Rise of the Tomb Raider (Xbox One) Preview

A new Rise of the Tomb Raider demo was available for players to get hands-on with Lara again, this time covering the first Tomb in the game in Syria. The demo took about 20 minutes to complete and was evidently early in the game, filled with tutorial-esque sections to help the booth-goers get used to the fundamentals of the gameplay. The game looks absolutely beautiful, really pushing its new generation of hardware to make for beautiful locations that are running very smoothly.

The area shown at the event showcased the best aspects of the Tomb Raider reboot, the Uncharted-esque exploration and punishing moments, mixed with old school Tomb Raider, with Lara exploring a tomb filled with booby traps, puzzles, and quickly collapsing paths. Those unfamiliar with the series, or without lightning reflexes, were treated to some very grizzly death scenes during the demo, much like the memorable neck impalement from the 2013 release. Crystal Dynamics took real joy in the flinching and reactions of players at some of these moments.

Lara herself felt different in this iteration, much more like the Lara of old compared to the one met in the reboot. Understandably, since Lara has now gone through her crucible and been reborn more focused and strong, there's no more quivering in fear. Instead, Lara comes out swinging her now familiar climbing pick. While Lara is much stronger from the horrors she faced in Yamatai, it will be interesting to see how they have affected her. Fans would be wise to pick up both the comic series from Dark Horse, helmed by Gail Simone, and the novel, Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals by the Dan Abnett. Both these works are set between the two games and are considered canon to the new Tomb Raider mythos.

The demo was quite short but more than enough to whet the appetite for this new outing. A Season Pass and DLC were also detailed. A microtransaction-based system of digital trading cards, known as expedition cards, bring both cosmetic and statistical perks, and there are over 300 cards to collect at launch, with more to come. There are common versions of the cards, which can be used only once, then need to be purchased again, and then there are foil cards, which are reusable. The cards are best utilised in the "Create a Mission" mode, where completed levels can be edited using cards to make whole new missions that can then be shared online for other players to try and conquer.

Some examples of the cards given were the age-old cosmetic "Big Head Mode," along with cards that can help make for harder challenges, a card that can enhance the enemies in a zone by replacing them with heavy armoured versions, or even a card that removes health regeneration from Lara for the duration of the challenge to add a new level of difficulty.