LONDON: Lara Croft is back for a new adventure. Rise of the Tomb Raider puts us back in the hiking boots of the gaming world’s foremost gun-toting archaeologist. You’ve probably got some questions, so let’s dig up some answers.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to 2013’s Tomb Raider, which was a reboot of the classic Tomb Raider series. The series revolves around the adventures of archaeologist Lara Croft, an explorer who always seems to find herself getting shot at, chased by ravenous critters, or darting through dilapidated ruins that are on fire, on the brink of collapse, or both.
You can grab Rise of the Tomb Raider for the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on November 10 in North America, and November 13 in Europe. It won’t be showing up until 2016 for Windows, and sometime at the end of next year for the PlayStation 4 — you can blame a timed exclusivity deal for the delay.
More or less, yeah. But you’ll move beyond tombs too, to traipse through jungles, and the action will pair exploration with lots of combat, scavenging for supplies, and skulking in the dark to take down (or avoid) foes. I’m going to refrain from spoiling the last game; suffice to say, Lara saw some incomprehensible things at the end of her last adventure, and roaming exotic, dangerous locales in search of answers.
Yes, there will be tombs. In fact, there’ll be more tombs than there were the last time around. And the Rise of the Tomb Raider’s tombs are centered around solving puzzles, so you’ll want to get your thinking cap on.
Yup: Lara Croft will be able to pilfer gear from fallen foes, but she’ll also have access to a bow and arrow, for a more elegant (or silent) approach. You’ll also need to collect materials to survive, which often means hunting wild animals and relieving them of their pelts.
