Gamescom 2015: Hands-on with Rise of the Tomb Raider

Many of you are angry at Microsoft and Square Enix for the deal they made that prevents from gamers on PS4 for experiencing such a great title for such a long time. After playing a portion of the game myself at Gamescom 2015, it really feels like they are just rubbing salt in the wound by making anyone wait for it.  As someone that was forced to choose, then selected a PS4 over Xbox One, the decision hurts just a bit.  If you are on PC, the wait won't be as bad, but you can truly count yourself as one of the fortunate if you own an Xbox One. Not only is the new Rise of the Tomb Raider a great game, it's actually a game that is centered around challenging tomb raiding.

While I feel the game hasn't improved drastically graphically since the definitive editions releases on the current-gen consoles, the game is beautiful just the same. Delivering real-time cloth and body physics, full performance capture, and vastly improved hair physics, Lara Croft really draws your eye. The last game sent us through old, thick forests to frigid mountain tops, and this game will no doubt offer much more. Before, Lara was just out to survive, this game is set in a race against Trinity to discover the secret of immortality before they can destroy any evidence related to it. The game should deliver a much better story and tombs to actually justify the title. One of the biggest changes in this game involves the combat and crafting systems. There are now several forms of takedowns, which can be performed from above or below water depths. You can also fine tune your equipment to choose to go in guns blazing or pick a more stealthy approach. The developers also say the game will be up to three times the size of the original game. Now on to the gameplay.

The gameplay starts off with Lara exploring cavernous areas, using her survival skills, which are very much necessary to get through the game, to go deeper in the search of the games first tomb. Lara discovers markings on the wall, which after checked, will slightly increase Lara's knowledge of whatever ancient language it's related to.  In this case, the area she is exploring seems to be linked to ancient Greece. After finally using the variable climbing axe to break through some rubble and wandering through tight spaces, the scene quickly shifts to something you'd see in horror movies, or your least favorite Indiana Jones flick (Temple of Doom) with creepy crawlies skittering through human remains. After panicking, Lara scurries through the extremely small pathway with only a small blue glow stick to light her way through.  While the lighting isn't great, it adds such an eerie and cool effect. Trapped at the end of the line with claustrophobia setting in, Lara kicks her way through to freedom. She then finds herself face-to-face with a massive stone temple that dwells over a massive chasm that would spell death for those not dexterous enough to make the leaps and grabs necessary to reach the other side. At this point, it's clear that someone has tracked Lara to this location.  Explosions can be heard above and the path to the temple becomes a health hazard. Lara must quickly cross the depths of the oblivion below her and retreat inside the temple. She is now almost positive that Trinity, the mysterious organization that covered up her findings at Yamatai, is on her heels and trying to suppress her work.

More dangers await inside the temple. Not only is there very little light within, but there seems to be an underground source of water and many high areas not easily reached.  While I was encouraged by the PR staff to stick to the path to get through the gameplay provided to me, I found that there was definitely other areas to explore in the temple. The temple centered around these high spaces, and puzzling your way to filling the rooms with water using physics, or your climbing axe to your advantage. It took some time to figure out the puzzles, mainly because it wasn't so clear where you needed to go within the cavernous temple.  Most of the puzzles here involved weak points that were visible in the walls of the ruin and hanging pallets that required my weight (or a bullet) to alter. The solutions were always simpler than I figured they would be, and in time I was able to proceed further into the temple. After avoiding pitfalls, dashing over crumbling floors, then shooting falling spike traps that I was given just moments of a bullet-time to shoot with my handgun with, I finally reached my goal, the center of the tomb. On a round platform stood a sarcophagus. Lara approaches it, then opens it. 

BAMBOOZLED. Not only is it empty, no corpse, no artifact, but at this time troops start rappelling into the temple from above in the openings they blew open by force. The soldiers, under the direction of a weathered, battle-torn soldier, head directly to the sarcophagus to obtain an artifact. As they open it, they are greeted with a gun almost too big for its wielder, whom hid inside as the troops abruptly interrupted her search. The seasoned soldier and her have a tense moment where Lara asks who they are, and he all but confirms that they are in fact Trinity and they want the artifact.  After convincing him that the body and artifact were gone before she arrived, the soldier turns and pauses next to one of his subordinates. He then yells for them to find cover then sets off a charge that starts a chain reaction that will bring down the temple in moments. From here, it was an extreme, high-pressure scenario. I was forced to tend to several soldiers behind small cover, then traverse the gaps and crumbling platforms available to assist my escape.  On the way, the ground collapsed and I was given little room for minor error. Once the collapse begins, its move or die. 

As with the previous game, Rise of the Tomb Raider keeps you on your toes.  During my time with the game, I experienced a jump scare, my heart raced, and I was in awe of the area around me. I found it very easy to be immersed into the gameplay, and have no trouble getting used to the controls, which are as smooth as ever. The entire ordeal took me about 35 minutes on a completely linear path, but this is after a member of the PR staff started the demo and played a portion.  The entire tomb, with exploring might offer around 45 minutes to an hour of gameplay.  I was told by staff that the tomb was the smallest in the game, so the game should prove to offer long-lasting exploration of tombs and wilderness. In this short time I was hit with several emotions ranging from glee to shock, so I no doubt expect much more to come from Rise of the Tomb Raider when it launches. If you don't have an Xbox One, you could, of course, settle for playing on your Xbox 360, but this game is simply too beautiful for gamers to not go completely all in. If you're not into a year long wait from November, it might be time to make sure your Computer is ready to run this game. Then again, maybe it's time to go out and buy that Xbox One.

Tomb Raider releases later this year on Xbox One and Xbox 360 on November 10th, on PC early 2016, and Holiday 2016 for PS4 owners.