Crystal Dynamics’ reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise has been a critical and commercial success. Its 2013 rehash and vision for Lara led to a sequel — 2015’s Rise Of The Tomb Raider — and while that game’s Xbox One timed exclusivity may have hurt sales, the new direction is still popular and marketable enough to dictate future sequels.
After all, the Tomb Raider franchise is one of the gaming’s most beloved and acclaimed, so there’s no way the series goes on hiatus after such fantastic entries.
The inevitable second sequel is certainly already in development. Battlefield Hardline creative director, Ian Milham, joined Crystal Dynamics earlier this year, and will take on the role of game director for the franchise.
“This is the home of Lara Croft, who is a legend in action-adventure gaming and a pillar of the industry. I’ve admired Crystal’s work for a while now, as they continue to deliver top notch narrative and spectacle, coupled with deep systems and player choice,” he said at the time of his announcement.
So we know that a new Tomb Raider is on the way, but we don’t have anything concrete or official.
Unfortunately for publisher Square Enix, however, one fan has gotten a head start on the hype train, having spotted the logo for “Shadow Of The Tomb Raider” on someone’s laptop in Montreal.
The sneaky eavesdropper told Kotaku that they couldn’t make out much from the blurry presentation, but that the page “talked about visuals”.
Questions have been raised about the validity of the snap seeing as though Crystal Dynamics is a US-based developer, whereas the photo was snapped in Montreal. There are a few potential explanations for this (outside of it being an elaborate fake):
- Eidos Montreal is helping (or developing entirely) the next Tomb Raider game.
- Crystal Dynamics is outsourcing and this person just happens to live in Montreal.
- This person could have been giving a presentation to Eidos Montreal about Crystal Dynamics’ graphics engine (studio collaboration is not uncommon).
- Maybe the person was on vacation.
Whatever the reason, it appears fairly likely we’ll get a Tomb Raider, even without having seen this image.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nd6evo2X5fw[/youtube]
Deus Ex shelved as Square Enix shifts focus to Avengers, Guardians Of The Galaxy | Fenix Bazaar
Tuesday 31st of January 2017
[…] Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics is working on a new Avengers game, while a majority of the Mankind Divided team is working on the new Lara Croft entry, reportedly called Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. […]