I’ve written 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a fair bit about the new Tomb Raider, which is weird when you consider that we know basically nothing about it. It has been four years since Shadow of the Tomb Raider, making this the second-longest we have gone without a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider game since the series began in 1996. And, barring a surprise “and it’s out right now!” reveal at Gamescom, that wait is going to get significantly longer. In the meantime though, I want to talk a little ꧙about Tomb Raider Underworld.
Underworld is perhaps the most overlooked of all the Tomb Raider games. Though not as revi▨led as Angel of Darkness, AoD at least has notoriety going for it. Underworld is part of the least cohesive era of Tomb Raider and is overshadowed by both Anniversary aꦉnd Legend, but its importance to the overall texture of Lara Croft cannot be forgotten. Unfortunately, I’m afraid it might be.
Even though we will have to wait the longest𝔍 time ever for a new Tomb Raider game (ignoring all human history before the first Tomb Raider game, as we should), a lot has happened in that time. It has been confirmed in the most low-key manner that the new game will unite the existing reboot trilogy’s story (known as the Survivor story) to the events of Anniversary, Legend, and Underworld. Survivor was a relatively hard reboot for the series, taking Lara back to the very start of her career and seeing her become the Tomb Raider. It also ditched globe trotting for fixed, individual settings to be explored in depth and softened Lara’s edges, all while throwing in an entirely new cast. Why Sam was written out, I have no idea, but it was a very different story.
How does this all line up with the classic Tomb Raider of old? Well, answers on a postcard - literally. In an alternative ending for Shadow, Lara receives a postcard from Natla - a central figure in the previous trilogy. This ending exists on the shipped disks, but was removed in a day one patch, meaning 🎐it’s not quite official but was very easy for fans to access. As this ending is non-canon, it doesn’t need to be used going forward, but it does help tie things together.
Of course, that’s not the only thing to have happened to Tomb Raider in that time. We here at TheGamer held a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider Week packed with exclusive interviews on the series. More to the point perhaps, Square Enix let Tomb Raider (and Deus Ex, and Thief, and several other iconic properties) 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:go t💧o Embracer Group for relat෴ive pennies. Square Enix has never quite displayed affection to its Western IP, so it might be a move that works out for everyone, but it does raise some issues. Embracer now owns Tomb Raider across the board, but there’s always a chance of legal shenanigans and hold ups when it comes to dipping back into the game’s past. A new game that’s a new game? Fine. A new game that’s somehow a sequel to two previous and largely unrelated games from diಞfferent times in a character’s life? That’s more complicated, and after four years of radio silence, nobody is getting the benefit of my doubt.
Underworld’s story doesn’t line up with Shadow’s. It simply does not. They both ended their respective eras, and on on🐟e hand Lara is older in Underworld, so foꦐllowing that would make more sense, but Shadow is the most recent, so following on directly is also an option. I’m done speculating on how it works really. I think it will be a direct sequel to Shadow but with characters from Underworld (and Legend and Anniversary). But I’ve talked before about the need to take gameplay inspiration from Legend, AKA the best Tomb Raider, but Embracer Group can’t forget Underworld like everyone else has.
Underworld is by far the most action-packed Tomb Raider game, and while I broadly agree with the criticism that it went too far at times, Lara was more withdrawn than she should have been in the Survivor Trilogy. In Tomb Raider (2013), it made sense, as she was a young girl coming to terms with everything happening to her and hardened as the game went on. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Rise was the perfect ev🍷olution of this, taking her character and making it braver and more resolute. Less quippy than the ‘90s, but in these days of Whedonisation, I won’t complain about a straight-laced character. In Shadow she was more like your mom, except she occasionally shot people. And I don’t mean in the Mommy Angelina Jolie se♛nse either.
Let Lara swing from ziplines again, let her kick people in the face and fight her way out of trouble. The wrong ingredients have been kept - wﷺe’re still ꦓraiding tombs but nothing is really happening. I’ve always defended Tomb Raider, even after Shadow went off the rails, but I’m not sure why it can’t just be a Tomb Raider game with a modern touch. This isn&💝rsquo;t even new stuff guys, that’s what Rise﷽ is. If the new game is Rise Oh And Also You Kick People Now, I’ll be very happy. Whatever it is, just let us know. We’re starving out here.