Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the 2015 sequel to the 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise from developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix. This will be the eleventh Tomb Raider game. The game is slated for a November 10th 2015 release.

Microsoft Announced At E3 2015 that Rise of the Tomb Raider will be a timed exclusive release for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on November 2015.

Square Enix later revealed the PC, version would arrive Early 2016 via Steam and PS4 would arrive Holiday 2016. There has been no word on a PlayStation 3 version.

Story
In her first adventure, Lara Croft was forged into a true survivor, but she glimpsed a deeper, secret world. In the next chapter of her journey, Lara must use her survival skills and wits and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider.

After she encountered an immortal being, Lara spent a year researching eternal life to both understand and prove what she saw. This research leads on her on a quest to find Kitezh, a mythical city both founded and lost in what is now Russia's Siberian tundra.

Plot
"What makes someone reach beyond the boundaries of human experience....to face the unknown? As children, we question the world around us. We learn, we accept, and gradually, we lose our capacity for wonder. But some do not - the explorers, the seekers of truth. It is these pioneers who define the future of mankind."

The game begins with a small camp at Siberia, where Lara is gazing at the huge mountains that await them. Jonah tells her that the others won't be accompanying them anymore except him. The climb soon becomes challenging, with Lara nearly falling down to her death. As Lara reaches the top, she sees the ruins of Kitezh from afar, but the storm strikes the mountain and separates the two.

The scene reverts to London, England two weeks earlier, with Lara walking through the dark rainy alleyways. As she passes by her father's apartment, she sees a mysterious figure with a flashlight through the windows and decides to investigate. The mysterious figure founds a recorded voice message, with Richard Croft explaining that he already have found the next piece of the puzzle in his quest for immortality, but someone is stalking him - Trinity, a violent sect which aims on taking over humanity. Lara enters, causing the mysterious figure to flee. Lara founds the window open, presuming that the mysterious figure might have used it to escape. As she investigates her father's research documents, the door starts to open. Lara quickly picks up her climbing axe and prepares it for the mysterious visitor. As the visitor opens, Lara almost hits the visitor before realizing it was Ana - Richard Croft's lover. Ana gives her a newspaper article, detailing Trinity accusing Lara for her adventures about immortality as "another crazy croft, a daughter just like her father," to which Lara regards to as lies. She asks Ana if she was being stalked. Ana gets surprised by this question and answers 'no'. Lara tells her that she thinks she already knows the location of the prophet's tomb, which her father believes holds some secret to immortality. She explains that her father was close to a great discovery, just before he died. Ana does not believe her and told her that her father was unwell. Ana regards that she was in love and almost wanted to marry him, but he was a broken man and she doesn't want Lara to end up like him. Lara tells Ana that the tomb is in Syria and her father was right and everyone else was wrong to which Ana replies that it is madness and get her life sorted and go back to the manor. Ana regards that the obsession ruined her father. Lara tells her that she can't go back. Lara says she saw something supernatural, after her experience in Yamatai and now believes her father. She tells Ana that she will be going to Syria to find the prophet's tomb in hopes of finding the Divine Source.

The scene then reverts to Syria, where a man drives Lara through the northwest borders of Syria's deserts. The man tells her that they are heading for a war zone and she better be sure about this, to which Lara exclaims that they are close to an oasis near a canyon up ahead. Suddenly a chopper appears and chases them, in which the man tells her that it's just local militia. Lara realizes that the man is lying and the chopper is actually Trinity. The man admits to telling Trinity because they paid better than her. Then the chopper fires, crashing the truck and killing the driver. Lara survives the explosion and falls off a cliff. But she survives with the aid of her climbing axe. She explores the mountain cliffs and eventually finds a secret entrance that leads her to the the Prophet's tomb. After exploring inside, she finds a marker saying that the prophet tomb is near and murals depicting the prophet performing healing miracles and preaching to the people about the Divine God. Lara soon learns that Trinity was after a prophet who they believed was preaching about a Divine Source. They supposedly killed him and his followers and had been looking for the Divine Source many centuries ago. As she evades the deadly traps in the area and nearly drowns, she finally found the shrine dedicated to the tomb of the deathless prophet. After finding a way to raise the water level by opening the floodgates, she reaches the top and finds the tomb. However, as she opens it, she is surprised to see it empty. The area is soon stormed by Trinity's armed forces lead by a man named Konstantin. As they open the tomb, Lara comes out and aims a gun on them. Konstantin asks where the Divine Source is, to which Lara answers and tells him that there was no artifact there. Konstantin does not believe Lara and attempts to kill her, but Lara activates the explosives that Trinity set in the area. The area collapses, killing most of Trinity's forces. Lara barely manages to exit the water flooding the area, and soon finds a mysterious cross insignia engraving on the floor.

The scene then reverts to Croft Manor in Surrey, England where Lara is doing some research on the mysterious cross insignia she found earlier. Jonah enters the room and after a short reunion, asks Lara about her adventure in Syria. Lara told him that she did found the Prophet's tomb, but it was empty, and she was being followed by an organization named Trinity who was also after the Divine Source. She told Jonah that she found a mysterious insignia of a cross during her escape. On one of her father's books, it says that the insignia is linked to the lost city of Kitezh in Siberia, which sunk under a lake during the eve of the mongol horde's invasion in the 12th century. Lara believes that if this really contains the secret of immortality, then it could change everything like sickness, death, to which Jonah becomes angered and regards that she has gone insane. He says he'd lost a lot of friends already and doesn't want to lose her. An angry Jonah leaves the room. Lara loses hope and shoves all the papers away. She knelled down and hugged the book. Later on she sees a mysterious shadow on the vase and thinks it is Jonah. But she soon realizes that the mysterious figure behind her is not Jonah and immediately threw the vase towards the intruder. An intense hand-to-hand fight ensues between the two. Jonah hears the commotion and helps Lara. The man steals her father's book and jumps off the window before Lara can shoot him. Jonah now becomes determined to help Lara find the Divine Source before Trinity does in Siberia.

The scene then goes back to the present day in Northeastern Siberia. Lara awakens and tells Jonah to go back to shelter because she needs to do the quest alone via radio. Lara then receives a voice conversation from Konstantin saying that they are now looking for the artifact in the mountains and the Remnant, a group of natives trying to protect the Divine Source, is resisting them, but they will be handled. After gathering some sticks for fire and making a camp, she sleeps for the stormy night, waiting for the storm to stop. Meanwhile, in the forest, a remnant (remnants are the natives who stayed in the area to protect the Divine Source) named Sofia and her companion is being chased by Konstantin's forces. They managed to capture the remnant. Sofia urges them not to kill him, but the remnant tells her to go and leave him. Trinity kills the remnant and Sofia flees. The group split up to look for Sofia, and one of them finds Lara's campfire. Lara overhears the noise and manages to hide up above the tree. As the soldier investigates the campfire, Lara jumps down and kills him. As she explores the forest further, she manages to sneak in and kills many soldiers quickly. Then she overhears someone screaming and rushes. After finding the radio which was the source of the screaming, a large bear appears out of its hiding in a cave and chases Lara. Lara runs and tries to fight the bear, which overpowers and injures her. She barely manages to escape and soon finds Trinity's base of operations in a cold war installation. Lara has a flashback of her childhood years. She climbs the windows to her father's room, and her father laughs, saying that she refuses to use the door again. Lara says that its the fastest way. They embrace. Lara says that he is going on another adventure and she should be his assistant. Her father says that his adventure would be really dangerous. Then he told Lara that she will make such a mark in history and make him proud. Then the phone rings and the flashback stops. The scene goes back to Lara in the present day. She realizes that the only way to the installation is through the bear cave. After a short fight, Lara explores the ruins inside the cave and the flashbacks continue. Young Lara overhears her father having an argument on the phone with a mysterious phone, presumably Trinity, over his discovery. Trinity hangs up, angering her father. Lara gets mad over her father and told him to stop his adventures and be his father again. Then the scene reverts back to Lara's adventure. While walking, an arrow almost hits her. As she draws her bow, she finds Sofia, the one who shot the bow.

Lara tells Sofia that she is not her enemy. Sofia tells Lara that she killed many of Trinity's forces, to which Lara replies that she killed them to survive and she suspects Sofia did the same. Sofia tells Lara that the Trinity had been there for days and that she must leave the place before it's too late. Lara says she can't because she came there for something important. Sofia then says that they did too and once she sees Lara again she will put an arrow into her throat. Lara says that they are on the same side and tries to prove her. However, a building in the soviet installation explodes from afar, catching Lara's attention. As she was about to ask Sofia, she realizes that she had disappeared. After delving further into the installation and killing many of the mercenaries there, she discovers that many remnants were being tortured by Trinity to reveal the location of the Divine Source. All of the remnants remained faithful and did not reveal the location, even if it means death. After finding a pistol from a dead remnant, Lara overhears Konstantin explaining their objective to get the Divine Source which will open to a "new world." Konstantin blinds one of the mercenaries who failed to do his duties with his own fingers. A mercenary then contacts Konstantin via radio and tells him that they found a captive who might know the location of the Divine Source. Lara sneaks in, bombs the building, and escapes. While exploring, she finds more of the remnants, who gives Lara missions like breaking the communication repeaters in the area and more, therefore gaining the trust of the remnants. Lara overhears conversations via radio that the captive seems to be the leader of the remnants and might know the location of the Divine Source. The captive seems to have some experience with interrogation techniques and the man on the radio tells them to get "creative" with doing the interrogation because if Konstantin does it, he won't like it. As Lara sneaks in behind a small cabin, she overhears a conversation with Konstantin and a mysterious man on the radio. The man (probably the head of the whole Trinity) tells Konstantin that his reports have ceased. Konstantin says that they were having difficulty with torturing the faithful remnants and the communications became offline, but they managed to put it under control. A mercenary sees Lara from behind. As Lara flees, a mercenary appears in front of her and knocks her unconscious.

She awakens, tied bound to a chair with all of her equipment removed from her. Lara sees Ana in front of her, also tied to a chair and captured. Lara asks her what she was doing there, to which Ana replied that "she doesn't know and she is scared." Lara apologizes for making her involved in the situation. She didn't know they would come after Ana, to which Ana asks who are "they." Lara says they were after the same thing her father was, which annoys Ana. Konstantin appears and walks towards Ana. Then he threatens Lara to talk as he chokes Ana with a small chain. Lara shouts to him to stop because she doesn't know. Konstantin stops the choking and releases Ana. Ana tells Konstantin to stop because she doesn't know, much to the surprise of Lara. Lara then gets a horrifying revelation - that Ana was with Trinity all along. Konstantin slaps Lara violently. Ana tells Lara that she couldn't let it go and that Ana knew Lara would find her way to the place they currently are in. Ana offers Lara a deal - Trinity could use an experienced adventurer like her to find the Divine Source both of them seeks, and that since Lara wants a purpose in life, Trinity could give her one. Lara refuses, knowing how Trinity operates. Lara furious asks Ana if she was already with Trinity before or after screwing with her father. Ana replies that she loved Richard, but idealism blinded and destroyed him. Ana asks her what she would do with the artifact, to which Ana replies herself that Lara would show it to the world and redeem her father's good name. She tells Lara that she is so naive, "like a frightened little girl trying to walk in her daddy's shoes." Then she spits on Ana's face, which angers Konstantin, kicking Lara. Just as he was about to shoot Lara, Ana stops him. Ana gives her time to think, as Konstantin locks her inside a prison cell. Lara meets another prisoner. After seeing Lara use a small earring to release her handcuffs, the prisoner becomes impressed. Then he asks if Lara could get both of them out of there. Lara says that she can't trust him because she doesn't even know who he is or why he is there. Lara apologizes for not really being in the trusting state at that time. The man tells her that she won't get far without him, to which Lara answers that he doesn't know how far she have come. Lara asks the man about what he knows about Trinity, to which the man says that they are a secretive sect who believes they are doing the work of God, which Lara regards Trinity is pretty "far from holy." Lara breaks the water pipe in the cell and breaks the wall. She manages to get to the other side of the room, where she retrieves her bow and arrow along with some rope, allowing her to craft rope arrows. Using her rope arrows, she manages to pull down the upper portion of her cell gate and crawl through to escape. The prisoner persuades her to help him, to which Lara says she can't trust him. The man says that they may not be enemies and that he can help her. Lara answers by saying she works better alone. The man still persuades her by saying that he knows the layout of the area, to which Lara still answers by saying that she is a fast learner. The man says that he knows what she and Trinity are all after. Lara then agrees to help him. She retrieves all her equipment and opens the prisoner's cell. The man introduces himself as Jacob and thanks Lara. Lara then gives him a radio in case they get separated. Jacob guides Lara through the area. Lara soon learns that the soviets were sent there to work in the mines, excavating ancient artifacts. The two soon discovers that Trinity have been conduction operations in the area, and that the gate to the train yard that leads to Jacob's village in the valley is closed. Lara sneaks in and opens the gate. The two enter a building and overhears Konstantin and Ana. Konstantin says there is a remnant village in the mountains. Then he tells Ana not to lose focus again, and that he can tell that she is being sentimental about Lara because she is still alive. Ana realizes that Konstantin had doubted her, and becomes furious. Then she coughs, revealing she is struck with a strange disease. Konstantin says life had been hard on both of them and that he will protect Ana, to which Ana replies with sarcasm by asking who is being sentimental now. Konstantin promises that they will find the Divine Source and cure Ana's illness, but more importantly, live in a world cleansed of sin. Ana then orders to send the men to the village to get more information from the remnants. Jacob is angered by this and tries to get to them but Lara stops him, saying it is too dangerous. A mercenary contacts Konstantin, saying that two prisoners have escaped the cells. They leave the area along with the mercenaries and goes to the cells. Meanwhile, Lara jumps down and finds an ancient text saying, ''"Mankind shall be judged, the non - believers turned to ash and swept away and the pure of faith will be raised up and given...life eternal." ''The alarm rings and the two split up as troopers storm the area. Lara treads the waters down the basement quietly to avoid the mercenaries. Lara goes out of the basement hole and escapes in the other room. Jacob contacts her and tells her to meet him at the train yard near the end of the Gulag prison. The mercenaries finds her and chases here down, with Lara managing to steal an assault rifle from a mercenary. As she reaches the train yard, she sees Jacob take down a mercenary easily. The two get chased by Trinity's chopper through the train tracks and into the trains. The chopper blows down the rest of the tracks causing a dead end. Troopers and the chopper had cornered Lara, with the two escaping by jumping down a nearby river. They barely survive the freezing waters. The chopper continues to chase down Lara, separating the two temporarily. After an intense, death - defying chase, Lara jumps down a zipline which soon gets cut down. Lara falls down a nearby river and drowns.

After another flashback of young Lara seeing her father dead in her office, she awakens with Jacob in a small camp. Jacob gives Lara some soup. Lara tells Jacob that he could've left her to die, to which Jacob replies and asks that would Lara have left him. Jacob asks her why she risked so much to get to that place to seek the Divine Source. Lara says that when she was young, it was just her and her archaeologist who in his last years was obsessed with myths about immortality in which no one believed him, including Lara, with their last conversation being a fight where he took his own life. She thought she had come to terms with it, but something else happened. During her experience in Yamatai, she saw something supernatural, and had started to believe her father. Her father died alone and broken, but died for something. Jacob asks her if she believes that the Divine Source is real, to which Lara says she honestly don't know, but if there is some truth to it, she must find out because the Divine Source is something not to be hidden, something that needs to be researched, studied, something that could make a difference to the world, with which Jacob answering back by saying a difference is not always for the best. Then he asks Lara if she would wish Trinity would have the secret to immortality, which Lara answers no. Jacob then asks her not to abandon her quest but to alter its path by joining his people in repelling Konstantin and Trinity. Lara asks that after that it's done. Jacob answers that she leaves their valley untouched, but knowing she did the right thing. She refuses, saying that she will fight Trinity alongside Remnant but her goal remains the same. She says that once she gives up she will be letting her father down and she herself needs to understand. Jacob grows concerned of his village and leaves, saying that his village is a day's travel on foot over the mountain pass, but there is a shortcut through the old copper mine. He tells Lara to rest and he'll be back soon.

The next day, Lara resumes her quest and follows Jacob's directions on her radio by going to the base of the old Soviet mill to meet her at the mine entrance at the top of the facility. Soon Jacob contacts her again and tells her that he is pinned down and Lara must escape. Lara infiltrates the base where the soviets had stored the ancient artifacts and kills the mercenaries trying to catalog the Soviet's relics. After throwing a molotov cocktail, the building starts to burn and Lara gets attacked by troopers armed with shields, but Lara manages to fend them off. She escapes the building and makes it through the mine where Jacob saves her from nearly getting killed by a mercenary. While exploring the mine, Lara realizes that the mines where once paths leading to Jacob's village. After the soviets explored the area and used machines and explosives to search for artifacts that Trinity is now continuing, many of the old paths collapsed, which complicates things. Trinity's forces starts to destroy the whole area separating Lara and Jacob, who becomes trapped by rocks. Jacob tells her to go find Sofia and tell her that Trinity is preparing an attack on Remnants. Lara barely escaped, avoiding the machinery. Lara explores part of the lost city of Kitezh, where Trinity was trying to break open a large gate by attaching a cable to a truck and attempting to pull it down. Using her logic and intellect, Lara manages to find ways to use the obstacles in the area to open the door. The area nearly collapses and Lara jumps just in time to reach the entrance. Inside Lara finds a statue of the immortal prophet and murals. The first mural shows the exodus of the prophet's followers in Syria, then another mural shows the prophet and his followers building a village in the valley which is Kitezh. The third mural depicts the building of an army to protect the prophet and the city itself. And lastly, a mural depicting the creation of a small artifact known as the atlas so that the prophet can know his city and its secrets. Lara realizes she must get this atlas to find the Divine Source.

Lara finds the village where she gets surrounded by remnants led by Sofia. Lara tells her that she is not with Trinity, and that she escaped with Jacob, which Sofia does not believe and regards that Jacob would never trust an outsider. Lara says they were exploring the mines when the whole place got collapsed, trapping Jacob, which one of the remnants regard that she killed him. Just as she was about to shoot Lara with a bow, Jacob miraculously appears and stops Sofia. They embrace, and Jacob asks Lara to forgive Sofia for being cautious. Jacob tells Sofia that Trinity is about to prepare an attack on the Remnants and they must prepare. Jacob orders that no harm will reach Lara. Then he orders the preparations of the weapon stores and the battlements. He says that they are outnumbered, and the ones unable to fight goes to the catacombs. Jacob tells her to work hard with the villages to gain their trust. Jacob then tells her to light the signal tower to warn the people to evacuate, which Lara complies. Trinity choppers start to attack the area and soon the entire village is in fire. Jacob and two others becomes hostage, with their captor shooting them one by one. Lara tries to help him but Jacob stops her. After the first remnant is shot, the captor was about to shoot the second remnant until Jacob tells him not to do it. Just as the captor was about to shoot him, the second remnant tells him of an atlas that can show the way to the Divine Source, enough diversion for Jacob to kill the captor and give Lara his shotgun.

To be continued....

Main Characters

 * Lara Croft
 * Jonah Maiava
 * Jacob
 * Ana
 * Sofia

Enemies

 * Konstantin

Groups

 * Trinity
 * Remnants

Levels
Rise of the Tomb Raider will features larger areas of exploration than the previous game. In addition to the story mode, side missions will rewards players for completing objectives. Challenges return from the previous game.

Syria

 * Sacred Oasis
 * Prophet's Tomb
 * Approaching Storms

Siberia

 * Mountain Peak
 * Siberian Wilderness (Wilderness Refuge)
 * Abandoned Mining Town

Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the previous game, however there are many new mechanics and abilities added.

The game is expected to require 30-40 hours to reach 100% completion.

Combat
Lara now has access to multiple weapons of different types, such as bows, pistols. All can be changed according to the players preference. Salvage is once again used to upgrade weapons. See below

Melee combat has been added too. Lara now has access to a knife, and can tackle enemies, as well as drop on them from trees. If the knife is not accessed yet during the main story, Lara can jump from above and tackle the opponent and finish them off with a deadly punch or a slice from her climbing axes.

Lara's health no longer auto regenerates. Severe injuries will need to be treated with bandages, made from salvaged cloth.

Swimming returns to the franchise, having been absent since Tomb Raider Underworld. The breath bar does not retain its appearance, however.

Stealth has been revamped, as Lara can now hide from animals as well as humans. Lara can also climb trees and hide in foliage to avoid detection by enemies. Lara can hide underwater to perform stealth takedowns, Lara can also hide in trees.

Non lethal takedowns are also possible, through the use of knock out gas, and melee combat.

Salvage
Salvage is once again used to upgrade weapons, However, now Lara will have to collect specific materials around the environment such as deer skin, to craft certain items/upgrades. Some materials can only be found in exotic destinations, at a specific time of the day and possibly in specific parts of the destination. Salvage does not contain many for in the previous game, salvage contained more than at least 9 pieces but in this game, salvage contains 1-4 pieces.

Clothing
Crystal Dynamics have stated, that clothing will play an important aspect to the game, as different garments will allow for different perks, and bonuses. Garments will be unlockable during the story, can be bought in-game, unlocked by doing certain challenges or bonuses, and some are DLC and can be accessed in the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Weapons
Lara will have access to more weapons, based on Player preference, each can be switched, instead of being locked as soon as the upgraded version. Each weapon will have it's own upgrades to be unlocked.


 * Bows,
 * Makeshift Longbow, Recurve Bow, Compound Bow, Competition Bow
 * Arrow Types, Rope, Fire, Poison, Knockout Gas, Explosive, Armour Piercing
 * Pistols
 * Nagant Revolver, Semi Automatic Pistol, Tactical Pistol, Magnum Pistol
 * Rifles
 * Guerrilla Rifle, Bolt Action Rifle, SMG
 * Shotguns
 * Break Action Shotgun, Pump Action Shotgun.
 * Tactical Knife
 * Dual Aluminum pry/climbing axes


 * Improvised weaponry
 * Gas cans, lanterns, Molotov Cocktails, Smoke Grenades, etc.

Skills
Lara will have new skills to access, in the same categories as the previous game, under Survivor, Brawler and Hunter, having a total of 17 skills in each. One skill showcased in game play, is the ability to mark targets, and kill them in rapid succession. (this mechanic is similar to one used in the game, Hitman Absolution. Also published by Square Enix) Now has the ability to pick locks. Lara can once again shoot rope arrows to create zip lines, and can now make rope swings if their in no post to anchor to. Lara can also use her stealth abilities and jump from above and stab the opponent on the chest. This skill can also be done during combat with mercenaries that noticed you.

Gear
Lara has access to new gear and equipment, including
 * Climbing Axes
 * Lock picks
 * Rope
 * Wire Spool for grappling

Collectibles
To be added.

Links

 * Gaming Bolt "Rise of the Tomb Raider" page
 * Game Informer page
 * Crystal Dynamics confirms New Game Engine

Development
Crystal Dynamics handled development for the Xbox One version, while Nixxes Software developed the Xbox 360 version. The PC and PS4 versions are currently in development, though it is currently unknown who is in charge of development of these ports.

Music
Bobby Tahouri is the game's composer, replacing Jason Graves from the previous game,

Downloadable Content
A season pass for the game will go on sale on October 11. The DLC will feature three primary additions, namely a survival-based endurance mode, exploration of an "ancient terror" in Baba Yaga in the Temple of the Witch, and Cold Darkness Awakened, which pits players against "infected predators."