So first off, I absolutely loved this section of the game. The plot is getting really interesting as we near the end of the game; however, the gameplay is getting kinda augh. I realized I’ve made a massive mistake setting the difficulty to hard because Elizabeth leaves us for a part of this section…it was hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever played through. I now absolutely despise the Boys of Silence and everything they stand for. Running away from those possessed lunatics bearing the founding fathers’ masks was the worst thing I’ve ever experienced, being at literally 0 health and ammo with no Elizabeth to help me only exacerbated the problem. I don’t even know how I survived hacking through them for 10 minutes, I guess taking stuff from Elizabeth isn’t the only thing that makes you invincible (hint: continuously swinging the skyhook for 10 minutes could be the other one.) Apart from that though, game play has been pretty bearable. I guess my roommate would complain about the surprise handyman in that one section because I literally shrieked OH GOD OH GOD NO at 200 decibels, but otherwise it has been fun. Curse that handyman though because it definitely booked me a return ticket to that greyscale room everyone had been talking about.

Now I get to talk about the yummy part, the plot. The Luteces have been confirmed to be the most interesting characters in the game. Turns out Rosalind Lutece is a walking genius who invented the whole technology for the city. No idea what the other Lutece did to compensate though. Is he just the piggybacking brother? Is he even the brother? Joseph mentioned the possibility of them being the same person. Come to think of it, there was this one point in the graveyard where they appear next to their graves and tell us about something related to Mrs. Comstock. When you look closely at both of their graves though, there is the same blue-ish attire lying outside both of them. I’m either succumbing to confirmation bias and they’re just ordinary siblings or there’s some Predestination kinda alternate reality thing going on.

Also turns out Mr. Comstock is sterile because of all his world-wandering and he seemed really frustrated about it, understandably so, in a voxophone. He seems really into the belief that nobody other than his direct heir could lead Columbia after him. For that purpose, he even requested Rosalind Lutece’s help but turns out she cared less than romaine lettuce and just outright denied him. He did abduct Elizabeth from somewhere though, much to Mrs. Comstock’s anger but then he just got her killed so she couldn’t spill any secrets. Elizabeth still thinks her mother did her wrong but then we go through the whole arc of resurrecting her and then Elizabeth finds her peace. The whole ghoul amalgamation of Elizabeth’s attitude toward her mother and the mother’s jumbled up memories was very interesting though. Exceptionally hard to defeat, yes, but interesting. Amazing just how much can go wrong when you mess with dimensions.

Meanwhile, songbird continues to be a nuisance as ever, with Booker being completely helpless everytime. Wonder whatever happened to that code the Luteces gave us. We get to see future Elizabeth where her ‘father’s’ plot worked out and she becomes the brainwashed heir. Columbia doesn’t seem to be doing too well so old Elizabeth gives us some advice that young Elizabeth will be able to decode and sends her back with the hope that this time, we do not fail. It is hinted that every other time, songbird stops us. When we save Elizabeth and give her the thing, she is able to decode everything except for this one cage symbol. Now this made me think about the cage and the bird choice discussed in class, except that my game bugged out or whatever and I’m missing out on choices. So then I went to youtube and looked through the choices sections where we get our hand stabbed and then the cage/bird brooch. Now I feel like I’m finally caught up with the story and ready for the ending in the next section.

Sidenote: I noticed something while revisiting the hand-stabbing section. This weird lady called Esther seems to recognize Elizabeth and calls her Annabelle. Elizabeth clarifies that she’s the wrong person but Esther reiterates before backing off. Made me think about the whole AD thing on Booker’s hand. Maybe Annabelle Dewitt? Maybe Elizabeth looks like Booker’s wife/daughter? I know there’s gonna be some really big relationship reveal between the two later because of the whole intro starting out with the I’m not scared of God, I’m scared of you thing. Can’t wait for it!