Shadow of the Tomb Raider. She’s back

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the new action adventure Tomb Raider game developed by ‘Eidos-Montreal‘ and ‘Crystal Dynamic‘ but published by ‘Square Enix‘. It is coming out the 14th of September 2018 on the Xbox One, Xbox One X, PS4, PS4 Pro and PC. Lara Croft is back and she looks serious. Let’s take a look.

In Shadow of the Tomb Raider players still play Lara Croft and this time she’s in a race to save the whole world from a maya apocalypse. So this off course means more jungles that are full of danger, tombs that need raiding (fine we’ll stop) but are definitely not safe at all and last of all, some bad dudes with guns that will shoot you. Nothing she hasn’t faced before. 

This jungle won’t be some walk in the park in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. There’s more this time. You mustn’t just survive but master the jungle, this suggests that there are multiple techniques to learn like probably setting traps with logs or spike pit style, maybe swing from vines for greater mobility. There are whole tunnel systems, deep ones which need exploring. Even more dangerous but interesting are the underwater areas and gamers understand underwater levels quite well at this point.

From what we hear the tombs are suppose to actually be a threat this time. No simple walk around here and there looking at pretty runes on walls. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, players can expect puzzles that are risky, deadly and punish mistakes. You will need what is called, advanced traversal techniques, to even reach them. sort of sounds like a level up system as you learn certain techniques and use those to reach a tomb you saw but couldn’t access. After all there is a large hub in shadow of the Tomb Raider with quite a bit of activity going on. 

Lara is just one person and there’s no way she can win a straight up fight as the enemy have better numbers and firepower. So players must use the jungle to their advantage in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This means sudden strikes and then getting out of there real quick. Like Batman, Lara can instil fear in her enemies which off course can work to her advantage. Lara can even use mud as camouflage which will work well during night. There are more options than before and gamers like options.   

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will have some crafting. Crafting and gathering materials is a focused thing in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Players can go around gathering insects and plants too which off course can have benefits. For example there is a plant that allows Lara to see plants and animals that can be harvested in an area. Off course you can collect materials that can be used for crafting ammunition, and even a poison grenade. A poison cloud releasing arrow can be crafted also. There’s a lot going on here.

We checked out some gameplay and so far it looks quite deep. The jungle for starters is big, looks quite lively and the different greenery works well. What’s also interesting is the abilities and upgrades players can get and invest in. For example there’s Caiman’s breathe increases breath capacity. Serpents skin allows you to use mud as camouflage and reduces chance of detection by enemies. Serpents strike grants the ability to stealth kill takedown without alerting anyone else. There’s way more for players to aim for. We even saw a plat you can collect which basically slow down time, allowing players to get the shots they want on enemies.

Overall Shadow of the tomb Raider looks like a step up from the previous Tom Raider games. The graphics are excellent. The new ideas work well in theory. The environments are very well done. The developers ‘Eidos-Montreal’ and ‘Crystal Dynamic’ did an excellent job. We at X35 Earthwalker will keep an eye out for Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Now Lara Croft may be trying to save the world but her mission is too small when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’