The first story-based DLC for BioShock Infinite - Burial at Sea: Episode One – is almost here and BioShock fans have good reason to get excited: it's fantastic. More specifically? Well, for me it has four very considerable strengths*, so let's run through them.

Rapture before the fall

I want to go to there.

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Incredible art direction

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Nothing to do with Cohen, sorry.

A whole new perspective on Elizabeth

Elizabeth goes from strength to strength as a character in Burial at Sea.

Another mind-bending storyline

Rapture – the underwater dystopian world introduced in BioShock – is one of the all-time great video game settings, and Burial at Sea takes us back there, and does so with style. What makes this return so special is we see Rapture in its heyday. Well, mostly in its heyday. Burial at Sea, you see, is set on December 31, 1958 – a significant date in Rapture lore, and a time at which its utopian façade is gradually coming apart and internal factions are gearing up for conflict.The city teeters on the brink of chaos, but this is very much in the background during Burial at Sea’s opening act, in which Booker and Elizabeth are – effectively – exploring the city in all its art deco grandeur; going into stores, watching a Big Daddy at work out in the ocean, listening in on conversations between citizens and so on.In one area, rows of Little Sisters stand in a group; they’re dressed identically, their faces eerie white masks. It’s an insight into the dark heart of Rapture before the fall. “Adam factories,” Booker comments, while later Elizabeth notes that “This world values children, not childhood… there’s a profit to be made and men who make it.” Childhood is a major theme in Burial at Sea – the story is driven by Booker and Elizabeth’s search for Sally, an orphan that Booker became attached to that he believed dead.The wider backdrop is centred around the conflict between Andrew Ryan and Frank Fontaine (aka Atlas), and the ramifications for the city; one of which was the closing of Fontaine’s orphanage. “She’s just another orphan,” says Booker about Sally. “When Fontaine went down, the city was louse with ‘em… she started showing up… should have known if I started to feed her she’d never leave.”Pre-fall Rapture, then, echoes BioShock Infinite’s Columbia – immaculate, bright, colourful, yet with a dark undercurrent beneath it. Of course, it’s not long before that undercurrent becomes all-consuming. Andrew Ryan has sunk Fontaine’s department store to the bottom of the ocean (even more so) and turned into a prison: it’s now home only to Splicers and other nasties, and when Booker and Elizabeth’s investigation takes them there, we enter more familiar BioShock territory: dank, leaking environments, a tense atmosphere and combat aplenty.Burial at Sea is a triumph of visual design. The opening scene alone is pitch perfect film noir and masterfully executed. Booker’s office is almost completely in shadow, the only light coming from the blinds, its tendrils reaching through the dust motes that hover heavy in the air before striking the far wall. Elizabeth – exquisitely manicured – comes through the door and stands by the window, her face hidden in shadow until she asks for a light and Booker provides it with a click of his fingers. It’s a wonderful reveal and the dialogue that follows is every bit as hardboiled as you’d expect from the setting.Stepping outside is another world entirely. As you’d expect, the art deco architecture - one of BioShock’s signature design choices - is hugely evocative, but it’s the incredible use of colour and lighting that really sells it. Brassy browns and deep reds evoke a real sense of the era, while the lighting has a hazy, dreamlike quality. Glancing outside, luminous green footlights illuminate the underwater cityscape, while whales and turtles swim past, further emphasising that this is a city that’s truly alive. As in the original, water is very much an ever-present theme too – it cascades in luminous sheets down into ornamental fountains, while in the depths of Fontaine’s department store turned prison, it’s leaking from the walls and pooling on the floor.In other areas the art team really cut loose, and the results can be staggering. Sander Cohen’s club, for instance, is a visual tour de force. Columns flank the path to the entrance, each of which has a figure posing atop it. Upon gaining access, a stark white cube of a room flows into a pitch-black corridor, with glowing white mask-shaped outlines. Inside the club itself, Booker and Elizabeth descend a spiral staircase from the mezzanine above to the stage below, and it’s like descending into the insane mind of Cohen himself. A huge sculpture of his face – complete with changing expressions – leers at you as you pass; all the while the actual Cohen's shouting and ranting as he paints; two dancers with marionette-like strings trailing up to the ceiling his muse. It’s incredibly framed and a clever reflection of Cohen as a character. Cool sequence in terms of story too.Elizabeth is very much the story’s driving force. She’s the one that gets Booker moving. She’s the one with the lead on the girl Booker had given up for dead. For the most part she’s also the problem solver and decision maker. During Burial at Sea’s opening section, for instance, you’ll largely be following Elizabeth as you move around the city. As you visit three separate stores, she distracts the shop keepers to enable Booker to search out back. These sequences showcase a confident, assured Elizabeth. In the jewellery store, she accuses the owner of selling stolen goods, while in the art gallery she plays the role of the ditz, asking the shop keeper to explain the works to her.At the same time, this is an Elizabeth that keeps her cards close to her chest. “My purpose here is none of your concern,” she says when pressed. “Consider me a means to an end.” Indeed, for most of the game, all she’ll say is that she "works in debt collection.”Elizabeth’s role in Burial at Sea is a cool flip on the relationship between Booker and Elizabeth in Infinite. She is the instigator, the leader and the keeper of the knowledge. Booker, on the other hand, is confused and troubled, suffering inscrutable flashbacks and unable to remember details of his past – including the year he came to Rapture. “Time, the life I had before, sort of becomes a blur,” he tells Elizabeth. He’s an uneasy protagonist; handy with a gun or plasmid, but cast from a mould players of Infinite are all too familiar with. “You asked me how I lost Sally,” he says to Elizabeth. “I gamble. Took her somewhere a kid had no place being… and here we are.”The most intriguing aspect of Burial at Sea is obviously its relationship to BioShock Infinite. Why are these characters in Rapture? What connection, if any, do they have with Columbia? What secrets are they hiding? There are clues and hints about how the games tie together throughout Burial at Sea - familiar phrases and iconography, displaced elements. I’m not going to spoil any of those connections here, because – like BioShock Infinite - it’s one of the real joys of the game: attempting to tease out the truth as you play. All I will say is that this storyline has some serious punch, and will provoke debate and discussion in much the same way Infinite’s did. Is it as successful? You’ll have to wait until you play it, but I enjoyed every moment.*No, combat's not one of them. It’s good fun and the new Gear in particular is excellent, but it simply doesn’t have the impact any of the elements outlined above do.

Cam Shea is the Senior Editor at IGN Australia. For a good time, click these links: Twitter