The Tomb Raider Reboot Needs a Reboot Video
It’s been seven years since Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 Tomb Raider reboot launched to critical acclaim, and now it seems to be on a hiatus after the underwhelming release of its latest entry, 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics currently has its hands full with a live service Avengers game that’s launching in September and Eidos Montreal (the lead developer on Shadow) is rumored to be working on a Guardians of the Galaxy game. So it seems that, for the time being, Tomb Raider fans won’t be seeing Lara Croft again for a good long while. After this hiatus, we’re expecting the developers to try to reimagine the series to keep it fresh the way Santa Monica Studio did with God of War, or the way Capcom has changed Resident Evil over the years. To see our suggestions for how Crystal Dynamics can reinvent the Tomb Raider series for the next generation of consoles, hit play on the video below!
One of our hopeful suggestions includes ditching Lara’s skill tree in the upcoming Tomb Raider games. This last trilogy was an origin story, which means Lara is supposed to be a skilled explorer & fighter now. It wouldn’t make sense at this point to have her 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.
This brings us to our next suggestion for how the series can reinvent itself, which is to make the traversal in Tomb Raider more challenging by giving players more agency. The reboot trilogy’s platforming was engaging because Lara used her tools to traverse precarious areas instead of only climbing up convenient handholds. In the first game, Lara had climbing axes and rope arrows, in the sequel she added a grappling hook and used arrows to create her own platforms, and in the third game she got a handy rappelling rope that also allowed her to wall run. The next game should expand on these by giving Lara a stamina meter for strenuous activities such as climbing up slopes and crossing through deep rivers. Also, let players have more freedom to use her traversal tools as they please instead of restricting their use to specific designated areas. Lara is supposed to be exploring harsh, unforgiving places, so make the traversal and platforming more of a challenge!
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. What changes would you like to see in the next Tomb Raider game? How do you think the series should try to stay fresh, or do you think it doesn’t need to change a thing? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, and don’t forget to watch our full video on our Youtube channel.
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