Ditch the Skill Tree and the Arkham/Witcher Vision
Despite the 2013 reboot game being marketed as the origin story of the new Lara Croft, it was actually the third reboot game in the series that brought an end to Lara’s origin arc, according to Eidos. As confusing as this messaging was (what was the title “Rise of the Tomb Raider” supposed to mean then?), her rebooted origin trilogy is complete so I think it would be a good idea to get rid of the skill tree upgrade system featured in the games.
She’s supposed to be a skilled explorer & fighter now and skill trees have been done to death in the world of AAA action games. It wouldn’t make sense at this point to have Lara relearn how to silently kill enemies from trees or how to craft bombs. Instead of rewarding exploration with XP and skill points, players should be rewarded with unique gameplay-affecting rewards such as new traversal tools.
Also, ditch the Arkham-style “Survivor Vision” to keep players immersed in the world. Have Lara find her way around an open-world environment with a map and compass in her hands (a la Far Cry 2 or Metro Exodus) instead of glowing objective beacons that are highlighted by some sort of vision mechanic.
The exploration was one of the best aspects of the recent games but it was hampered by feeling too artificial because the “Survivor Vision” pretty much highlighted everything and the signposting for tombs was too obvious.
Every open world game’s exploration is designed in specific ways but the best ones (such as Red Dead Redemption 2 and Skyrim) know how to disguise that design by making the exploration feel less guided and more natural so the next Tomb Raider would do well to follow that design philosophy.
Less Story and Less Combat
For me, the recent Tomb Raider reboots had less than stellar narratives and combat. I’ve already harped on how bad I thought the stories were and though I don’t think the combat was bad, I wouldn’t mind if a next-gen Tomb Raider game kept going in Shadow’s direction by de-emphasizing combat or getting rid of it altogether. The combat of the recent games was serviceable at best and I didn’t miss it all that much in the latest game.
When it comes to the story, I think that it’s important for a game to play to its strengths and, to me, the strengths of the reboot games were the exploration, the puzzles, and the platforming. The next Tomb Raider should focus on evolving those aspects and feature a simple, non-intrusive story that just gives context for Lara’s new adventure. Also, I think that the next game should feature Lara going it alone. The best moments in the new games are when she’s by herself and exploring not when she has to interact with unmemorable, one-note characters.
I should note that this opinion piece isn’t a design document. I have no game development experience and I don’t think that my suggestions would be easy to implement in a new Tomb Raider but I think that in order for a long-running game series to survive it has to evolve. One of the most significant criticisms of Shadow of the Tomb Raider was that it felt more like an expansion pack than a full-fledged sequel. So, if the series wants to make a major impact on Xbox Series X and PS5, it’ll need to seriously change things up instead of sticking to a tired formula.