Tip: Watch the trailer muted, its so much better.

Ok, saw it without sound - what did I miss?

You missed that the area are 2 to 3X bigger. You also missed that your choices matter. Some leading to new areas. This game is going to be awesome. The graphics look better each time they show something different. Only missing DLC like the Witcher. Loving what I'm seeing from this game.

looks pretty good, hopfully it comes to pc or ps4 soon

PC by March 2016, PS4 Late 2016.

yeah, what i was thinking maybe

The game looks awesome.

The game looks good. I would buy it for PC on release if they don't end up making this something like Assassins Creed that tries to mix/attack in real world religions. I liked the old TR's when they concentrated on legends and stuff. Hope this is the same....

EDIT: Oh and needless to say, that HQ upload is pretty sweet :)

Nice trailer, looks amazing too. Damn my curiosity! I can't help to watch the next episode.

In a world of greys and browns, a woman must survive against wildlife by crafting and screaming. Outwit human hunters with stealth and occasionally screaming. Solve puzzles in tombs with logic...and screaming.

Visually nice, just like it's predecessor but you just know it's going to be like watching a goddamn movie, with complete garbage gameplay shoved in so that they can call it a game on a pure technicality :P

Loved everything I've seen in this video and waiting for the Wowam vs Wild#2. I loved the Tomb Raider reboot and RotTR feels like a great sequel to it. The game looks really beautiful and shows a lot of the Xbox One's potential.

Below is Polygon's 14 minutes of gameplay from Rise of the Tomb Raider, it shows almost all of "The Prophet's Tomb", one of the dozens of new tombs to raid in the game and worth checking out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JPL7AM2Mto

And below is IGN Plays' Exploring Rise of the Tomb Raider's Hub World with 26 minutes of gameplay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1GXRmhQtSk

I don't mind Lara's mumbling to herself or her sounds while getting hurt, I recently watched all Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection videos here on Gamersyde and they seem to be on par on frequency and quality.

I actually like Lara's monologues, makes the character feel more real and as long as it helps the player with tips, trivia and to develop the story - as is the case here - the game will be better for it.

It's great that Crystal Dynamics put a lot of focus on exploration, crafting, action, stealth and RPG elements. The more options the player has, the better. You can stealth your way through, go guns blazing, delve deep into crafting or not, explore everything or just do main missions.

And to those that want either more action, stealth, exploration, challenges and etc from the game, it will come with extra modes which let you create and/or play through levels and areas of the game with Crystal Dynamics' and/or players' designed missions - something like the Trials' games level editor, but for missions and gameplay modifiers (cards) - which is a great addition in my opinion.

From everything shown and talked about, Rise of the Tomb Raider promises to be an amazing game. You choose how your adventure, Lara and the environment will develop and can craft your own missions or play those from other players. This is an action adventure game done right - just like the previous one - and a worthy successor to the Tomb Raider legacy.

PS. To the Xbox team and Gamersyde team, thanks for the video in high quality.

Gotta love the fucking hallmarks of excellent game design. They can't make the game actually playable, you you have to have a button that makes the next thing you do flash in birght yellow, while the camera automatically turns to it and Lara says "that wall looks week!". Why is this garbage even a game? You don't have to do anything as a player. You might as well not even be holding the goddamn controller at this point.

In that entire polygon video, there's a few platform jumps, then the rest is just hit the "solve this shit" button, and some button prompts. Why does this garbage excite anyone? It's the game that you don't have to play!

Totally agree. I really hope you can turn off the awful button prompts.

For all my profanity on the subject just now, i think it's really a shame, because much like the last Tomb Raider this looks like it's actually close to being a good game. But then they just decided to fuck it up for no good reason at all. I want Tomb Raider to be good, as i like the older games. But this? It's just dumbed down for reasons i can't understand, and i'm 100% sure that smarter design would make these games so much more memorable and enjoyable than they are.

Just take that IGN video that Sdarts posted. Lara falls in to a pit with. In that pit there is waist deep water and a raft. Ok, you obviously need to get to the other side and out of the pit. The water and the raft pretty much gives you the solution straight away. You need to use the raft to reach the ledge to get back up. But crap, the water isn't high enough. Now this is where the game goes full retard and shits its pants. Should the game let you experiment and find the solution, or should the game just powder your ass and put on a fresh nappy for babby? Apparently the later.

The game should just have a dedicated "whack shit with your pick" button, and trust that the player is smart enough to bash the wall with water spraying out of it. But no, we have to make every concession imaginable aside from just having the game solve the puzzle automatically. Light the wall up, because the water bursting from it isn't hint enough. Pan the camera to it and have Lara point it out too. Just in case. And then, you aren't even allowed to actually hit the wall yourself. There has to be a button prompt and a cutscene, because fuck you for wanting to play the game. Lara needs to break that shit cinematically and no damn player is gonna crap the style of the game!

So essentially, the game treats you like you are a brain damaged infant, unable to solve the simplest task. And again, it's so sad because it'd be so easy to fix, and so much more satisfying if you actually got to do shit yourself.

But the idea of giving you a toolset and then designing fun and challenging gameplay around those tools is something only indie games do anymore.

Gamers today aren't interested in challenges. They just want a cinematic experience and be rewarded for everything they do in the game. It boggles my mind that people think that these new Tomb Raider games are much better than the old ones.

That's kind of what i'm saying though, by taking all the agency of the player away, they take away the reward of feeling like you actually accomplished anything yourself. Figuring out a puzzle and solving it without being treated like a brain damaged baboon = satisfying, rewarding. Solving a puzzle after being told what to do every step of the way = boring as shit.

Why do games like Dark Souls develop such a cult following? Because the game treats you like you have a functioning brain. The game trusts that you can figure some shit out for yourself. The game trusts that you are willing to...dare i say, adventure? But then, this is true for many smaller games too. Binding of Isaac is a game that really doesn't tell you shit, you just have to learn as you go. That makes it fun. Every time i get a new item is exciting, because i don't know how that will affect my run. Even games i whine about a lot, like Skyrim, at least treats the player with enough dignity that he/she gets to actually PLAY the game.

But yeah, i've been completely disenchanted by these type of AAA titles for quite a while now. I don't see the appeal of Uncharted, The Last of Us or this at all. And i'm completely baffled that people shit on The Order, while drooling over this. Looks like the same brain dead crap to me. All surface, no substance.

The Order had little gameplay to offer, if you watched this trailer of Rise of tomb raider it's map sizes are 3x times bigger than the game before. We'll know soon enough how well this tomb raider does. it will make or break the direction of future installments. The last 2 games before the 2013 reboot did not score as well as the latest, which is why this direction is proceeding.

Megido, seriously, man... do some research first before "assuming" things. It took me about 5 minutes of Google searching to find all the Rise of the Tomb Raider things I mention below.

That "next thing you do flash in bright yellow" is called "Survival Instinct Beacon", which "points to the next objective when using Survival Instincts Mode (it activates when you press the R3 Button)". It's almost the same as Bataman: Arkham games' Detective Mode, with the difference that it can be disabled in the game's Options Menu (both partially and completely).

As you can see in the Options Menu image in the link below, "Survival Instinct Beacons" and "Survival Instinct Glows", which highlights interactable objects in the environment, can both be turned on or off, that way when you activate "Survival Instinct Mode" they each or both will either be turned on to help players who are stuck and want help or off for players who prefer to solve things on their own - just like most modern racing games have driving/braking assistance settings that can be turned off for those experienced players:

Options Menu:
http://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

There's also 4 levels of difficulty in Rise of the Tomb Raider, which are explained below:

Adventurer:

Aim assistance is enabled
Enemies have lower health and damage

Tomb Raider:

Aim assistance is disabled
Enemies have normal health and damage

Seasoned Raider:

Aim assistance is disabled
Heath regeneration only occurs outside of combat
Enemies have increased health, damage, and senses

Survivor:

Aim assistance is disabled
Health regeneration is disabled
Enemies have increased health, damage, and senses
More challenging enemy types will be present
Resources are more scarce, and upgrades are more expensive
Using a camp requires resources

The UI explains that difficulty can normally be modified at any point during the game, but Survivor mode can only be chosen at the beginning of Lara’s adventure.

We also learn that it’s possible to have subtitles color coded by character, or white for all characters.

Enabling online features shows community updates, notifications and online content during gameplay, while “Broadcast Frame” adds border frames and additional information overlayed on top of the game to “improve the spectating experience.”

DualShockers - Rise of the Tomb Raider on Xbox One: Controls, Options, Difficulty Modes and More Revealed:
http://www.dualshockers.com/2015/09/26/rise-of-the...

And here are the controls on Xbox One:
http://cdn4.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/20...

Also something worth of mention is the fact that "The Prophet's Tomb", the tomb featured in almost all Rise of the Tomb Raider videos, is most likely the first or at least one of the very first tombs in the game, so it's not going to be really complex and hard in difficulty. But as you progress in the game, tombs will gradually become more challenging. And there's also "secret tombs", which are the hardest in the whole game, but that will also give the best rewards - like secret bosses or secret dungeons in other games.

As for the whole "dumbed down" argument some gamers make about some games, let's take a look at Mike Brinker's, Lead Designer of Rise of the Tomb Raider, responses on the subject in separate 2 iterviews as maybe an example of how most developers probably think when they develop their games the way they do - please pay close attention to the "different aptitude and a different level of skill" and the "average of users" parts:

Sam Spettigue for Dailymail: "In games like Tomb Raider it can be challenging to balance puzzle difficulty. How have you approached balancing the difficulty of the puzzles this time around?"

Mike Brinker: "We always look at difficulty on everything – not just puzzles – but puzzles themselves are tricky. Everyone has a different aptitude and a different level of skill when it comes to mentally putting pieces together. There’s a couple of things that we try and do when we’re working on that. Obviously a lot of user testing, constantly, even at the stages where we’re just paper designing. We get a lot of people to play it and we get an average of users who are getting through it and those who don’t...

Our survival instinct system is back and it’s better than ever. We’ve got the ability for players to make that opt-in choice of using survival instincts but then it starts to layer in these hints of not just glowing things in the world but Lara’s VO… Which really helps those who are absolutely stuck and frustrated.

We really don’t want people going to the internet y’know, there’s a system in the game to help you if you can’t figure it out. It’s there, but you don’t have to use it, in fact we even have an option in the main menu to turn off survival instinct – and I don’t recommend that – but it is there for those who really want a challenge."

Dailymail - Rise of the Tomb Raider Interview: Lead designer Mike Brinker reveals importance of diversity and making Lara Croft a 'multi faceted character':
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-325...

Stevivor: "One thing I thought was done really well in the last Tomb Raider game was the use of colour and lighting to guide players in the direction they should be going. How do you find a balance between guiding players while also allowing them to explore a little?"

Brinker: "... So not only does it look phenomenal but people start to understand that, ‘Oh, those pools of light are going to guide me, oh those shadows are less important.’ Not only do we have this nice world of painted imagery, but we also have the survival instinct system which has been really beefed up now. Not only do you have the option to use it, but you also have some VO hit layering in there as well. It’s all on the thumb stick so you’re going to get that layering of hints if you do need it, but we are still going to really let the players dive in as they want. That also boils down to whether it’s optional content or content that you are going to play along the main path. The added exploration element that is in the discovery is there, where you are very much on your own, but if you don’t want to use that and you want help you definitely have the survival instinct to use."

Stevivor - Interview: Crystal Dynamics’ Mike Brinker on Rise of the Tomb Raider:
http://stevivor.com/2015/10/interview-crystal-dyna...

Also in regard to the "dumbed down" argument, I read a comment in one of the Rise of the Tomb Raider articles that was from someone who doesn't have enough time to play games as he would like to, that he has to balance his free time with his girlfriend and that after work, he's exhausted and has 10% of time/energy to play some funny games.

A lot of gamers have a job, study, wife or girlfriend, children, are doing some foreign language, MBA or PHD course, etc, and during the weekends or at the end of a long day are exhausted and just want to relax and enjoy a game for the limited time that they have to let out some steam/stress, where each minute counts and if they keep stuck for too long or have to retry a section of a level for a long time, they simply won't be able to make any real progress. Not to mention the fact that te more exhausted and/or stressed out you are, the less patience you have for things that make you frustrated.

I believe most game designers are making games that give options and choices to as much people as possible so that all of them can enjoy the game in their own way and at their own pace/level. Not all games should only be playable by a select few Elite of gamers that have skill, patience and a lot of time, or that they all should be as hard and explain as little as possible as From Software's Souls games - I love them, but Tomb Raider does not need to be like Dark Souls, or vice-versa.

Not all gamers should need to spend hours in order to proceed if they get stuck or die a lot in the same section of a level. Also, it's really great that they put a system to help these less skilled players or who have less time or patience inside the game, instead of expecting them to go look for a solution in the internet, like most games do.

While it's one of the oldest and most basic elements in games, I never stop to be amazed by how many "gamers" fail to understand the simple concept of "game difficulty", which directly translate to "difficulty options", "difficulty settings", "difficulty level" and so many other names, too many to type them all, in most games.

If a game is too easy or hard for a player, most games give the option to choose a difficulty more suited to his/her skill level, or for those who just want to enjoy the story, as well as for those who want the most diificult challenge possible, and everything in between.

And thinking that if a game developer gives assistance and help through tips, markers and even micro transactions to those gamers which don't have much time, patience and/or skill to figure out things on their own, while also giving the option to have no assistance or help at all to those that do have them to figure things out or grind and want a more difficult challenge is "dumbing down", then that's an unwise way of thinking about this.

Games are made for all kinds of people, each with their own individual situations in life, which dictate how and for how long they can play certain games. I've said these things here on Gamersyde in the past many times, but it's like some gamers really feel entitled to gaming, I say "entitled" because they want or at least expect every or most games to conform with what they want from them, and that anything short of those wishes or expectations is somehow wrong.

Almost as if there is an universal standard in the art form of gaming upon which all or most games need to conform with. As far as I understand art, there's no rules to it and anything that humans do can be made into an art form. Gaming is no exception, so it's very unwise and unfair to expect exactly the same things you love in a particular game in another completely different game, in a different genre even.

When I finally get to play Rise of the Tomb Raider, I will do so in the highest difficulty setting, Survival, but that's because I love the challenge, have the patience, skill and some free time every day to play it like that. I hope you give the game a chance or try it in a friend's house or something in the highest difficulty with any player assistance turned off and then judge the game for what it is.

Nothing you or the designer guy has said is really in conflict with my criticism of the game though. When did i say that the game needs to be difficult or frustrating? I just said that the instant win button is stupid, and that the game needs to respect the player to the point where they get to actually play the game, rather than have the game play itself. Essentially, my two main critiques are;

1. The game does everything in cutscenes. I argue that you'd feel more involved if you got to do things directly by pressing a button, or be directly involved in what's happening on screen. Ie smash a wall by having a button that swings the pick, rather than a button prompt that initiates a cutscene where Lara does some "cinematic" maneuver. Or notice a trap on the floor, and side stepping it rather than having it be invisible and unavoidable in a cutscene. Let the PLAYER play these segments, don't take control away for no reason.

2. The survival instincts is a shitty way out of poor level design and visual story telling. Instead of having level/game design that leads the players view and draws attention certain ways, you have the instant win button. Doing this right doesn't have to make the game more difficult, but it does require the designers to put in more work. The baffling irony is ofc that in many cases they do use proper lighting and such to draw attention, but they still need to have the help system in place. Why? Is exploring a room to proceed in the game now considered too cumbersome? That's what we used to call gameplay! Again, the game puts systems in place so that you don't have to PLAY the goddamn game. Why is that good!? The designer even admits that you probably shouldn't turn the survival instincts mode off, that makes me think he knows that the visual design isn't good enough for most players to get through without it.

TR 2013 was one of the worst games i've ever played for just those reasons. It's less of a game and more of a slightly interactive movie. I mean, are players really so fucking stupid that they can't play games anymore? Looking at the screen and pushing buttons is too tricky for you? Again, i'm waiting to hear why this is amazing and why The Order sucks balls, because to me they both have the same problem.

Waiting for this for a long time.. Just bought XB1 for this game :=)

I get your 1st point and if my guess isn't wrong, you will die in some of those traps if you are running or don't pay attention, and don't stop in time. The reason I say this is because if you notice in the trap that hits that wooden beam and creates those spikes, Lara stops before it hits her and she gets XP. So it would stand to reason that there is a way in which you don't get any XP if you get hit - by game design logic, giving stuff for free doesn't give the player a sense of reward. But I could be wrong.

As for your 2nd point, from Tomb Raider (2013)'s tombs and from the footage I have seen, the game does have intuitive level design, where if you look around, you can figure things out by yourself. The Survival Instincts Mode is there for people who don't have enough skill, people who don't want to get stuck and figure things for themselves, people who don't have the time or patience to do so or that are just plain lazy.

The thing is, from my experience watching my niece and nephew playing Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist for weeks - and they play many games, but mostly football/soccer - some people really have a hard time figuring things out for themselves. Splinter Cell: Blacklist is one of the games that most gives tens upon tens of options and ways to accomplish objectives, but they kept failing over and over in the stupidest of things, all the paths you could choose were crystal clear for me, but to them it was like if they were deeply hidden.

I'm saying this, because I believe we most of us hardcore gamers take for granted the fact that in a way, we're experts in games and have been conditioned/trained to be at the top of our game (no pun intended), while for casual gamers or people who mostly play a type of game, like FIFA or COD, their minds don't actually work like ours. It's hard to explain, but think of how a soldier or cop mind works after years of experience, they probably notice a lot of threats that we don't even know are there.

My point is that game developers have to keep that in mind and like Mike Brinker said, they did a lot of play testing with people and got an average of people who get through and those that don't. That's why they have this "Master of the Obvious" mode where everything is sppon fed to the player, because some people aren't very good, but still paid $60 for the game and want to play it through the end.

Still, if you turn Survival Instincts Beacons and Glows off in Options, you will need to figure things out for yourself just like if there was no Survival Instincts Mode. So I don't get the complaint, you're complaining about the game having a "dumb" or "child" mode, when you aren't forced to use it. For example, Wolfenstein: The New Order has a "Don't hurt me daddy" mode for "spineless" people, it doesn't mean you have to use that difficulty setting, I played on Uber and didn't felt it was too hard. But hey, it's there for those who want or need it, and there's no problem with that.

As for your point that Tomb Raider is an interactive movie, if even Life is Strange or the Telltale games aren't interactive movies, why do you believe Third Person Action Adventure games like the Tomb Raider are? Even Uncharted has way more cutscenes than Tomb Raider, and I never thought of them as interactive movies.

Perhaps you need to watch the E3 video of Rise of the Tomb Raider where Lara kills all those enemies like psychopath, or the alternative route where she goes stealthly. If it's like the first one, it's a very action heavy game with probably 95-99% of its length dedicated to gameplay.

I have no idea why you keep mentioning The Order: 1886, but my main problems with it are that there's very few player freedom/choices, most levels are "hallways", a lot of the game's design is very outdated (like forcing you to walk during certain sections, amongf other things), it's very short (about 4-6 hours) and is about 40-50% of cinematics compared to 50-60% of gameplay.

So from what you can see, the modern Tomb Raider games don't share anything with The Order: 1886. Again, I have no idea why you keep mentioning, since I can't see the relation or similarity between the two.

Either way, it's hard to judge a 30-40 hours game (according with Crystal Dynamics) with just a few videos of the same areas over and over. Since it's only 2 weeks away, let's wait for the game to come out and check for ourselves or read reviews' impressions. Not long now.

If you really care so much about gameplay and combat system, I suggest you play Tales of Zestiria on PC or PS4, it has quite possibly the best combat system in any RPG and one of the best in any game. It has a lot of options and so much depth that sometimes I spend hours reading and practicing because is very complex with hundreds of interactions. I could put this game's combat system intricacies here for hundreds of pages and it wouldn't be enough.

It's a RPG, but the combat system is stellar and I highly doubt even 1% of players will ever use the combat system to its full potential. Feels like homework sometimes, where you have to keep studying and practicing just to be decent at it. But the game is great and worth playing.

"just don't use it" isn't really an excuse i'm afraid. same as it wasn't for SC conviction or hitman absolution. now, i'm not one of these people that hate it's inclusion. my boyfriend is partially sighted and it helps him play the games he likes. i'm all for that. what i don't like though, is that by default (ie. the way the game was designed) it is on. situations, and systems are designed with it in mind. it's not like a racing games racing line which is essentially an optional accessibility feature. it's something which the designers felt was so integral to the experience that is needs to be on. something so deeply ingrained within the mechanics and flow of exploration and combat that turning it off is detriment to the experience. in hitman some scenario's where nigh on impossible without it. not in a "think outside the box" good way, but in the "without the player being able to "cheat" it now feels like the AI is unbalanced and cheating themselves. i mean, you can't build a game around being able to see through walls and then expect it to work particularly well when you turn it off. is it more challenging? yes, but for all the wrong reasons.