“ also her good humor I think arriving at the end of the trilogy she has a little bit more leeway. “To be able to come here today and say this is a game where she might be wrong and has to figure it out is probably the thing I'm happiest about,” Murray continued. And the writers had a lot of fun playing to Lara’s sassy side. It can’t all be dour and end-of-the-world tenseness, after all. You are going to question her motives.”Īs fans experience Lara’s evolution in the game, there will be moments of levity to break up the gravitas. You know, it really is a balance and at times, in the game, you are going to see her tip the balance the other way. You are going to see, as Jill mentioned, her struggling not to become that enemy, not to become that monster that she's fighting. “I will say that this is absolutely Lara fighting through her darkest hour. But it's also bad because it means that sometimes she makes decisions that are not great… So, yes she's the most capable, she's the most confident that she's ever been, but I think she's also the most conflicted. She feels what we call the burden of responsibility, where she thinks that she's the only one that can do this and that's good in some ways. And Lara is always thinking about everything she's sacrificed in her fight against Trinity. She has lost friends, she's lost loved ones. Rich Briggs, brand director at Crystal Dynamics, added, “It's Lara with a lot of baggage. Is she going to let it drag her to a place where she almost becomes like the enemy that she hates or is she going to reconcile the forces within her that make her so driven and obsessive to find a way to apply it positively?” “She really has to confront what she's going to do with her power.
#ENEMY OF MY ENEMY TOMB RAIDER FULL#
“She arrives in Shadow of the Tomb Raider in full height of her power, but perhaps to the point where she's realizing for the first time that she's strong enough to also ruin things,” Murray commented.
Lara must save the world from an apocalypse, but she also has to wrestle with her inner demons.
And as we’ve seen with other origin stories in the Marvel and DC Comics universes, heroes’ stories aren’t all rainbows and sunshine. “It’s very character driven… those surprising interpersonal moments that do show the character of each person in the story is what I'm hoping people notice and enjoy.”Īs the protagonist, Lara’s character gets the deepest exploration. “I think going to notice that it's a more emotional story - that Lara's lows are lower, she also has higher highs, which is really fun,” Murray said. Eidos Montreal Lead Writer Jill Murray commented to me that when she was brought on to the project, she was told by Bisson, “We need somebody to be Lara’s soul.” No pressure, right? It is very rich for us to push the limits of those systems."īut what’s really interesting is just how different Lara’s character is. In terms of smart and resourceful Lara, it's about using what the jungle offers her to craft upgrades for weapons or to craft tools, and using what's around her to enhance herself. So it's things like blending in with the environment, using mud to hide from her enemies and strike and then disappear again back in the jungle. “With combat we looked at how Lara can use her environment to fight her enemy. "The jungle environment is very rich so it can bring a lot of ideas to the table,” he noted. expanding to the Lara of Shadow of The Tomb Raider who is way more capable and confident in her approach against the enemy and the environment,” gameplay designer Daniel Drapeau explained to me.Īnd the new “one with the jungle” theme gave Drapeau a broad palette to design with.
"It's about taking the Lara from Rise and. From new traversal mechanics, full swimming exploration, and even more robust combat and stealth takedowns, Lara’s portrayed as a more efficient and confident adventurer right out of the gate. It’s evident from the beginning that this is a much stronger, fully actualized Lara. In the first-ever gameplay reveal, attendees at the jungle-themed venue were treated to an hour-long demo.