Tomb Raider: Everything You Should Know

Tomb Raider: Everything You Should Know

Lara’s back, and reimagined in a gritty reboot for a new generation. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be exploring everything you should know about Tomb Raider.

Developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix, this gritty action adventure is the ninth installment in the franchise, and the first in an entirely new continuity. A reboot, it completely reimagines the origin of Lara Craft, the English adventuress that has been a gaming regular since 1996.

Beginning her journey aboard a vessel called “The Endurance” this young Lara ends up stranded in “The Devil’s Triangle”, off the coast of Japan, while setting out in search for treasure.

Shipwrecked in a violent storm, Lara is separated from her colleagues, and begins her journey for survival all alone while scared and hurt. As if things weren’t bad enough, she must also bravely navigate hostile terrain by platforming, fending off predators, and battling mercenaries.

Set within a gritty third-world open world action adventure, the events chronicle the heroine’s dramatic transformation from a frightened 21-year-old nerd, to a hardened survivor who seeks out relics and supernatural forces.

A humanizing story, this reboot is distinguished by not only reducing Lara’s chest size to realistic proportions, but sets you out without any weapons or supplies.

Of central importance to the gameplay are base camps. These give Lara a place to craft new tools out of the items she has found, as well as learn new skills from the game’s RPG-like “skill system.” Bases also serve to unlock new locations, and act as fast travel hot spots.

The gameplay experience is further defined by a minimized heads-up display, while combat provides a rawness defined by a free-aim approach, rather than a traditional lock-on system.

Speaking of which, the defining weapon of this adventure is the bow and arrow, though Lara will capture and make use of other found weapons, including a pistol and shotgun.

While we have seen Lara dispatch countless bad guys in the past, this Lara must first tackle the experience of hunting for food, before building up to making her first kill, an event that is given significant emotional weight.

Thankfully, the puzzles return in a big way. However, they are now much more difficult, with a focus on manipulating the four elements and a friction mechanic to find the elusive solution. Counterbalancing this is the use of a “Survival Instinct” option, which makes important items you come across glow.

A sandbox adventure, Tomb Raider’s storyline has been designed to last between 12 and 15 hours, while featuring numerous side quests, journals to track down, and challenge tombs, which are small self-enclosed puzzles scattered across the landscape.

A game with a distinctly cinematic feel, Tomb Raider places an emphasis on telling its story through the visuals in the environment, as well as its newfound use of music. This includes different sounds for the different areas of the game, and a soundtrack that reacts to the onscreen action.

Remarkably, the game also makes use of a torrential weather system, and there are no loading screens to take you out of the action, unless you die. Then you get some time to think about what you did wrong.

Finally, in a first for the Tomb Raider franchise, an all-new multiplayer mode has been added. This includes the usual gameplay types across five different maps. These focus on two enemy teams, made up of four survivors and four scavengers. The defining feature here is the ability to set traps and activate special map features, like a blinding sandstorm.

A fresh start for the iconic leading lady of gaming, Tomb Raider seeks to capture the attention of newcomers and fans alike, while having Lara unearth the mysterious of the island’s past. 2013’s Tomb Raider is available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Sorry Wii U Owners, Lara hasn’t been stranded on your console, which is puzzling for a title meant to introduce itself to a new audience…