Eidos is looking to reinvent their most well-known heroine. Their new entry in the classic franchise looks to return Lara to her roots, and show the path she takes to become the Tomb Raider. We got to take a look at an early game play demonstration behind closed doors at E3 2011, and let me tell you it is amazing. Creative Director Noah Hughs has taken great pains to take one of video gaming's most iconic female characters back not only to her roots, but to her very origin, allowing us to watch as she evolves into the character we all know. Before the legendary treasure hunter first appeared on consoles, she was a young woman fresh out of college and looking for adventure. What found her instead, was a harrowing experience of survival and desperation.
The game opens with Lara getting hit with the worst storm she or anyone on the ship had ever seen. Barely surviving the shipwreck, Lara finds herself alone and without any supplies. She must make use of her own survival instincts to find her way out of difficult situations. This is not a figurative statement. In order to solve the survival puzzles that have been carefully blended into the environment, the player can activate Lara's Survival Instincts with the press of a button. This highlights objects that are part of the puzzle, making it a bit easier for players to determine what they have to work with. Effort was made to ensure that the world's physics were logical and realistic, allowing players to experiment with different methods to solve the puzzle.
Wanting to show it off from the get-go, the first moments of actually gameplay find Lara suspended high above a black pit. She's been bound and hung upsidedown by her feet. In order to free herself, Lara has to swing herself till she knocks some fire onto the rope holding her, freeing her from the entrapment. The world has other rules that react realistically to aid in puzzle solving as well. For example, a torch can be used to light her way, then its fire can be used to burn away wooden obstructions. But if she gets the torch wet, the fire goes out, forcing her to figure out a new way to carry on. If she steps onto a platform that is connected to another with a pulley, they both shift under her weight, hinting at other possibilities for the player.
Do not think this is a bland puzzle platformer either. With the technology at their disposal, Eidos was able to capture intense emotions from the actors in addition to their voices. They ensure that the player feels every struggle that opposes Lara as if it were her own as she struggles to live just a bit longer. No where to be found is the character we saw in the original game and its sequels. This is not the Tomb Raider. This is a wounded, frightened young woman, shipwrecked alone on an island and desperate to survive. Every step towards becoming the classic character we all recognize is taken deliberatly and encourages an empathy in the player rarely seen in video games. Each blow she suffers, each cry of pain, every pang of depression and fear radiates realistically from her. Eidos did not shy away from abusing their star either.
Within moments of beginning the game, we watched in horror as Lara fell from a bone-jarring height after freeing herself from being bound, only to land on a piece of rebar that pierces straight through lower left stomach. As if to drive the point home, no pun intended, the player must take part in a short quick time event to help her remove the offending steel bar, causing the screen to shake and blur red. Even more impressive, major wounds such as these show up on the character, and blood and grime coat her as she attempts to lift herself from the much she's fallen into. Lara realistically limps and clutches her side as she seeks salvation, her facial expressions conveying the fear and worry to the player.
Quicktime events like this seem to be common enough in the game, but not overly done. They are carefully used during otherwise purely cinematic events, ensuring the player continues to feel Lara's struggle as their own. They by no means dominate game play, however. The classic actions of Tomb Raider return in this revision, along with more capabilites to allow you to grow with Lara's natural athleticism and expanding abilities. Dozens of events and aspects of the world seems to drive her closer to becoming the iconic character we know. For example, towards the end of the demo she joined up with another survivor from the shipwreck, a man named Roth who is wielding a pair of very familiar pistols.
Options abound for traversing the world, allowing players a great deal of choices to locate their objectives. Lara runs, jumps gaps, hoists herself up ledges, and swings to her objectives. Each action is made to flow as much as possible into the next in order to ensure that the immersion is maintained. As the player progresses, they discover new tools and skills that grant them greater freedom in the different areas of the island she now traverses. New mechanics also appear, such as the new Base Camp feature. At each Base Camp, Lara can activate the campfire to access three different features. One is a simple fast travel option, allowing players to return to previous areas with new skills so that they can explore different routes, which at one time merely appeared to be dead ends. The other options are Salvage and Survival Skills, which allow you to strip and reconfigure your gear or learn new abilities. Eidos is keeping details on these options, much like the main story and combat, quietly under wraps until they get further along in developement.
And we will be eagerly awaiting more information. Tomb Raider breaks the normal view of its previous installments, and this reboot does so with a power and passion that Hollywood should be jealous of. It draws the player in and fills them with the desperate need to survive the odds. Even just observing this demo that was only meant to show off Lara's resourcefulness, you can see that the developers have worked hard to show that before she became the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft was just another, ordinary person like any one of us. And if what I saw in this very early demo was any example, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams.