New Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris Dev Diary: Puzzles 101

It's official. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris has gone gold. In game development parlance, this means the game is finished and the master copy has been sent off for duplication or, in the case of a digital title, prepared for release by Steam, Xbox LIVE, and PlayStation Store.

To celebrate—and help tide everyone over until December 9, when the game comes out—here's a new developers' diary focusing on the game's many puzzle elements. This video features lead level and puzzle designer Jeff Wajcs, who also worked on Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, showing off the action with executive producer Scot Amos.

Be warned, the video includes some minor spoilers. You'll see a few previously unrevealed areas and a new boss, as well as examples of some of the aforementioned puzzles. But surely this short video only scratches the surface of what we'll see in the actual game three weeks from now.

To follow along or translate into another language, download this PDF Here's a transcript of the dev diary video.

In case you missed it, you can watch the first developer diary, "Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris: Four-Player Co-Op Mayhem".

Follow this link for the updated Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris FAQ.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris FAQ

With all the hullabaloo around Extra Life these past several weeks, I've been neglecting my other blogging duties. I wish I had time for a more in-depth post, but in lieu of that, here is a collection of frequently asked questions and official responses from Crystal Dynamics about Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. A few of these questions have been recycled from previous Q&A's in order to keep all the info in one place. I will continue to update this post as details emerge.

Release date: December 9, 2014
ESRB/PEGI Rating: Teen/12+
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows PC
Price: $20/€20 for regular edition, $35/€40 for Gold Edition

Q: Will the Gold Edition physical goods be available separately in Europe as they are in the North American Square Enix store?

A: We don't currently have any plans to do this. The Gold Edition in Europe will contain the physical elements as well as a disc for the game, either on PS4 or PC, and a code for the season pass.

Q: Will there be an official soundtrack release for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: No news as of this moment.

UPDATE 12/8/14: The Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris OST was released as a free download on Soundcloud.

Q: Will Temple of Osiris support mixed local/online coop so that 4 people play with two computers online with each other?

A: Yes, the game is drop-in, drop-out co-op, allowing you to play with two people on the couch, and two people online, or any mixture thereof!

Q: Will there be any type of CD version for LCTOO?

A: The Gold Edition in Europe for PC and PS4 will have a disk. In North America, the Gold Edition box contains all of the physical collectibles, and then digital download codes for the game and the season pass are provided separately.

Q: Does the game have some Easter eggs from past games?

A: We pay tribute to past games through costumes such as the Legend Lara pack. As for Easter Eggs, you'll have to wait and see.

Q: Who wrote the story of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: The internal narrative team tackled the story of LCTOO, collaborating with key staff members at Crystal early on to narrow down the setting. They had a lot of fun digging deep into Egyptian mythology and determining the direction to take this adventure.

Q: Who designed the cover for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: Art Director Brenoch Adams took lead on both pieces, with assistance from our creative agency Volta.

Q: Who are the voice actors for the secondary characters? Anyone we'd know?

A: For the English version of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, we've welcomed back classic voice actress Keeley Hawes as Lara Croft. Additionally, Dorian Lockett voices Carter Bell, Rae Wright as Isis, Jack Tilden as Set/Horus, and our own Brenoch Adams stepped in as Osiris!

[You may remember Dorian as Alvin from The Walking Dead game! -Stella]

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris voice cast: Keeley Hawes as Lara Croft, Dorian Lockett as Carter Bell, Rae Wright as Isis, Jack Tilden as Set/Horus, and international man of mystery Brenoch Adams as Osiris.

Q: How many hours of playtime can we expect in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: The game length truly depends on your play style, but you can expect a playtime on par with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, with lots in the way of replayability thanks to the Overworld, asymmetric co-op, challenges, and DLC tombs.

Q: What does Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris add in terms of replayability?

A: There are lots of reasons to replay the game, be it completing challenges, playing through with a new set of friends, trying out the asymmetrical co-op, seeing how puzzles differ when playing solo, and so on. Also, competing with friends to secure the higher score. And, if you're a completionist, there are hundreds of items of various rarities to find, the more you play, the more the rarest items (rings, amulets, and weapons) will become available. There are achievements and trophies dedicated to you completing every challenge, which will keep you coming back for more.

Q: Will Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris be available on the Mac?

A: As of right now we're just focusing on the title for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Let us know if a Mac edition is something you'd be interested in!

Q: Does Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris get harder with each additional player?

A: Yes, combat and puzzles scale with each additional player, ensuring you're still challenged when tackling tombs with friends.

Q: Do I have to play Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris with four players?

A: No you don't have to play Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris with a set number of players. You can play with any combo of players, 1-4, online or offline. If playing alone, you'll default to Lara Croft, equipped with all the tools needed to tackle play solo. Add a second character, and they'll get a choice of Isis or Horus, adding an Egyptian God to the mix.

Q: Is there any platform-exclusive DLC for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: All DLC will be available across all platforms when it goes live online.

Q: Does the game use SteamWorks?

A: Yes, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris uses SteamWorks for achievements, Steam Cloud save games, multiplayer match making, as well as leaderboards.

Q: What languages will Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris be localized in?

A: Temple of Osiris will support subtitles in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese. Full voice over will be available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Japanese.

Q: Will the Temple of Osiris have a Platinum Trophy for PlayStation 4 players?

A: There isn't a Platinum Trophy on PS4 – the rewards are broken down into 1 Gold, 3 Silver, and 8 Bronze Trophies.

Q: How many Gamerscore points can we unlock for Temple of Osiris on Xbox One?

A: 1000 Gamerscore will be available to unlock across 40 unique Achievements.

UPDATE 11/13/14 and 11/22/15: See here for the Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris achievement/trophy list.

Q: Does purchasing the Season Pass allow you to download all future DLC for free?

A: The Season Pass guarantees all announced year-one DLC. It does not include any unannounced DLC and/or pre-order incentives.

UPDATE 11/14/14: The first Four questions below were answered in an earlier Q&A but I forgot to include them in my original blog post.

Q: What's the function of the Overworld in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: The Overworld was influenced by our learnings from Guardian of Light. It's a central hub that allows you to easily replay any of the tombs to complete challenges, farm gems, or tackle an area with different friends. The Overworld also gives us a platform for expansion: more tombs will become available in the future as DLC.

Q: How does the weather system work in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: Changing weather will allow you to access areas of the Overworld that were previously blocked off, such as a flooded area icing over and creating a path. The weather system will also affect tombs, in that elemental enemies will spawn dependent on the current weather system. We'll chat more about this in the future.

Q: Are challenge tombs back in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: Yes! They were a fan favorite from the last game. The fact that they aren't critical for story completion means we can have more fun with them.

Q: Will the cutscenes in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris be digital or drawn, such as in Guardian of Light?

A: Both. We'll use the comic-book styling to introduce you to the setting of Temple of Osiris, but also feature in-game cinematics to move the story along.

Q: Will Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris support Share Play on PlayStation 4?

A: The studio didn't intentionally prevent the use of the PlayStation 4 Share Play feature for Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and hope to have this resolved with Sony shortly. In regards to Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, we intend to utilize the Share Play functionality. We think it's a great feature, especially to give players a taste of four-player co-op. More information as soon as we have it.

Q: How many projects is Crystal Dynamics currently working?

A: We're currently wrapping up Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, set to launch on December 9. The other team is hard at work on Rise of the Tomb Raider, slated for Holiday 2015.

Q: Will there be DRM in Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: The PC game is delivered via Steam, and requires you to be logged into your Steam account, but there is no other DRM beyond that.

Q: Will Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris support Steam offline mode?

A: It certainly will! You will be able to play the single-player game in offline mode just like most other Steam games. But you will obviously be missing out on all the multiplayer fun when doing so!

Q: In Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, as in Guardian of Light, will getting more gems unlock the extra outfits?

A: Grabbing extra gems pays off by allowing you to unlock treasure chests of increasing value after completing tombs. Each will be filled with random items appropriate to the amount of gems you've spent to open them. Inside will be an assortment of goodies including larger bags of gems, weapons, amulets, and rings. Outfits are reserved for pre-order incentives, DLC downloads, or community giveaways.

UPDATE 11/22/14:

Q: What size is the install for Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris?

A: We suggest you have a minimum of 3GB free on consoles, and 4GB for PC.

More questions and answers will be added as they become available. For special Q&A sessions with the developers, visit the Official Forums.

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See here for PC system requirements or compare your PC to the minimum and recommended specs for the game at Systemrequirementslab.com.

See here for Gold Edition and Pre-Order Bonuses.

For more info and screenshots, visit my main Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris page and the official site, LaraCroft.com.

Pre-Order on Amazon.comor Amazon UK.

Extra Life Wrap-Up and Raffle Winners

Thanks to the efforts of 22 team members and 130 generous donors, Team Tomb Raider Community raised $3,369 for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals during the recent Extra Life charity marathon. We are grateful to our donors and to everyone who helped spread the word and cheer us on as we played.

So far, the entire Extra Life 2014 event has raised more than $5.6 million, a real testament to the power of gamers to do good!

If you missed the marathon and want to help, it's not too late to donate to Extra Life. Just click the thermometer banner below for details. We'll be accepting donations through the end of the year. Thank you!

We would also like to announce the winners of our Tomb Raider prize raffle. Individual winners have been notified by email. So if you're on the list, please check your mail and reply with your details so we can send your prizes. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks again to everyone who participated.

Tomb Raider Definitive Edition Donated by Crystal Dynamics. – Noelle A. (@pfangirl)

Tomb Raider Collector's Edition Survival Kit Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Josh B.

Tomb Raider Trilogy for PS3 Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Brandon Y.

Red Tomb Raider reboot T-shirt Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Katya V.

Tomb Raider: The Art of Survival book. Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Steve F. (@RidentFFXI)

Tomb Raider Limited Edition strategy guide. Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Matheus B.

Tomb Raider: The Beginning signed by Rhianna Pratchett. Donated by Crystal Dynamics. - Roland D. (@Roli29)

Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals novel. - Robert W. (@mrxenomorph123) and Nicole L.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris Gold Edition swag (3 winners). - @Ecklypsis, Shrensh, and Adina J.

2 Classic Tomb Raider Collectible Card Game (5 winners) – zeme, Samantha G., @rardraider, @MAX-b_59, and LodairJunior.

Free game download from GOG.com (5 winners) Kara, Jerad Z., snissen, Faya, and Jo.

The team would also like to thank generous sponsors. The first seven prizes listed above were donated by Tomb Raider's developers, Crystal Dynamics. The game downloads were provided by GOG.com. We are grateful for their ongoing support.