As others have noted, the difficulty of the game really picked up after the introduction of patriot automatons and the occasional Order of the Raven crazies that keep showing up. However, that has made the game really fun to play now as I’m forced to actually dodge, seek cover, and use my vigors optimally instead of just mindlessly running down the street like an absolute unit and shooting up everything in sight. The more interesting part, however, is the story. After the fight with Cornelius Slate, I feel like a whole new load of mystery has been added to Booker’s past. We’ve already noticed that he is a pretty able fighter but here we learn about the reason, his veteran experience. Turns out that Slate and Booker fought together in some pretty intense battles but Comstock, being not just a really manipulative, brainwashing dictator but also a stolen valor violator, took all the credit for Slate’s conquests. We learn just how obviously infuriated Slate is because of this and then are forced to fight him and his soldiers. I was a little sad with the plot around this part because Comstock did essentially achieve his goal, making two comrades fight each other. Surely there could have been a more co-operative end to that, perhaps with Slate giving us the Shock Jockey vigor peacefully and us aiding him in bringing down Comstock. Alas, blood had to be shed. After the fight, you’re given the choice to either slay him or leave him alive. I personally chose the former option because if there’s one thing I’ve learned from games and movies, you always give an honorable death to the proud army general after beating them in combat. Besides, that place would probably get ravaged by Comstock later anyway.

Coming back to Elizabeth, her role in the story is getting more and more prominent. She finally uses the power of her tears openly and this opens up new fighting + maneuverability capabilities for Booker. This was just in time, in my opinion, because the fights were getting pretty hard; her providing us with in-combat supplies comes in handy more than often. This also made me realize just why Comstock was keeping her locked up, her power of tears is potentially world-changing, literally so. At the same time, there is the ongoing innocence to her character. She finds it hard to comes to terms with how much killing we have to get involved in, to her, dancing at the beach is the highlight of life, while she remains blissfully ignorant of the dirty work that must be done. Speaking of killing, there was too much of that at the pier fight before we board the airship. I felt like I fought for hours, then swung around on the ziplines, then fought again. When it finally ended, we board the airship where an important event happens. Booker’s hidden motive kicks in and he steers the ship towards New York—where he’s supposed to hand off Elizabeth—instead of Paris as he promised her. Turns out Elizabeth wasn’t spending all her time infront of the mirror in captivity and had a ton of geography knowledge on her hands. She quickly realizes that the co-ordinates aren’t for Paris, learns of our betrayal, and smacks us in the head, rightfully so. The impact knocks us unconscious and when we wake up, Elizabeth is nowhere to be seen. Instead, we and our ship are in the possession of the Vox Populi, a newly introduced group. Their leader appears to be a confident looking lady by the name of Daisy who promises us freedom if we help her with the Vox Populi’s mission, to help bring down Comstock. The section ends around here and now I’m even more excited to play on because a lot of suspense has been built up. Where is Elizabeth? How exactly are the Vox Populi operating? What will Booker choose to do?