Tomb Raider, released in 1996, is the first game I really wanted before it was out. I couldn’t even tell you why. Pre-release hype seeped into my brain—probably via magazine—convincing me it was the game I needed that birthday, or Hanukkah, or whatever the occasion was.
After that first game, Lara Croft went on to become one of the biggest characters in video games, with multiple sequels and a movie series starring Angelina Jolie, so the hype was arguably justified.
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20 years later, as a journalist as opposed to an excited tween, I find myself resisting the urge to believe the hype for Rise of the Tomb Raider—a sequel to the 2013 reboot of the action adventure series, the best selling game in the franchise—that once again stars Lara Croft.
I got to play a preview of the game at an event in New York City, earlier this month. It was fun, but almost exactly the same kind of fun I had with the Tomb Raider reboot in 2013. Croft carries the same bow, guns, and pick axe, and I used them to do the same things: Climb, kill, forage, and survive.
This time, however, the biggest, best addition is that Croft actually gets to raid tombs. I found myself more than happy to play more of the same, but a little better.
Developer Crystal Dynamics did a great job reinventing Croft in 2013, but neglected to add any of the tomb raiding after which the series is named. Rise of the Tomb Raider makes up for that with giant environments you’re free to explore at your own pace. Tucked away, deep inside caves, you’ll find tombs with elaborate contraptions hiding ancient manuscripts that help Croft on her journey. I did a lot of Tomb Raider-y things during my demo, like shoot bears, climb cliff sides, and fall to my gruesome death repeatedly, but nothing felt like a better tribute to the original than exploring these spaces. I had the most fun not during the spectacle and shooting, but while quietly figuring out how to manipulate the water levels around a giant cistern to uncover its treasures.
If the 2013 reboot explained how Croft survived a shipwreck to become the badass that we know and love, Rise of the Tomb Raider is her first real adventure. She’s on a mission to find the ancient city of Kitezh, the secret to immortality, and proof that there’s a supernatural side to the world.
Like a proper summer action flick, it opens with a thrilling scene in which Croft narrowly survives an avalanche while climbing a mountain in Siberia, jumping from ledge to ledge, always above certain doom, dangling from her trusty pick axe. The snow parts as Croft walks through it, and I can see every little snowflake as piles of snow whoosh by. The pick makes a satisfying chunk as it digs into the ice, which reflects light so realistically.
It’s loud, it’s flashy, it looks expensive as hell, and while it’s easy to dismiss as yet another thoughtless blockbuster, it’s great to see that Croft isn’t a total embarrassment. She’d be such an easy character to fuck up, especially given her origins as an Indiana Jones rip-off with big pyramid boobs.
The first level of the first Tomb Raider game released in 1996 also opens on a snowy mountain, but Croft wore short shorts. Crystal Dynamics creative director Noah Hughes told me that the game’s writer, Rhianna Pratchett, will call the team out on that kind of nonsense. In Rise of the Tomb Raider, Croft is appropriately dressed in a parka. When the exciting avalanche scene is over, she has to gather firewood and camp, which is also where you save progress and make useful tools—so realism isn’t just for show, it’s part of the game.
I know Microsoft is betting Rise of the Tomb Raider will be one of the biggest games of the year because it made sure it will come to Xbox One first, not Sony’s PlayStation 4—and because Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics let me play a sizeable chunk of it last week without standing over my shoulder. Developers and publishers don’t do that unless they’re confident.
Several members of the press and I were invited to play it at Microsoft’s New York City loft, which is swankier than any apartment I’ll ever live in. Senior members of the development team were there to present and chat about the game. Bagels were served, and every station came with a really nice Xbox-branded Poler Stuff backpack, which I left where I found it. Full disclosure: I ate a bagel.
And maybe it’s just the bagel talking, but based on the three hours I got to spend with it, Rise of the Tomb Raider could justify the hype once again. It was like the original Tomb Raider, but better. And now that Crystal Dynamics has laid the foundations for Croft as a character, it can focus on making a better game.
