New Tomb Raider Gameplay Revealed

Having made a recent appearance in the run up to E3, Lara Croft made her official showing at the Microsoft press conference today. We witnessed the budding Tomb Raider undergo a series of perilous trials, including falling down a waterfall, parachuting through woodland and burning guys with arrows of fire.

You’d be forgiven for mistaking Miss Croft for her rugged spiritual successor Nathan Drake as she bounds around from cover to cover in a very Uncharted-esque fashion. The game also seems to be blurring the line between cinema and interaction in a similar way to Naughtydog’s titles, providing a seamless thrill-ride of an experience.

That being said, the archery was a prime point of differentiation. The bow was Lara’s only weapon throughout the demo and it clearly packed a considerable punch (especially when doused in fire). Lara was able to silently pick off a great number of foes with relative ease and efficiency. It looked solid, but also did a great job of optimising Lara’s vulnerability in this context. The relatively open environments suggested there seems to be room for Lara to tackle combat scenarios with a degree of stealth and improvisation.

Crystal Dynamics seem to be turning away from the puzzle focus of the original titles, instead allowing Tomb Raider to fit more neatly in the modern industry as primarily a third-person shooter. This recent reveal suggests the quality of the core gameplay is high. Whether Lara will be able to step out of Nate’s shadow is quite a different matter.