Detailed in March’s issue of Game Informer magazine, new details have come out for Square-Enix’s upcoming Rise of the Tomb Raider.
Not set to just one island such as the 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise, Rise of the Tomb Raider will feature Lara Croft travelling to at least two different locations across the world. Jonah, the New Zealand-born cook from the previous title, will also make a return in the next game.
Crystal Dynamics is naming the environment as the main antagonist of the tale. New weather systems will be added that both the humans and wildlife will react to. Daytime is said to also have an impact on gameplay, with animals reacting differently based upon the time of day, although an exact day and night cycle hasn’t been confirmed yet.
The smaller tomb challenges from the last Tomb Raider title will also be making a return, as developers Crystal Dynamics want to put more emphasis on those, given the name of the game. Traversal and combat could also be integrated into puzzles, but the developers first want to make sure they “make sense in a realistic setting.”
Combat will also be enhanced for Rise of the Tomb Raider. Reporters from Game Informer are claiming that the combat is shaping up to resemble The Last of Us. Lara will have tools at her disposal to distract or lure guards into various situations, but sneaking through every encounter won’t be her primary focus. Plenty more weapons are being added, such as multiple weapons for each weapon type as well as a variety of bows each with their own set of attributes.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is currently in development and is targeted for a holiday release this year for both Xbox 360 and Xbox One as part of an exclusivity deal. The Xbox One version is being developed in house by Crystal Dynamics, with the Xbox 360 version handled by Nixxes, the team behind the PlayStation 4 remaster of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. No new details have emerged regarding other platforms at this time.
