Ever since Lara Croft first adorned the cover of Game Informer to trumpet Crystal Dynamics’ upcoming sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider, fans knew immediately that the heroine’s next adventure would be a ways away from the sun-kissed beaches of Yamatai in the Pacific Ocean.
This time around, Miss Croft will make tracks for the icy locales of Siberia in a bid to discover an elixir of immortality and, ultimately, tangible proof that her defining experiences in the previous game weren’t a figment of her imagination. As the reveal trailer so brilliantly showed us, this is a protagonist plagued with PTSD, and Rise will look to explore that character facet throughout the course of its campaign.
Speaking of which, as the new-fangled screenshots confirm, Rise of the Tomb Raider won’t take place exclusively in the northerly Russian province. According to the studio’s Brian Horton, the anticipated follow-up will also take the action to a mysterious, seemingly more hospitable area known as the Oasis.
“It isn’t completely permafrost. This Oasis, which we’re not going into a lot of detail about – just know that different weather, different temperatures are important to make sure we’re not going with one single look throughout the whole game.”
As we learned last week, Rise of the Tomb Raider will also introduce intrepid explorers to a day-night system, more realistic animals to hunt (and indeed be hunted by) as well as a refined crafting system, meaning gamers won’t be lumbered with the same bow for the entire adventure.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is expected to arrive first on Xbox platforms this holiday season, where it will remain on Microsoft consoles for what we assume will be a twelve month window. Either way, it’s understood that development of the Xbox 360 version of the sequel has been outsourced to Nixxes Software, a studio best known for its work on isometric title Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.
