Tomb Raider

While at E3, I was able to see Shadow Of The Tomb Raider in a more intimate setting than just a trailer. Here is my take on Shadow Of The Tomb Raider.

With Shadow Of The Tomb Raider not that far off from release, September 14^th as a reminder, it was expected to see the game have a huge showing out at E3 this year and Square Enix did not let us down. There was a great showing during their huge press event the day before E3 kicked off, but also had a nice long demo for fans to play that Eidos-Montréal had put together just for the show. It was a nice subsection of the core game and let the world see what was coming to Shadow Of The Tomb Raider as well as show how the gameplay has shifted a bit. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the game out there and here is my takeaway from what I was able to see.

Right out of the game, it looks like all of the good things that made this Tomb Raider "reboot" successful is right back in. The world is lush and we are seeing a story that will build up Lara even more and still give us that feeling of it being grounded in a real setting. At least as real as they can get and still keep the game fun. Especially with the demo kicking off with Lara entering some unknown cave and underground system in search of some new item. Given that it looks like the dagger we have seen in the other trailers, I would assume this all takes place earlier in the game. I could be wrong, but that was how it looked and felt to me.

Given all of that, it looks like a lot of the gear and extra abilities we had in the past Tomb Raider titles will still be there and we will not need to "relearn" them out the gate. That is, unless this demo was set up specifically to show off where we can get to in the game and not where we are truly starting out. I would like to assume on the latter here as the cave and tomb I entered into required items and actions that did not unlock until late in the past titles. Although we may have them all here in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider early on, the layout of the tomb, and presumably others in the full game, were laid out in a much more challenging way that required more problem-solving skills and real-world skill to pull off. It does not look like Lara has forgotten anything, but the challenges have just become more difficult.

In the following gameplay footage, you will be able to see some of what I mentioned already in action for Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. As you will see, it looks and truly does handle as well as it had in the past with more options to search around and other minor missions to have during the game. In fact, even in this demo there was a side mission mixed in that had me searching for blue idols along the path that seemed to get glossed over by many other players who were just trying to move right along to the other action and suspenseful portions of this Tomb Raider demo. Something that the team has also locked in extremely well as you can see in some of the swimming portions below.

While the above gameplay makes Shadow Of The Tomb Raider seem to be more along the tomb hunting side of it all, I was also treated to some of the new traversal options in the game as well as combat options. As we could have expected, they have been expanded upon as well as Lara picks up new "tricks" along the way and this just leads to more variety of gameplay and trials we will need to complete. For instance, there is a new way for Lara to stalk enemies in the world to go a stealthier route. This leads to enemies having a bit more of a random path to go and "patrol" in the game. That or to have the player actively keep track of where they all are at any given time to make sure they can sneak right past.

Of course, you do not always have to go the stealth route in Shadow Of The Tomb Raider and just start shooting everything in your path. I was informed that there are a few other tricks up Lara's sleeves when it comes to this in the final game, but it felt just as it did before when the section popped up. Nonetheless, it still felt fluid and fit perfectly in even for a stealth player as I am. This rounded out an overall impressive showing for Shadow Of The Tomb Raider at E3 and kept all of the excitement at the peak level it has been since it was first rumored it was coming. As if anyone had any doubt it would be a great follow up to the other two entries into the franchise as of late…