What's the game about?
What's the game about?
Rise of the Tomb Raider is the 2015 sequel to the 2013 reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise from developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix. This will be the eleventh Tomb Raider game. In her first adventure, Lara Croft was forged into a true survivor, but she glimpsed a deeper, secret world. In the next chapter of her journey, Lara must use her survival skills and wits and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider. After she encountered an immortal being, Lara spent a year researching eternal life to both understand and prove what she saw. This research leads on her on a quest to find Kitezh, a mythical city both founded and lost in what is now Russia's Siberian tundra.
The Story (wiki)
The game begins with a small camp at Siberia, where Lara is gazing at the huge mountains that await them. Jonah tells her that the others won't be accompanying them anymore except him. The climb soon becomes challenging, with Lara nearly falling down to her death. As Lara reaches the top, she sees the ruins of Kitezh from afar, but the storm strikes the mountain and separates the two.
Set one year after the events of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft is struggling to explain her experience of the supernatural on Yamatai. Looking for answers, she turns to her late father's research into the lost city of Kitezh and the promise of immortality. Her father's partner Ana attempts to warn her off as his obsession with Kitezh drove him to ruin and suicide. Lara ignores her and organises an expedition to Syria, hoping to uncover the tomb of the Prophet of Constantinople, a key figure in the legend of Kitezh. Although successful, the tomb is empty, and Lara is interrupted by Trinity—an ancient order of knights that now exists as a paramilitary organization investigating the supernatural—and their leader Konstantin. As she flees, Lara discovers a symbol etched into the tomb that she links to a book on Russian religious history in her father's study. A Trinity assassin steals the book, prompting Lara and her friend Jonah to give chase in Siberia. When the two are separated after an avalanche, Lara is forced to go on alone.
Lara discovers that Trinity has taken over a Soviet-era mining installation as a base of operations in the search for Kitezh. She is caught attempting to retrieve the book and placed in a prison cell with Ana, who is revealed to be Konstantin's sister and a spy for Trinity. The two interrogate her as to the whereabouts of the "Divine Source", an artifact believed to grant immortality. Lara escapes, and in the process aids Jacob, a mysterious stranger who leads her through the mines into the valley beyond.
Jacob is revealed to be the leader of the Remnant, the descendants of the followers of the Prophet of Constantinople. As Lara aids in their resistance against Trinity, she begins to learn more about the Prophet and the lost city of Kitezh. After being branded a heretic and pursued by the Order of Trinity, the Prophet and his followers resettled in Russia, where they built Kitezh. However, spurred on by agents of Trinity, the Mongol Hordes led by Genghis Khan attacked the city, and the Prophet was forced to sacrifice it to protect the Divine Source. The Remnant escaped and settled in the area, vowing to defend the city's secret. Jacob warns her that although the Divine Source exists, it is not what she expects it to be. Konstantin's forces repeatedly attack the Remnant, believing them to be heretics and justifying the slaughter as God's will. However, Lara discovers that Ana is dying and has been manipulating her brother to find the Divine Source and save her.
Jacob and Lara decide that the only way to protect the Divine Source is to retrieve it before Trinity can. In order to do this, Lara recovers the Atlas, an artifact that serves as a map of Kitezh. She is reunited with Jonah, who has been spying on Trinity forces and they locate the path into the city. However, Konstantin has been aware of Jonah's presence and let him go free in the hopes that he would lead Trinity to Lara. Jonah is kidnapped with the Atlas, compelling Lara to rescue him. The attempt ends in disaster when Konstantin stabs him, knowing that Lara will prioritize his rescue and giving Trinity a head start. Lara takes Jonah to Jacob, who reveals himself to be the Prophet when he miraculously heals Jonah.
With Trinity advancing on the glacier that rests over Kitezh, Lara is forced to enter the city through the Path of the Deathless where she encounters the Deathless Ones, the immortal guardians of the city. Following the journals of a Trinity agent embedded in the Mongolian forces, Lara realizes the truth of Jacob's warning: the Divine Source grants immortality, but at the cost of their sense of self. The Deathless Ones are the immortal inhabitants of Kitezh, forced to defend the city for eternity. As Lara enters Kitezh, the Remnant rally to attack the Deathless Ones, giving her time to reach the heart of the city. She is attacked by Konstantin and mortally wounds him; he dies in disbelief that he was not carrying out God's will, but Ana's. Lara is too late to stop Ana from retrieving the Divine Source, but wrests it from her before Ana can use it. Lara destroys the Divine Source, killing the Deathless Ones, but Jacob loses his immortality. However, he is happy that his time has finally come and thanks Lara for bringing his end as he peacefully disintegrates.
In the aftermath, Jacob's daughter Sofia takes over the Remnant. Jonah recovers from his wounds and joins Lara in planning their next expedition, with Lara vowing to investigate more of the world's mysteries as well as thwart Trinity's plans. A post-credits scene shows Lara and Ana leaving Russia, with Lara questioning her over the death of her father. Ana admits that Lara's father was in fact murdered by Trinity, but she is shot and killed by a sniper working for Trinity before she can reveal anything else. The sniper asks for orders about killing Lara, but his unseen superior tells him, "No, not yet" as the game ends.
Rise of the Tomb Raider will features larger areas of exploration than the previous game. In addition to the story mode, side missions will rewards players for completing objectives. Challenges return from the previous game. Optional tombs can be explored in the game, containing platforming and other puzzles needed to access a codex that can improve Lara's equipment.
