In BioShock Infinite: The Siege of Columbia, players will play as either the Founders or the Vox Populi and will build up an army to fight for control of Columbia by taking ground and completing important objectives. At the same time, they'll be using their influence to sway various events that arise. They'll also find themselves having to deal with Booker and Elizabeth, who are running around Columbia creating havoc.
The game has players combating one another, stealing objectives from under each other's noses, assassinating leaders, destroying strongholds, bidding against each other for control of unfolding events, and more. The first faction to 10 victory points wins. Because there are only two factions, the game can be played by two players in a head-to-head format, or by four players paired off in two teams.
- Strong integration of Bioshock Infinite theme with game mechanics
- Multiple viable strategies via deck-building, upgrades, and VP cards
- Concise, engaging, and replayable thanks to VP cards and randomized events
- Skyline movement creates tense risk-reward decisions
- Dice luck can heavily influence outcomes in combat and movement
- Some cards are situational and may feel underpowered in certain contexts
- Learning curve exists due to many interlocking systems
- factional civil war and political rivalry within a steampunk/post-apocalyptic city
- Columbia, a floating city in the Bioshock Infinite universe
- deck-building with event-driven timeline and character-driven abilities
- Spartacus
- City of Remnants
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Area Control — Players vie for control of territories by occupying spaces; control yields victory points.
- Deck-building with multi-use cards — Each faction has a personal deck; cards provide influence, money, combat, and special abilities.
- Skyline movement and risk dice — Moving between large territories requires rolling skyline dice; failure costs cards or units.
- Timeline events and Booker/Elizabeth actions — Elizabeth and Booker trigger story events that affect combat and map actions.
- Upgrade tracks — Players unlock and apply upgrades to improve stats or grant abilities over the course of the game.
- Victory point cards and permanent ownership — Victory point cards grant points when completed and whose tokens remain with the owner.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- I promise you this game doesn't suck.
- The RNG element of the game is very heavy.
- The game is intense. It's compact.
- I think this is a really well-designed game with a totally awesome theme.
- Bioshock Infinite here and it's just absolutely fantastic.
- This is a good time to bring up... the game is well designed.