. If you played the base game of BioShock Infinite, you remember the girl in the tower—wide-eyed, curious about Paris, tossing you salts and ammo with a cheerful "Booker, catch!" She was a beacon of hope in a city literally falling out of the sky. But by the time we get to BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Elizabeth, that girl is gone. Dead, actually. Or at least, the version of her that could still smile without a heavy weight behind it has been replaced by something much colder and infinitely more complex.
It’s jarring.
Walking through the neon-drenched corridors of a pre-fall Rapture as Booker DeWitt—or a version of him—you quickly realize this isn't a buddy-cop adventure anymore. This is a noir funeral. Elizabeth is wearing the femme fatale archetype like a suit of armor. She’s smoking. She’s manipulative. She’s hurting. This tonal shift is exactly why fans still argue about these DLC chapters over a decade later. It wasn't just a "return to Rapture" for fanservice; it was a surgical deconstruction of a character we thought we knew.
The Femme Fatale of High Street
Ken Levine and the team at Irrational Games didn't just change Elizabeth's clothes. They changed her soul. In Part 1 of the DLC, she acts as your guide through the glittering, Art Deco nightmare of Rapture before the 1958 riots. But she isn't your companion. She's your boss. She knows things you don't. She’s leading this version of "Booker" (who we later learn is a Comstock who tried to hide from his sins) toward a reckoning he doesn't even see coming.
The shift in her character model is intentional. Gone is the blue and white corset, replaced by a sharp, dark silhouette that mirrors the shadows of the underwater city. She looks like she belongs in a Raymond Chandler novel. Honestly, it’s a bit heartbreaking to see. You've spent hours protecting her in Columbia, only to find that she no longer needs—or wants—your protection. She wants justice. Or maybe she just wants revenge.
The nuance here is that Elizabeth has become "quantum-aware." After the events at the Sea of Doors, she sees everything. Every door. Every lighthouse. This omniscience has stripped away her humanity. How do you relate to people when you already know their ending? You don't. You treat them like pieces on a chessboard. This version of BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Elizabeth is a goddess in a trench coat, and she’s terrifying.
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Losing the Godhood: Elizabeth’s Part 2 Vulnerability
Then everything flips.
If Part 1 was about Elizabeth’s power, Part 2 is about her sacrifice. This is where the gameplay takes a massive left turn into stealth territory. You aren't a powerhouse anymore. When Elizabeth returns to Rapture to save Sally, she loses her "omniscience." She becomes mortal again.
- She can't see the future.
- She can't open tears at will.
- She bleeds.
- She's haunted by a "phantom" Booker who acts as her conscience.
This is the most "human" Elizabeth has been since she first stepped out of Monument Island. She’s terrified. The player feels that terror because the mechanics reinforce it. You’re crouching in vents, using Peeping Tom to see through walls, and desperately trying to avoid a direct confrontation with Atlas’s thugs.
It’s a grueling experience. The game forces you to reckon with the cost of her choices. She could have stayed a god. She could have left Rapture to rot. Instead, she chose to become a "normal" girl again to fix a mistake she made. That mistake was using Sally as bait to get to Comstock. It’s a classic BioShock theme: the cycle of violence and the desperate attempt to break it.
The Bridge to the Original BioShock
One of the most controversial aspects of BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Elizabeth is how it retcons the start of the first game. We see Elizabeth interacting with Yi Suchong. We see her discovering the link between the Big Daddies and the Little Sisters. Suddenly, the entire plot of the 2007 original is pinned on her actions.
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Some fans felt this made the universe feel too small. Like, does everything have to be connected to Elizabeth? But if you look at it from a narrative perspective, it’s the only way her story could end. She had to ensure that Jack would eventually arrive on that plane. She had to set the stage for the "Ace in the Hole."
She sacrifices her life so that the Little Sisters—specifically Sally—can eventually be saved by a man she’s never even met. It’s an incredibly selfless act for a character who started the DLC as a cold-blooded executioner. She goes from killing a man for his past sins to dying for a child’s future. That’s a hell of an arc.
Why the Stealth Gameplay Divides Fans
Let's talk about the 1998 Mode. Honestly, playing as Elizabeth feels nothing like playing as Booker. Booker was a blunt instrument. He was a storm of lead and fire. Elizabeth is a ghost.
Some players hated the slower pace. They wanted the sky-hook action of Columbia. But the stealth fits the narrative. Elizabeth isn't a soldier; she’s a scholar and a survivor. Giving her a crossbow instead of a shotgun was a brilliant way to make the player feel her vulnerability. You have to think. You have to plan. You have to use the environment, much like the original BioShock intended before it devolved into a shootout.
The inclusion of the "Peeping Tom" vigor (or plasmid, in Rapture's case) changed everything. Being able to turn invisible and see through walls was necessary because Elizabeth can only take a few hits before it's game over. It forced a level of intimacy with the environment that Infinite lacked. You aren't just passing through Rapture; you’re hiding in its ribs.
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The Final Revelation and the "Ace in the Hole"
The ending of Part 2 is brutal. There’s no other word for it. Watching Atlas (Frank Fontaine) beat Elizabeth with a wrench is one of the most difficult scenes in the franchise. It’s a direct mirror to how Jack kills Andrew Ryan, but it feels so much more personal here.
Elizabeth gives up the secret to the "Ace in the Hole"—the "Would You Kindly" trigger—knowing exactly what it will lead to. She sees the end. She sees Jack saving the girls. She sees the light at the end of the tunnel, even as her own world goes dark.
It’s a masterclass in tragic storytelling. She isn't just a "companion" anymore. She is the protagonist of the entire BioShock saga. Without BioShock Infinite Burial at Sea Elizabeth, the events of the first game are just a series of random tragedies. She gives them purpose. She turns a cycle of "constants and variables" into a singular, meaningful choice.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Next Playthrough
If you’re heading back into the murky depths of Rapture, keep these things in mind to get the most out of the experience:
- Look for the Audio Diaries: In Part 2, the diaries from Suchong and Daisy Fitzroy add massive layers to the "retcon." They explain why Daisy acted the way she did in Columbia, suggesting Elizabeth’s journey was planned by the Luteces from the start.
- Don't ignore the Peeping Tom upgrades: If you're playing on a harder difficulty, the upgrade that removes the EVE cost for standing still while invisible is a literal lifesaver.
- Watch the background details: Rapture in its prime is full of foreshadowing. You can see posters for events that haven't happened yet and NPCs talking about the growing tension between Ryan and Fontaine.
- Pay attention to the "Phantom Booker": His dialogue isn't just flavor text. He represents Elizabeth’s subconscious trying to process her guilt and her remaining humanity.
The legacy of Elizabeth in Burial at Sea isn't just about the lore or the "multiverse" stuff. It’s about a girl who had the power of a god and realized that the only thing that actually mattered was saving one child. It’s a small, quiet ending for a game that started with a city in the clouds. And honestly? It’s perfect.
To fully grasp the weight of her sacrifice, re-watch the final cinematic of the original BioShock immediately after finishing Burial at Sea. Seeing the elderly Little Sisters holding Jack’s hand takes on an entirely different meaning when you realize what Elizabeth went through to make that moment possible. It turns a happy ending into a hard-won victory.