Previous entries to the series, BioShock and BioShock 2, were noted for their installation of high-brow cultural influences within a mainstream action game.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead were of prime importance to BioShock's tale of power and decay, while BioShock 2 broadened its scope to take in moral relativism, Orwellian influences, and Richard Dawkins's evolutionary psychology.

In as much as Infinite draws upon the concept of American exceptionalism, there's a connection with another of October's historically inspired action games, Assassin's Creed III: the latter takes place during the tumult of late 18th century American revolution, while the former first-person shooter riffs on the early 20th century idealism that followed.