Rise of the Tomb Raider

[Neon Ignition]

Headed to next gen and following up on 2013's reboot comes the next game following young Lara



Really enjoyed the last game but already expecting it to repeat that one by getting delayed to the following year

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-02-03-rise-of-the-tomb-raider-details-emerge

Finally some additional information has hit. Apparently the game will feature:

-Multiple locations including Syberia and a forest
-A crafting system
-Changeable weather conditions that affect enemy line of sight and AI
-Day or night cycle that animals are affected by
-Enhanced hunting system
-Tougher puzzles, some if which include language decoding

[Wools]

I really hope Tomb Raider goes back to its roots.

The original game was all about exploring but became bloated during the end of the PSone era. Uncharted was inspired by Tomb Raider but was focused on combat and simple climbing. Tomb Raider then became inspired by Uncharted and the re-boot was a linear, cutscene heavy mess. Naughty Dog then took those criticisms to heart and The Last of Us was an exploration game with little hand holding and great combat with Uncharted 4 looking to be in the same vein.

Rise of the Tomb Raider could be a return to form if they forget about cutscenes, QTE's and linear hand holding and take it back to what it could be again.

[Dogg Thang]

Last of Us was an exploration game? Did I play a different game?

Agree with the rest of what you wrote though.

[wakka]

Little hand holding? 'Hey Joel, look over here', 'Hey Joel, how about this ladder?' etc.

As Dogg Thang says, other than that we're in agreement. It would be great to see TR return to its slower paced origins, with Lara padding around eerily quiet tombs, solving puzzles and then occasionally having the bejesus scared out of her by a tiger jumping out at her. I'd love to see that, but unfortunately I don't think it will happen.

I enjoyed the TR reboot but it wasn't a mindblower, more of a well executed pulpy blockbuster action adventure.

[teddymeow]

Tomb Raider on PS3/360/PS4/XBone was exceptional!

A few niggles but on the whole bloody great!

I'm really looking forward to the next one.

[MrKirov]

The Tomb Raider reboot was a well made game, but really felt like adventure game by numbers, and a real departure from what Tomb Raider was. Tomb Raider Anniversary updated the graphics, controls and kept the puzzles- but kept the feel of Tomb Raider- this one IMO, didn't.

Another franchise changed to appeal to the casual crowd, wanting as little effort as possible inbetween the whizzbangs and tacked on Exp system. The "tombs" were pretty pointless too. They all seem to be chasing the same type of game nowadays, and it's getting a bit boring to me. Unless they really make this game have the same core values as the Tomb Raiders of old, I'm just not that interested sadly.

A shame as I felt CD really had the ability to bridge the gap between the two judging by the Previous Tomb Raiders, and the LoK games!

[wakka]

Unless they really make this game have the same core values as the Tomb Raiders of old

Excellent.

[Wools]

Last of Us was an exploration game? Did I play a different game?

Agree with the rest of what you wrote though.

Little hand holding? 'Hey Joel, look over here', 'Hey Joel, how about this ladder?' etc.

I class Half Life 2 and The Last of Us as adventure games with combat. When I played Half Life 2 & TLOU I never once felt they were forcing me to go somewhere or making the solution to a puzzle obvious. In the TR reboot, I walked along a beautiful path into a cut scene followed by an action scene where I just pushed forward, I came across a Tomb and the solution was staring back at me, everything felt unrewarding.

There's subtle differences and obviously HL2 & TLOU are not Skyrim but they felt like an adventure where the designer has been very clever in how they make you explore the environment to make it feel random and vast. TR failed to do that in my eyes.

[Dogg Thang]

I can't compare to the recent TR because I haven't played it. But with just a couple of exceptions (optional houses to see on the hovercraft journey), Half-Life 2 is one big long funneled journey. It didn't do the game any harm but that's what it is. Any sense of freedom is a well-crafted lie. Last of Us is just as funneled and yet I would argue not as smooth as it is divided into three very distinct and obvious parts: walking sections, Pac-man sections and Nathan Drake vs Pirates. Not one of those sections actually offers any real freedom of exploration unless I'm missing something. That's not a comment on whether it's bad or good but just considering it as a possible exploration game, I don't see it.

[Wools]

Half-Life 2 is one big long funneled journey. It didn't do the game any harm but that's what it is. Any sense of freedom is a well-crafted lie.

That's what I said, the designers have been very clever in creating their world. I did not feel constrained in those games and believed I was exploring a world that has been left for me to fend in. I felt the same in the original Tomb Raider on PSone, but I did not feel that sense of adventure in the re-boot, I just felt constrained and led in one direction.

When you really think about it, you don't have true freedom to do as you wish in any Videogame. It's down to the designers and level designers to give you that illusion along with enough distractions to make you believe you're exploring. To that end, I still class Half Life 2, The Last of us, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Skyrim as the games with the greatest sense of adventure that I've played.

[Dogg Thang]

Hmmm... I couldn't possibly bunch those games together. The freedom to explore and also the rewards for that exploration in something like OoT puts Last Of Us to shame as it is a single linear journey. A corridor with some open spaces for one of the two repeating game sections. I guess it's great that you felt a sense of adventure but it's incredibly constrained. If I was making a 'freedom to linear' scale, Last Of Us would be way over there at the linear end.

[wakka]

The Last of Us felt very linear to me. I mean it's a game filled with both literal and figurative hand holding. Exploration was really reduced to just hunting around fairly small areas for crafting items, and I always felt like I was being pulled along.

I've recently been playing through Windwaker, and that is a game with a fantastic sense of exploration for me. While it's not non-linear in the sense that Skyrim is, I genuinely feel like I'm on an adventure when I'm playing it. I think it's a good example of striking a great balance between linearity and freedom.

[nakamura]

Last of Us is certainly linear. However I love the freedom it gives in combat situations. Plus it actually plays so well in terms of control and feel.

Tomb Raider is one I've only played a bit but exceptional didn't spring to mind. Stylish and shallow entertainment did.

I'd love a new Tomb Raider. A proper one with real jumping and exploring. Won't happen though. The medium is at an all time low. Too busy trying to tell average stories or pretending sandboxes are really well designed games.

[Neon Ignition]

Given the location of the last game was effectively an open environment, albeit one where the player is forced to progress in a linear fashion, I imagine the sequel will take a similar approach but try to open the use of the environment up more. The game was very much down the Uncharted route but the natural development based on TR seems to be to make it more open. I'd expect the Tombs to be more complex but to be honest I'm not expecting anything like the older games had. Should be fairly easy to adapt existing controls to more open gameplay too as combat etc was all fine enough, just the scripted platforming would potentially be an issue. Developing the last game as a basis will do me just fine, I hope they don't feel the need to crib off stuff like LoU, it would hold them back.