Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure video game developed by Eidos Montréal and published by Square Enix. It continues the narrative from the 2015 game Rise of the Tomb Raider and is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tomb Raider series. The game was released worldwide on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A macOS and Linux version of the game was released by Feral Interactive on 5 November 2019, followed by a Stadia release on 19 November 2019.
Set shortly after the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, its story follows Lara Croft as she ventures through the tropical regions of the Americas to the legendary city Paititi, battling the paramilitary organization Trinity and racing to stop a Mayan apocalypse she has unleashed. Lara must traverse the environment and combat enemies with firearms and stealth as she explores semi-open hubs. In these hubs she can raid challenge tombs to unlock new rewards, complete side missions, and scavenge for resources which can be used to craft useful materials.
Development began in 2015 following the completion of Rise of the Tomb Raider, lasting until July 2018. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to conclude Lara's journey begun in the 2013 reboot, with a key theme being descent both through the jungle environment and into her personality. The setting and narrative was based on Mayan and Aztec mythologies, consulting historians to design the architecture and people of Paititi. The gameplay was adjusted based on both fan feedback and the wishes of Eidos Montréal, incorporating swimming and grappling while increasing difficulty tailoring. Camilla Luddington returned to provide voice and motion-capture work for Lara.
Released as the final instalment in Lara Croft's origin trilogy, Shadow of the Tomb Raider received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to the game's emphasis on challenge tombs and puzzles, although some criticized that the series' gameplay had become stale and lacked innovation.
Gameplay
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective; players take on the role of Lara Croft as she explores environments across the continents of Central and South America. The game features the largest hub in the franchise; the Hidden City of Paititi. A new barter system allows players to trade and sell various resources. There are numerous adjustments made to gameplay, which is otherwise identical to Rise of the Tomb Raider. The controls for swimming have been revised, as Lara is able to hold her breath underwater for a longer period of time due to the introduction of air pockets. She has the ability to rappel down a cliff using her climbing axe and rope. Stealth is important, as Lara can disengage from combat when she escapes from enemies' line of sight by camouflaging herself in mud, hiding in bushes or blending into densely vegetated surfaces.Like its predecessors, the game allows players to hunt wild animals, craft materials using resources collected, solve puzzles and seek out optional tombs and side quests. The game features larger tombs compared to previous instalments in the reboot series. Players have the option to tailor their gameplay experience as exploration, puzzles and combat have their own difficulty settings. A new Immersion Mode enables players to hear the background conversations of the locals in their native languages; when turned off the conversations are made in the players' chosen voice over language.
Plot
In the two months since Rise of the Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and her friend Jonah Maiava have dedicated themselves to stopping the activities of paramilitary organization Trinity. The two track a cell to Cozumel in Mexico that is led by Pedro Dominguez, the head of Trinity's High Council. Slipping inside nearby tombs being excavated by Trinity, Lara discovers a temple containing the Dagger of Chak Chel and references to a hidden city. Murals adorning the walls allude to the Silver Box of Ix Chel and warn of "the Cleansing", a Mayan apocalypse culminating in a permanent solar eclipse. Lara ignores the warnings and takes the Dagger to prevent Trinity from acquiring it. Dominguez catches her and reveals that by taking the Dagger, Lara has triggered the Cleansing. He takes the Dagger, intending to unite it with the Box to stop the Cleansing and use the power it grants him to remake the world in his image. Lara and Jonah escape a tsunami that destroys Cozumel and foreshadows the coming apocalypse.Despite growing tensions between them over her actions, Lara and Jonah pursue Dominguez into the Amazon. Their plane crashes in the Peruvian jungle during the second cataclysm—a massive storm—and the two find their way to Paititi, the hidden city shown in the murals. Exploring local tombs reveals that piercing the Box with the Dagger will grant the user the power of the god Kukulkan, which must be used to halt the Cleansing. Lara witnesses Trinity soldiers being slaughtered by strange humanoid monsters. When Lara saves a boy named Etzli, she and Jonah are brought into Paititi by his mother Unuratu, queen of the city. Lara sees Dominguez is the leader of a cult dedicated to Kukulkan and Unuratu reveals he is her brother-in-law Amaru, who was taken by Trinity as a child and raised to complete the ritual and reshape the world in their image. Unuratu directs Lara to the Box, but Lara finds it is missing. Believing the cult already has the Box, Lara, and Unuratu attempt to steal it, but Unuratu is captured. Lara also reencounters the creatures and learns they are the Yaaxil, guardians of the Box.
Lara infiltrates the cult's temple and overhears Amaru telling Unuratu that the Box was hidden by Andres Lopez, a missionary sent to Paititi by Trinity during the Spanish conquest of South America. Lara rescues Unuratu and realizes that Amaru does not fully understand the ritual: the power of Kukulkan is not enough to prevent the apocalypse; instead, the ritual sacrifices Kukulkan to stop it. Unuratu is shot by Commander Rourke, Amaru's second in command. Before she dies, Unuratu implores Lara to complete the ritual but warns her not to let the Box influence her. Rourke attacks Lara and Jonah and are separated as they leave Paititi to decipher the next clue. Believing Jonah to be dead, Lara goes on a rampage that destroys an oil refinery and slaughters everyone there except Rourke, who escapes. She momentarily breaks down when she finds Jonah alive, but he manages to calm her down, and they decipher the Box's location. Driven mad by the Box's influence, Lopez established a mission near Paititi where he trained acolytes to complete the ritual. Lara and Jonah find a secret catacomb beneath a church that leads to Lopez's tomb and the Box. Amaru finds them and forces Lara to surrender the Box. He admits that he ordered her father's death to prevent him from finding Paititi and revealing it to the world. Lara tries to persuade Amaru to use the Cleansing ritual to benefit the world. He refuses, as the Cleansing will only affect Paititi. Amaru has used his position in Trinity to manipulate them into preventing it. He leaves Lara and Jonah to escape the third cataclysm, a massive earthquake that causes a landslide and destroys the mission.
Back in Paititi, Lara and Jonah help the newly-crowned Etzli lead an assault on an underground temple complex at Paititi's center. They plan to disrupt Amaru's ceremony while avoiding the fourth and final cataclysm, a volcanic eruption that will destroy the city. Lara is forced to go on alone when Trinity cuts off Etzli's forces. She encounters the Yaaxil and their leader Crimson Fire and convinces them to help her stop Amaru. Lara takes on the symbolic role of Ix Chel while Crimson Fire is Chak Chel. While the Yaaxil kill Rourke and the Trinity High Council, Lara makes it to the temple summit. She fails to stop Amaru from piercing the Box and absorbing Kukulkan's power as an eclipse blocks the sun. Lara overpowers Amaru after a lengthy battle; accepting defeat, he transfers Kukulkan's power to Lara as he dies. True to Unuratu's warning, she is tempted to use the Box to revive her parents, but instead lets "Chak Chel" symbolically stab her as "Ix Chel". This sacrifices Kukulkan's spirit and stops the Cleansing. In the aftermath, Unuratu is laid to rest, and Jonah decides to take a vacation. Lara stays in Paititi to help Etzli restore the city to its former glory. A post-credits scene shows Lara planning her next adventure at Croft Manor, acknowledging that her role is not to solve the world's mysteries, but to protect them.
Downloadable content
Shadow of the Tomb Raider released several chapters of downloadable content that expanded on the game's narrative. Each of these chapters run parallel to the main storyline and focus on an additional tomb. Lara uncovers the source of Mayan influence in Peru and solves the mystery of a missing oil worker; locates an artefact to bolster Unuratu's rebellion, but finds a secret that could threaten it; confronts her worst fears as she searches for a potent weapon; learns of a tragedy that shaped Amaru's decision to join Trinity; aids a splinter group of rebels taken by the Cult of Kukulkan; investigates a disturbance at a local temple that turns into a trap laid by Trinity; and learns the fate of the Yaaxil that survived the battle with Trinity.Development
Development of Shadow of the Tomb Raider began in 2015, shortly after the release of Rise of the Tomb Raider. Unlike the previous entries in the Tomb Raider reboot series which were primarily developed by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal assumed major development duties for Shadow of the Tomb Raider while Crystal Dynamics provided additional development. While the studio had acted in a support role on the previous entries in the rebooted Tomb Raider series, this time Crystal Dynamics transferred into a support role. Due to this transition, the staff at both Eidos Montréal and Crystal Dynamics needed to adjust, with the Eidos Montréal undergoing "growing pains" while moving from a supporting to a leading development role. Similar to their work on the Deus Ex series and Thief, Eidos Montréal first gained a deep understanding of the series' basic elements, then set about building the game using both previous entries and their own design philosophies.Eidos Montréal estimated the game's development costs as between $75 and $100 million, with a separate marketing and promotion budget of $35 million, becoming the studio's largest project at the time. Studio head David Anfossi admitted the scale of the project in the modern gaming market and the need to make a profit. With the costs in mind, Eidos Montreal sought to incorporate experimental elements within multiplayer options to give the game longevity using the emerging "games as a service" trend so the game could provide post-release income and foster a large community. Development was completed on 24 July 2018, with Eidos Montréal confirming that the game was declared gold.
Plot and gameplay
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to evolve the narrative and gameplay elements of Lara Croft; in the 2013 reboot she was portrayed as a hunted survivor, Rise of the Tomb Raider revealed her beginning to pursue her own goals, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider was designed to show her mastering the environment. The story closes off the rebooted origin story, with Lara becoming "the tomb raider she was always meant to be." Narrative director Jason Dozois defined this as being Lara's ultimate "tomb raider" persona within the reboot timeline rather than a return to the character of Lara from games prior to 2013:The staff wanted to tackle the "political tension" and social impact of a rich white woman hunting artefacts in foreign lands. The story's climax results in Lara being "humbled". The setting of Latin America was chosen to reflect this theme. Lara's obsession and darker personality traits played into this, with several scenes emphasising the sacrifices she was forced to make during her pursuit of Trinity. The destruction Lara releases when claiming a key artefact before Trinity was designed as an inversion of the traditional Tomb Raider approach, which used a similar style without consequences. Several different post-credit scenes were considered for the game. When first released, one of the scrapped scenes was included by mistake, with a post-release patch replacing it with the intended cutscene.
British actress Camilla Luddington reprised her role from the previous two games, and was able to help Eidos Montréal keep Lara's characterization consistent with the previous games. As with Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, Luddington provided Lara's motion capture, calling Shadow of the Tomb Raider one of the most difficult emotional performances from her time playing Lara. The main antagonist was intended as Lara's emotional foe, with the jungle being her physical foe. Lara's relationship with Jonah evolved further; while in Tomb Raider they had been distant, in Rise he protected her out of loyalty to their lost friends, while in Shadow they share a strong bond which prompts Jonah to support her. Due to their previous experience with cinematic storytelling, Eidos Montréal designed the narrative of Shadow of the Tomb Raider to have more cinematic moments. The team needed to consider the overall concept of the reboot trilogy, and narrative threads previously left unresolved in Rise including who killed Lara's father. Before recording began, the cast read through the script so the performances could be more convincing.
The game's jungle setting was chosen to "complete" Lara's abilities, carrying over old skills while learning new ones to face new threats. It acted as a visual contrast to the previous games. While the team were restricted in story design by the overall plan, they were able to adjust the gameplay balance to bring a greater focus on puzzles compared to Rise. The aim was to have Lara undergo an evolution when faced with the jungle's harsh reality, with her early confrontation with jaguars being the catalyst which starts her transformation. The stealth elements—including camouflaging and the use of fear tactics—drew inspiration from films such as Rambo and Predator. Swimming was incorporated into the gameplay, though the team gave it a "survival-action" feel.
Director Daniel Chayer-Bisson described redesigning the established level design as "a nightmare", because they had to take into account player experimentation and potential sequence breaking when implementing new mechanics such as climbing onto overhangs and using the grappling line. During surveys of the fan base, the team heard wishes both for harder puzzles and the removal of visual climbing aids such as white surfaces. As removing them outright would have made the game intimidating for newcomers, they created the scaling difficulty settings as a compromise. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was made inviting for newcomers as the opening section acted as both a narrative introduction and a tutorial for Lara's abilities. The overall verticality of environments and its impact on mechanics such as swimming and grappling reflected the game's theme of "descent".
Art and music design
The setting and narrative took inspiration from Mayan, Aztec and Incan mythology, including its recurring focus on sun worship, sacrifice, and the ages of mankind. The Mayan influence was chosen due to that culture's fixation on astronomy and dates. During the initial design pitch, the designers wanted Lara to discover a real lost tomb with people living around it, a concept previously limited by the technology available at the time. During their research, they chose the city of Paititi due to its historic precedent over purely fictional locations such as El Dorado. The culture of Paititi was based on the supposition that elements Aztec and Maya of Mesoamerican cultures could have migrated into Peru. The culture and people of Paititi were based on historic accounts of the Maya, Aztec and Inca peoples. The clothing of the people were based on historic examples and accounts. The team consulted historians to ensure their cultural depictions were accurate and respectful.The music for Shadow of the Tomb Raider was composed by Brian D'Oliveira. While following the musical styles established since the 2013 reboot, the team added new esthetic elements, incorporating the local culture and the darker portrayal of both Lara and her mission. D'Oliveira was brought on due to his ability with South American instruments, and during recording at his Montreal studios worked with native musicians to achieve the right sound for each location. Martin Stig Andersen worked as Ambient Sound Designer, who focused on the sound transition for underwater segments. The team brought back "The Instrument", a specially-designed percussion instrument created for the 2013 reboot's soundtrack by Matt McConnell. "The Instrument" was used to help convey the primal aspects of Lara's character, in addition to referencing her adventure on Yamatai in the 2013 game.
Release
On 15 March 2018, Square Enix confirmed that a sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider was in development and scheduled to be released on 14 September 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Windows version was developed by Nixxes Software, who had worked on several earlier Tomb Raider games for the platform. On the same day, a teaser trailer was released showing Lara Croft in a mountainous environment. The game was revealed on 27 April 2018 with a trailer, screenshots, and a one-hour demo to members of the press. A season pass was announced, which gives players access to seven "paths" which include new narratives, missions, tombs, weapons, outfits and skills. None of these would contain additional story content, which was complete with the base release.Reception
Shadow of the Tomb Raider received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.Brett Makedonski of Destructoid compared the game's themes to Uncharted and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, praised the graphics, platforming and challenge tombs, but criticized the lack of combat sections from the previous games and the story narrative. He concluded that Shadow of the Tomb Raider was "solid and definitely has an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun". Electronic Gaming Monthly gave a positive review, and said that the game "manages to separate itself from the pack by excelling in everything that makes this genre what it is".
Rachel Weber from GamesRadar also praised the game, calling it "the strongest entry in the rebooted trilogy" and saying that Shadow of the Tomb Raider "sticks to Lara's strengths while embracing its dark side." She also believed the challenge tombs were the best part of the game, saying "The tombs are still the most satisfying part of the Tomb Raider universe, and they're hidden around the world to make even finding them an achievement". Lucy O'Brien of IGN said Shadow of the Tomb Raider offered a fitting conclusion to Lara Croft's origin trilogy, stating that "With a story that manages to satisfactorily tread the line between high-concept fun and grounded character exploration, Shadow of the Tomb Raider meaningfully wraps up the journey Lara began in 2013 and convincingly leaves her in a place resembling where she was when we were first introduced to her more than 20 years ago".
Michael Leri of Game Revolution praised the game's numerous challenge tombs and puzzles, saying the tombs are "always full of rewarding brain-teasers" and "Puzzles are still the game's best gameplay pillar since they have inventive solutions that require critical thinking." Andy Kelly from PC Gamer found the game having "a greater focus on raiding tombs" and "massively improved stealth combat" that make it one of the Lara Croft's "best modern adventures". Chris Plante of Polygon praised the character and gameplay progression throughout the trilogy, calling Shadow of the Tomb Raider "a refinement rather than revision" of the previous games, adding "considering the quality of the past two games, simply meeting the established bar, let alone inching above it, is an accomplishment unto itself."
Conversely, VideoGamers Josh Wise wrote "the game's power ebbs as the main quest is bloated with distraction", and the writing is "still patchy and dull", though he praised the platforming, setting and the challenge tombs. Edmond Tran of GameSpot also gave a mixed review, criticizing the game's side quests and Lara's character development while praising the story missions, graphics, environments and explorable tombs.
By the end of December 2018, the game shipped 4.12 million of copies.