E3 Ambassadors Share Rise of the Tomb Raider Interviews and Impressions

Last month, 11 ambassadors representing the worldwide Tomb Raider fan community attended E3 in Los Angeles. In addition to show passes and other cool, touristy stuff, they had the opportunity to preview Rise of the Tomb Raider and meet with several of the developers.

I posted a quick Tomb Raider E3 2015 Roundup after the show, but since then several of the ambassadors have written longer, more informative posts for the Official Tomb Raider Blog. In case you missed them, here's a recap:

• Concept Art & Direction in Rise of the Tomb Raider – Maxime, Tombeau Croft, France
• Evolving an Icon: Lara Croft 2.0 – Marco, Allgame: Tomb Raider, Italy
• Lara Croft - A Modern Adventurer – Jan, Wikiraider, Germany
• A Return to Tombs – Jaden, Guns and Grapple, UK
• Gear & Upgrades in Rise of the Tomb Raider – Rodrigo, Tomb Raider Collection, Spain
• The World as an Enemy in Rise of the Tomb Raider – Bartosz, World of Tomb Raider, Poland
• Animation in Rise of the Tomb Raider – Ash, Tomb of Ash, UK/Russia
• Narrative Design in Rise of the Tomb Raider – Henrique, Lara Croft BR, Brazil
• Tomb Tech: The Visual Effects Technology of Rise of the Tomb Raider – Brandon, Tomb Raider HQ, Canada
  
  

For more E3 and Rise of the Tomb Raider coverage, visit the ambassadors' sites linked above.

Before signing off, I'd like to thank all the ambassadors for representing this community so well. We appreciate your bringing our questions and concerns to the team at Crystal Dynamics, and we're so glad you had a blast at E3!

E3 2015 Highlight Reel from Tomb Raider HQ

Rise of the Tomb Raider PC and PlayStation Release Dates Announced

As we've known for some time, Rise of the Tomb Raider will initially be released November 10, 2015, as an Xbox exclusive. In a recent blog post, Crystal Dynamics at last anounced projected release dates for PC and PS4 versions.

"Rise of the Tomb Raider, will be available for Steam and Windows 10 PC in early 2016. The game will be a console exclusive to Xbox One and Xbox 360 for one year after its initial launch, coming to PlayStation 4 Holiday 2016."

It's still unclear whether there will be a Macintosh release or a PS3 version comparable to the Xbox 360 game.

Once again, I offer my heartfelt condolences to loyal PlayStation fans.

UPDATE: Crystal Dynamics has since announced that November 10 is the North American release date. The game will be out in Europe November 13.

The first two of these Rise of the Tomb Raider concept art pieces were released in conjunction with E3 in June. The rest were originally part of a feature by Entertainment Weekly.

Dark Horse Announces New "Classic" Tomb Raider Comic

Tomb Raider fans will once again find themselves straddling parallel universes later this year when Dark Horse Comics launches a new series featuring "classic" Lara Croft. The five-issue miniseries, titled Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen, will debut October 7, just a month before Rise of the Tomb Raider, the newest game in the rebooted series, releases on Xbox consoles.

I've put "classic" in quotes here, since Frozen Omen is not actually set in the original Tomb Raider timeline created by Core Design, but rather in the same world as the Crystal Dynamics games Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. So fans can expect the same kind of action-packed adventure featured in those games. Our heroine once again teams up with Osiris sidekick Carter Bell in a race to recover a set of ancient ivory artifacts. Needless to say, there's also an evil doomsday cult bent on using the artifacts to unleash global devastation.

Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen #1 cover by Jean-Sébastien Rossbach.
Pre-order at Things From Another World

In a recent interview with Polygon, series writer Corinna Bechko expressed enthusiasm for the project and its main character. "Lara is incredibly fun to write. She doesn't suffer fools, she's smart, and she's talented. She's always ready for action, but she's not afraid to think through a problem either. And she doesn't ever wait around for someone else to save her. There's a lot of satisfaction in writing a character like that."

Illustrator Randy Green also has a direct line to the spirit of classic Croft, having previously worked on several issues in the original Top Cow Tomb Raider series.

Randy Green's exclusive cover variant for Tomb Raider issue #21 produced for Pittsburgh Comic Con 2002.

Despite focusing most of their efforts these days on Rise of the Tomb Raider, the game developers still seem committed to bringing fans more old-school raiding. "We're excited to continue our partnership with Dark Horse on a new Lara Croft comic," said Rich Briggs, Brand Director at Crystal Dynamics. "This globe-trotting series is filled with the dual gun-wielding action and confident flair that nostalgic Lara Croft fans will love. It's a great companion to the existing Tomb Raider comics, and offers fans another way to go on a high-octane adventure with Lara."

Visit Things From Another World to pre-order issues #1 and #2.