Lara Croft is Back!
One of the favorite protagonists of fans worldwide comes back with a bang! The new game from one of the best action-adventure franchises is here: Shadow of the Tomb Raider! This time the storyline follows Lara Croft as she tries to tame the jungle, discover terrifying tombs and survive. But not only her survival, but the whole world’s fate is at stake.
Lara Croft has to stop the Mayan apocalypse. By becoming one with the jungle, climbing into hidden tombs, solving puzzles, and finally discovering the long forgotten hidden city, Lara Croft will finally prove to be worthy of her Tomb Raider title that has always been her destiny. This time around though, the beating the game once is not enough! Once you finish it once, you can extend it by entering the New Game Plus.
Everything you achieved in the first playthrough will allow you to step onto the next level, where you will acquire new skills, weapons, outfits, gear, as well as new equipment upgrades.
In the New Game Plus you can unlock three paths: of Serpent, Jaguar, Eagle. Each path is unique and has different gameplay style.
The Serpent Path focuses on subterfuge, stealth and the player can take down enemies by using decoys. Sow chaos among foes, and camouflage yourself with mud. The Path of Eagle puts emphasis on resources and traversal with of the ability to observe enemies from distance, carefully plan out the next move, and attack from afar. The Jaguar Path is focused on combat, hunting and allows attacking foes with unusual violence.
Storyline and Gameplay of Shadow of the Tomb Rider
The Storyline of Lara Croft’s New Adventure
This new story begins two months after the ending of the previous game, Rise of the Tomb Raider. This time was not spent idly though – Lara Croft focused on tracking techniques and fighting Trinity, a paramilitary organization. With the clues left by her father, Lara set to Cozumel of Mexico.
There she finds a hidden town and a temple with a dagger. As she checks out the murals she realizes a Mayan apocalypse is about to destroy the world, triggered by Trinity. Even though there are warnings on the wall not to do so, Lara takes the dagger. It turns out this action has started the process of Cleansing, or the Apocalypse.
This is where the real action-adventure combo unfolds, as Lara and her friend Johan are trying to catch the head of Trinity in the Amazon jungle and to be there in time to stop the Apocalypse. Cataclysms start to ravage the world and Lara with Johan crash down in Paititi – this is where the majority of the game’s storyline takes place.
The Gameplay
Like all the previous titles in the series, Shadow of the Tomb Raideris a third person perspective game. It is filled with action and adventures of various kinds. The gameplay focuses on fighting, exploring the area, and solving puzzles. Apart from the main storyline, players can engage with the side missions and quests.
While Lara stays in Paititi she will have at her disposal NPCs trading in weapons, salvaged parts and other resources. The hidden city is also the set for the biggest so far playable area.
There were a few improvements made to the previous game in terms of gameplay, but mainly it remained the same. Swimming controls were revamped and now Lara Croft has the ability to hold breath while diving for a longer time.
She even has the air pockets at hand to help her swim under water longer. Also, an option to hang down the cliff on a rope was introduced. It is also worth to mention that stealth is getting more important in the gameplay as Lara can escapeher enemies’ line of sight during combats. Nothing essential has changed about hunting animals, crafting, exploring dark tombs, or solving riddles to move the action forward.
There are more tombs than ever before. The players can customize gameplay by setting the difficulty level for combat, puzzles and exploration separately. There is a brand-new mode called Immersion, allowing the player to hear background voices of local people chatting in their native languages. It can be turned off, so the player hear translations to a chosen language.
Graphics and Music
Images and graphics are based on the Mayan mythology with sun worship and sacrifice themes being at the center of it. The clothes of people, murals and locations were designed with great precision and visualized in accordance with history.
A panel of historians was consulted during the design phase of the game’s graphics. British star Camilla Luddington is reprising her role as Lara Croft. When it comes to music, the main composer of the score was Briand D’Oliveria.
The soundtrack has a style you are familiar with from the previous games. The well-known track “The Instrument” that was specially crafted for the 2013 version of the game has made a comeback in the 2018 edition.
Release of The Game
The game was produced by Eidos-Montreal, Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes software, whereas the publisher was Square Enix. The first trailer was released in March.
Questions and Answers
How Long Is Shadow of The Tomb Raider?
Main story can take around 13-15 hours, with additional couple of hours spent on side quests.
