Rise of the Tomb Raider
Release Dates: 
November 2015 exclusive to Xbox One and 360
January 2016 PC
Not yet announced PS4
Synopsis:
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, learn to trust new friends, and ultimately accept her destiny as the Tomb Raider. Rise of the Tomb Raider builds upon the formula that madeTomb Raider a success, and features the return of Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft. Luddington will take character performance to new heights as Lara pushes herself beyond human limits and is confronted with what it means to become a hero. Once again, Crystal Dynamics is proud to have the award-winning author Rhianna Pratchett as a key member of the writing team, helping craft a story that delves into Lara's inner turmoil and motivations in this critical second act of her journey.
Gameplay:
Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game that features similar gameplay found in 2013's Tomb Raider. Players control Lara Croft through various environments, battling enemies, and completing puzzle platforming sections, while using improvised weapons and gadgets in order to progress through the story.
The game features a crafting system, allowing players to create items like different arrow types (poison, climbable, fire, grenade, rope) by scavenging materials from plants and animals in the game's harsh environment.
The in-game environment includes a weather system that both human and animal characters can react to and a day-night cycle. For example, to create a hardier winter coat Lara must hunt a wolf which only comes out during a specific time of day and specific weather condition. Lara can swim which will add to her mobility and combat tactics.
Combat has been redesigned with more options for stealth and sneak attacks. Lara can confuse enemies using the environment, hide behind bushes or in trees, shooting bows on objects, throwing molotov cocktails and fog bottles or avoid combat altogether by climbing trees or traveling across roof tops. The bow and arrow return from Tomb Raider. The grappling hook, now known as a wire spool comes back for rope swinging after being gone after Tomb Raider: Underworld. Options for multiple bows can be fashioned from specific animals and materials that Lara can hunt and salvage. Other weapons such as her pistol, shotgun, assault rifle and climbing axe make a return, plus an added hunting knife for melee or sneak attacks, a breather, and a lockpick for opening locked crates and doors.
Platforming also makes a return as mechanics like jumping forwards against a vertical wall and shimming and jumping from ledge to ledge as well as swinging on trapeze make a return. Quick time events and dodging also return to avoid deadly traps in the game and perform finishing attacks and counters.
Development:
On August 1, 2013, Phil Rogers, Square Enix' Western CEO, confirmed in a blog post on the company's official website that a "next-generation Tomb Raider sequel" is "well into development". On June 9, 2014, Rise of the Tomb Raider was formally announced with a press release, after a first trailer premiered on Microsoft's E3 press conference earlier the same day. That same trailer was later televised during Xbox Live's broadcast of the Miss Teen USA 2014 beauty pageant.
At Microsoft's Gamescom 2014 briefing, it was announced that the game will be released in late 2015 as a timed exclusive for Xbox platforms. Speaking on the exclusivity, Phil Spencer said "...I'm a big fan of Uncharted and I wish we had an action adventure game of that ilk. We've started some, and we've looked at them. But we don't have one today of that quality. This is an opportunity." The exclusivity news was met with widespread negative criticism from consumers and journalists alike. In February 2015, Crystal Dynamics announced that the Xbox 360 version is being developed by Nixxes Software.
On June 15, 2015, at Microsoft E3 2015's press conference, Tomb Raider was confirmed to be released in North America on November 10, 2015 on the Xbox One and Xbox 360. A behind the scene trailer was released during Square Enix's press conference on June 16, 2015. On July 23, 2015, Square Enix announced Rise of the Tomb Raider for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4, with respective release dates of early 2016 and late 2016. On August 4, 2015, at Microsoft Gamescom's press conference, it was confirmed that the game would release on November 13 in Europe.
A season pass was announced at October 7, 2015. It adds additional tombs and an Endurance mode, which significantly increases the game's difficulty. In this mode, Lara has to search for food and fuel for survival. The season pass also comes with downloadable content called Baba Yaga: Temple of the Witch, which adds new tombs, puzzles and a new campaign featuring Baba Yaga to the base game. It was released on January 26, 2016. The last DLC, titled Cold Darkness Awakened, was released on March 29, 2016.
