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How Eidos created an ancient civilisation in Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is Lara’s final journey in her new trilogy. The game just went gold so we sat down with Eidos Montreal to chat about what’s new in this latest adventure.
Lara Croft has been through a lot. Two games worth of nasty gunfights, collapsing tombs and near death experiences has left her worn and weary, a mere shadow of the person she used to be.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider explores this evolution of the infamous treasure hunter-archaeologist, looking at how she’s changed over the course of this modern trilogy. As developer Eidos Montreal puts it, “Lara is finally turning into the tomb raider she was meant to be.”
That doesn’t only mean that she’s solved a series of mysteries like Nathan Drake; it means she’s turned into a one-woman-army. She can take down paramilitaries, cults and evil explorers on her own. It also means she’s become more reflective of her own actions.
“There’s a kind of desperation, a kind of panic and kind of anger that goes into some of Lara’s actions in the game,” lead writer Jill Murray tells us. “Some of the more violent parts of the game are when she’s not completely in control, when she’s afraid that she’s going to lose someone.”
Shadow of the Tomb Raider has had multiple showcases since the game’s initial reveal and each trailer and gameplay demo has featured different disasters that Lara must navigate through. An oil tanker explosion alongside a jungle river and a prophetic flood that nearly wipes out a small Mexican village are the two most prominent, both challenging Lara to wonder if she’s to blame.
Paititi is the biggest hub world that the Tomb Raider franchise has seen
© Eidos Montreal
Between fact and fiction
It feels meaningless if all the loss featured in previews for the game was for nothing, and that’s part of the reason why Eidos Montreal and Crystal Dynamics created an ancient living world to explore.
Paititi is a fictional Peruvian city, a combination of Incan, Mayan, and Aztec cultures created with the idea that cultures found in modern day Mexico migrated down to Peru to create their own home. According to historical experts this could have happened, though in reality it’s more likely that the migration happened in reverse, with native groups travelling north to Mexico.
“When we developed the hub world it was a playground of Lara’s abilities and challenges, like swimming through caverns or traversing cliffs,” said lead game designer Heath Smith. “But it serves two purposes, the social aspect is also important. You can speak to the citizens in the city to understand their culture and travel outside to other areas.”
The city serves multiple functions throughout the game. It’s a tool for exploration as you branch out to tombs and new areas, a way to gather information as you converse with villagers in either English or Mayan, and a place to gather more narrative context as the cult, one of the primary antagonists of the game, terrorises the people of Paititi.
“A lot of the exploration is based on what would have happened if these three groups had come together,” Murray added. “How would their culture have changed and who would they become, how would bits of each be captured in the greater scheme of things.”
Lara will have to face the consequences of her actions
© Eidos Montreal
The jungle judges you
The second major purpose that Paititi serves in Shadow of the Tomb Raider is being a pathway to one of the most dangerous environments in the world: the jungle. “We chose it because it’s going to challenge Lara in a way she’s never been challenged before,” Smith said. “She’ll have to develop new skills for underwater spelunking, using the rappel and running on the wall.”
Paititi, like other hub worlds in the Tomb Raider series, was developed as a playground for Lara to test her abilities. It includes metroidvania-like gating mechanics where you’ll be able to access new areas after received new abilities as the adventure progresses. Those gated areas will include new tombs that will require Lara to use new abilities. They’ll combine two of the three main segments in Shadow of the Tomb Raider including platforming, puzzle solving and combat.
While this final instalment contains a ton of new elements that showcase modern tenants of third person game design, Eidos Montreal and partners aren’t trying to create something entirely new. They know the classic Tomb Raider games held the core ideals of the series and they are trying to build off that.
“Our inspiration comes from the original Tomb Raider, Smith said. “The original had underwater segments, swinging from vines, rappelling and all that. This is the end of the beginning for this new series, we’re looking to the original to bring it all to a close.”
