Some weird news entered the video game industry in the last few hours — Amazon is getting involved in Tomb Raider. Hearing this name in relation to the brand is rather unexpected, as for one thing, the TR property is currently owned by someone who ISN’T Amazon, and two, Amazon rarely gets involved in things it can’t own 100%.
Sometimes it pays to stay up late. Around 11 PM Pacific (or 8 AM in Europe, which will make sense in a minute), Square Enix made the announcement that it was henceforth abandoning any and all plans to produce video games with a distinctly Western flavor. We’re talking the content produced by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal — studios that weren’t originally Square studios but were brought under the umbrella when Square wanted to target the West more aggressively.
There will be no E3 this year, but in case you were hoping for the next Tomb Raider to be revealed anyway….uhh, you’ve actually got a much longer wait. Crystal Dynamics admitted today they are only just NOW getting started on that game. Blame Marvel’s Avengers for taking all their time up to now.
Lara Croft is 25! And to celebrate Tomb Raider’s anniversary, Square is doing….nothing, game-wise. They are, however, selling a new series of collector’s art pieces based around the existing games in the series, which will be available for a limited time starting today. And yes, we are talking about actual, printed art pieces, not URLs to digital files that cost hundreds of dollars and accelerate the pace of global warming. Square doesn’t work that way….yet.
Epic has Fortnite cash to burn, and it isn’t afraid to throw it around to make its Epic Games Store a serious competitor to Steam. They’re using that cash to do something Steam won’t — give away free games, and not the throwaway kind.
The Tomb Raider series turns 25 years old this fall, and Square has…pretty much nothing planned in celebration. As a substitute, they’re showing off video games we DIDN’T get..like Tomb Raider Ascension, a survival horror game planned by Crystal Dynamics in the early 2010s.
There hasn’t been even a whisper about a new Tomb Raider from Square since the last release came out two years ago. We know the team behind the most recent trilogy has had their hands full with Marvel’s Avengers recently…but now that that game has underperformed, maybe we can get back to Lara, hmm? It’s been our hope that whatever comes next will be a departure from the recent doomy, gloomy, mopey world the last three main titles have used. A return to the fast-quipping adult Croft and her outrageously far-fetched adventures around the world would be nice.
For those of you who were waiting to purchase Shadow of the Tomb Raider until all its DLC content had been wrapped up in a bow in a “Complete Edition,” the time is coming soon. Square Enix announced that Shadow Of The Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition will be released for consoles and PC this November.
We’re just as surprised to be writing this as you are to be reading it, but the Alicia Vikander Tomb Raider movie is getting a sequel.
The trilogy isn’t completely over….Lara suits up for one more mission in “The Grand Caiman,” the latest DLC chapter to be released for Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
Lara Croft has her sights set on the treasures of the tabletop market! Square Enix revealed Tomb Raider Legends: The Board Game today. Despite its title, the RPG isn’t based on the Tomb Raider Legends video game…in fact, it uses a completely different logo on its box, which no actual Tomb Raider game has ever sported. Lara isn’t on the cover either, making the box appear bootleg. It’s from Square though, we swear.
The review embargo has been lifted on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and critics love it. There’s just one problem, and it’s a problem that’s been building with Lara’s recent titles of late…but it’s really come to a head here.