Although there have been hints about a sequel from Tomb Raider's developers over the past several months, until recently nothing was officially confirmed.
Back in March, Siliconera broke the news that Square Enix had trademarked the name "Lara Croft: Reflections," setting off a storm of speculation among fans; however, it's still not clear whether this name relates to an upcoming game.
[UPDATE: 'Reflections' turned out to be an ill-fated mobile card game. Details here.]
Then, on July 13, writer Gail Simone, who has contributed to such popular comics as Wonder Woman, Deadpool, Batgirl and Red Sonja, tweeted this little bombshell from Comic Con: "KA-POW. TOMB RAIDER." Following up in more detail, Simone revealed that she will be penning a new Tomb Raider comic, set "just a few weeks after the end of the game...and [leading] DIRECTLY into the sequel." The comics will be published by Dark Horse, and the first issue is slated for release in February 2014. For more info, check out Evan Narcisse's interview with Simone for Kotaku.
TR fans may remember Simone's contribution to GameTap's Re\Visioned: Tomb Raider animated series, titled "Pre-Teen Raider."
Doubts about a possible sequel arose after Square Enix announced in April that TOMB RAIDER had failed to meet expectations, despite selling more than 3.4 million compies in its first month. According to Eurogamer, although the game received excellent reviews, the sales figures were only about half of what the company had forecast.
Nevertheless, on Thursday Phil Rogers, CEO for Square Enix in the Americas and Europe, at last officially confirmed in a blog post that the company is "well into development on a next-generation Tomb Raider sequel."
Darrell Gallagher, Head of Product Development and Studios at TR developer Crystal Dynamics, followed up with this short announcement to the fans:
"You may have read today that a next-generation sequel to Tomb Raider is in the works. We're very excited to confirm that the team has started working on telling the next chapter in Lara's tale. It's still early days, so I'm afraid I can't provide any further details for now save my assurance that we're not resting on our laurels and acclaim from Tomb Raider's recent successes, but working hard to raise the bar even higher and re-affirm the faith you've shown."
For now, Crystal is not answering further questions. So fans are just going to have to be patient. What are you hoping they'll include (or not) in the next game? Please leave a comment below.
Im kind of hoping it ends up on PS3/360 somehow too. It feels weird having only ONE TR from the new series on a console, then the rest being on next gen. Reminds me of how the legend trilogy went.
ReplyDelete(While underworld was still on PS2, it was a horrible port)
I don't know how I feel. I mean I'm excited for a new game but I don't know if I like the direction they're going. The last game was good, but it wasn't a Tomb Raider game. They've derived from many of the things that made me love Tomb Raider. If they keep with this story line, I don't know how I'll feel. :/ I just hope we don't have to wait 5 years again for a sequel. :P
ReplyDeleteI agree, rosinna. I hope the devs will listen to some of the feedback from long-time fans. A lot of us loved this new game but felt strongly that it didn't "feel" so much like Tomb Raider, and that the emphasis on combat over puzzles was skewed. I'm still optimistic for the sequel, but I hope now that the reboot is out of the way, they'll make the next game more Tomb Raider-y.
DeleteYou do realize that this most recent Tomb Raider game was an "origin" story more or less. It was a telling of the beginning of Lara Croft. So of course it may not be as "Tomb Raider-esque" as we are accustomed to. Her lifestyle had to get it's start somewhere. We had to see her become the hardened adventurer and explorer that she is today. I'm sure the next game will be more in line with that as Lara will now be out looking for the answers she says she needs to find in the end of Tomb Raider. We won't be let down.
DeleteYes, I understand what an origin story is. I just didn't think it was necessary. The character was already fully formed with an existing backstory. I did enjoy many aspects of the new game, but I didn't think we needed yet another reboot. That said, it's water under the bridge now, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
DeleteAn origin story was never really needed in the first place. The one Core supplied Lara with was perfectly sufficient. It seems that the only purpose of this most recent TR's origin story was to deconstruct the one thing that Lara has always stood for to me, which is power. Lara is a mythic character, no matter which way you slice it. Whoever thought that making her more "realistic" would make her less interesting? I suspect, though I could be wrong, that this game started its development life as another title.
ReplyDeletethey lost me after AOD when I could no longer reload a game the moment before I screwed up.
ReplyDeleteBesides I'm an old hippy, (nearly 63 now), I only liked it for the adventure, I put up with the violence that there was in the past but now it's just like any other shooter out there.
I agree with the previous anonymous comment above: this was an origin story painting a more human face on Lara by challenging her (and our) preconceptions about the world in which we live. It also goes to great lengths to establish a foundation for her near mythic ability level later in life. Was it necessary? I'm not sure what this means. It was no more necessary than any direction they may have gone. One thing for sure ... it fleshed out the Lara Croft canvas in a rich, beautiful and compelling way that I have not seen before.
ReplyDeletehellO Stella :) what meaning of "next gen"? new TR will be playable on PC or only next gen consoles? Im little a bit scary :))
ReplyDeleteNext gen means PS4 and Xbox One, although I'm sure there will also be a PC version. I don't know whether they intend to make versions for Xbox 360 or PS3 as well. I guess we'll hear more as things progress.
DeleteI understand it can be hard to keep up with the technology. It seems like every few years they want us to buy something new. :(
There are Reboots and then, there are 'reboots'.
ReplyDeleteThe former is what happened to James Bond when Hollywood rebooted the 007 franchise: While they made him more relevant and rejuvenated, he's still loves Aston Martin, still travels the World chasing bad guys, but most importantly, He is still, CLEARLY AND RECOGNIZINGLY, a spy for Queen and Country.
The latter is what happened with the latest TOMB RAIDER. Everything is changed. Not only the gameplay has absolutely nothing to do with the title, the archeologist is all but gone. She has been replace by some 'gun for hire'. The entire island is a combat zone.
I asked myself this: If Lara Croft were a real person, would I hire her as a mercenary or would I hire her as an strong will archeologist? If I were in the mercenary business - which I am not :), the answer would be an emphatic YES. If, however, she came to me for a job as an archeologist raiding tombs, I wouldn't even give her the time of day!
Was this a good game?
10 out of 10 on the scenery, fluidity and on the game-control dynamics.
Was this a good "TOMB RAIDER" game:
0 out of 10 I'm sorry to say.
I totally forgot to include the point I was making to keep in line with the topic of your post Stella! If you look at the numbers I posted above, it averages to 5. Not bad, all things considered! All this to say that it is my hope that somewhere in the next iteration of TR, at least some of the components beloved by the long-time, most enduring, faithful and loyal fans will make a comeback.
DeleteHi, Mario. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I felt pretty much the same way you did. This new game was beautiful and well executed but just didn't *feel* like Tomb Raider to me. It was still an enjoyable game, for the most part, and it had some features I really liked. I've heard many other players say the same things, so I'm also hoping the developers will take note and, now that they've gotten Lara's "origins" and "growing pains" out of the way, they can go back to making stories about Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, rather than Lara Croft: Survivor.
DeleteAgreed! In the mean time, at least we know there's a new TR game on the way, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed ;)
DeleteHi Mario. I just can't reconcile some of what you post. The title: Tomb Raider (brand): A Survivor is born (title) has everything to do with the gameplay. The gameplay is precisely about her immediate environment transforming her into a survivor. She learns to forage, to kill, to climb, etc., it is all there. She learns to set aside her doubts and move forward. (She even gets a taste for exploring ancient tombs.) A survivor is born. Dead on. Like others here, I believe that the next installment will really focus on her tomb raiding skills in a similar progressive manner. But it makes perfect sense that her survivor skills would trump her tomb explorations ... otherwise, she would never get past the wolves, mercenaries, thralls to even visit another tomb. Which brings up my last point: I would also say that Lara's combat ability---her confidence in the face of natural and supernatural threats, her deadly accuracy with firearms and other weapons, and her climbing and agility---is just as important to her mythology as the puzzles and tomb explorations of past.
ReplyDeleteHave patience ... the next installment will return her (and us) to her beloved tombs.
-John
I
oh i just wish there were dual pistols and like evryone else says more of an adventure rether than just shooting :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Perhaps I put too much hope and faith in the new Tomb Raider. My understanding was that it was going to be an open-world, island, Tomb Raider, open-exploration game, with added mechanics involving food- and water-gathering to put a little of the "survivor" picture onto it. As the release date approached, and as the story kept changing, I was unsure. The game was good, and the first time through I was happy. But I was disappointed to find that they had lived up to none of their early ideas or their early developments (which can be seen on youtube). The game was great, and I still play it, but I don't play it because it's Tomb Raider, as many other users have already said.
ReplyDeleteOn another forum within the Steam Community we had a long conversation about what a good Tomb Raider game really is. And a lot of the old fans consistently talked about puzzles. What a number of us had hoped for was basically a gigantic level, as open as any of the smaller Tomb Raider--open-world levels (Alexandria, Cairo, Ghana, etc.). It kind of tears me up still that they blew their chance on their open-world Tomb Raider game and made it into a storyline. Recent news suggests that they intend to continue this storyline approach and that they are developing her character rather than creating immersive, amazing environments for our beloved archaeologist hero to bury herself within. I still dream and hope for that. Lara Croft does many things that no other videogame characters do, such as her agility and her climbing and her interactions with her environments. This recent Tomb Raider lacked in that and had a strong emphasis in action. But if one day Square Enix creates an open world for Lara Croft, where an entire world is her playground that she can openly explore, that, after 12+ hours of gameplay, gets you into that door you've been working on for so long, I would happily pay any amount to partake in that experience.
Well said, Jonathan. I don't think I could have put it better. I know a lot of players have expressed these ideas to the developers. Not sure how much stock they put in our humble opinions, but they say they're open to suggestions. Maybe if enough of us say it articulately and politely, it will sink in.
DeleteI encourage you--and anyone else reading this--to post on the TR10 wish list on the Eidos forums. It certainly can't hurt.
http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=137435