To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider, footage of what the 2013 reboot could have been has been officially shared online.
While 2013’s Tomb Raider was a grittier take on a younger Lara Croft, which became the ‘Survivor trilogy’, it was originally meant to be more of a survival horror title.
Information and footage of Tomb Raider: Ascension has appeared online over the years, but over the past week, the Tomb Raider YouTube channel has officially shared artwork and prototypes of the cancelled game for the first time (thanks, PCGamesN).
After first sharing early concept art, yesterday (October 19) the channel uploaded early footage of Tomb Raider: Ascension. Although this shows the game in prototype stages without detailed textures, it does show distinctly different gameplay as Lara is seen fighting against monsters. While some of these clips have been seen over the years, it’s the first time fans are able to get it from an official source in high quality.
In one scene set in a haunted mansion, Lara uses a flamethrower to fend off zombies while in another she is riding on horseback while being pursued by a giant monster.
Another pre-visualisation shows Lara fighting against a creepy elongated monster with a pickaxe, ending with a brutal finishing animation, while she is also seen carrying a bow in another sequence. Both elements found their way into the final 2013 game developed by Crystal Dynamics and written by Rhianna Pratchett.
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For the anniversary, Square Enix is also set to release a new free-to-play mobile game called Tomb Raider Reloaded, which features Lara sporting her classic look.
Elsewhere, Sea Of Thieves has reached 25million players, and Rare is celebrating by giving away gold, as well as a huge prize for one lucky player.