This new Tomb Raider looks like it is going to do for this franchise what Batman Begins did for the Batman film franchise. It is darker. It is grittier. It seems to play more to the realism factor to suck players into an immersive world that feels like it could really be traveled to. At least that is what I took away from the game play footage we were shown.

As there was no real new information on the game's story or mechanics, I'll give a breakdown of what we were shown.

We were introduced to Lara, already captured, by a group of salvagers, hanging upside down over a long fall and a pile of bones. Interestingly there was no prompting on what to do, just assume to escape. Even the demonstrator made mention of this and said it was to have the player fiddle around to figure things out. Hopefully this will be tweaked down the road as I can see it becoming a nuisance. Anyways, she was freed and stabbed through the side with a broken human bone.

From there we are shown the importance of fire and how it interacts in the game. It is just as you would think, water dowses it and it burns flammable items. This of course leads to the puzzles on how to get fire from one place to another to burn certain items so Lara can escape. The level we were shown didn't scrimp on the number of things that had to be burnt and lead right into something that has not been prevalent in the franchise before, Quick Time Events.

Did I just hear the sound of millions of groans? I think I did. Normally I would rail against you on the hatred of QTEs, but in the demo it seemed like it was more of a bother than an addition to the game. These QTEs are of the "need to be perfectly timed or you die" variety and not the "immersion factor" variety. You also might know them as the annoying "did I just kill the end boss in one QTE" variety. Granted, I did not get to actually be in the driver's seat to actually participate in the QTEs so the crawling away through a collapsing cavern button presses might have been forgiving but it didn't look like the case.

The rest of the first level was mainly a mix of the two of these game play elements, so I'll move onto the next level we saw.

After being introduced to another character of the story briefly, it comes time to take a look at the platforming of the game. Both of which seem to have been made a bit easier so that a gamer of limited skill can enjoy the game. Not so much as an easy button or "swipe-to-skip" the platforming like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but easier.

Now if you can't find where Lara needs to go you can turn on her new "Survival Instincts" and highlight where hand holds are located and follow tracks left behind by enemies. Think "Detective Mode" from B: AA blended with "Eagle Vision" from AC. A nice new feature for those who seem to get lost in platformers like this or who want to technically cheat through the game quickly.

Before the demo wrapped there was the hope of seeing how combat will work, and if it has been changed from previous, but all we got to see was another QTE of Lara killing a wolf. Obviously there is still a bit of polish that will be going onto the game, but from what we saw it almost seems to be all QTE for combat. If that is not the case or is fixed I truly do think that this will be the remake that a lot of fans have been looking for. If anything, the new story and look are definitely perfect for the revitalization to the franchise.