Now that Eidos Montreal’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider has not only gone gold but we’re only a month away from release, the gameplay details are really starting to pick up. We have not one, not two but three different vignettes showing off different aspects of Lara’s next adventure as well as details on the various difficulty settings. The first video shows off the beautiful world you’ll be exploring.
Video two runs through the various techniques you’ll use to explore that world, including a few new tricks.
Finally and for reasons that will become obvious if you’re familiar with any title in the series, we delve into the tombs themselves. The true stars of the franchise. There’s a nice variety on show from the color palette alone.
Now to delve into the many accessibility options on offer. Crystal Dynamics have done a wonderful job here. There’s three categories; buttons, audio and difficulty and they can be toggled independently. One incredible feature is the ability to soft lock the camera to Lara’s back which makes the game easier to play for people who aren’t used to dual analog controls. Aiming can be put to the left stick in order to eliminate the same dual stick problem. QTEs can also be eliminated and replaced with one long button press. Different characters can be given color coded subtitles helping players to tell them apart. Even sound effects and musical cues can be captioned. The difficulty option expands the customization even further.
Difficulty is split into three parts; combat, puzzles and exploration, all of which bring benefits. The easier option for combat gifts aim assist, enemies will be easier to spot and there’ll be additional ammo compared to the other two. Hard mode won’t even show hit markers as well as removing health regeneration. As the image shows, in exploration on easier modes the path will be more clear and you’ll have a better idea of where you can go. On easy Lara will even drop hints for the player. We’ll close on combat tactics:
Shadow of the Tomb Raider launches September 14th on PS4, PC and Xbox One. Pre-order the Croft Edition now to get access two days earlier!
For more gaming news and reviews, from Smash to PSVR, stick to thelootgaming.com.
