'Shadow of the Tomb Raider' completes young Lara Croft's journey this fall
Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the third and final chapter in a trilogy of games chronicling Lara Croft's origin story, is coming on Sept. 14, 2018. Probably. (Definitely.)
Currently, there's a teaser page up at TombRaider.com hyping some kind of reveal for March 15, 2018 at 6:00 a.m. PT. No details, just the date/time and a drawing of what looks like a solar eclipse.
See for yourself:
We know the title and release date because someone made a mistake. If you view the page source for TombRaider.com and take a look at the metadata, this text is visible:
"Shadow of The Tomb Raider is the climatic finale of Lara's origin story."
The page was updated at some point, but an earlier version also included the text: "Available September 14th 2018." The page source still hypes April 27 as the day pre-order bonuses will be revealed.
All of which is to say: Shadow of the Tomb Raider may not have formally been confirmed just yet, but it's happening and it's coming on Sept. 14.
This will be the third game in publisher Square Enix's rebooted series, following Tomb Raider (2013) and Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015). Both games chart a new origin for series lead Lara Croft, giving a glimpse into her early adventures out in the field and tying them back to a larger mythology involving the Croft family.
While this new tease for Shadow is the first actual confirmation of a third game to round out the trilogy, rumors sprung up in late 2016 when a games-loving commuter happened to catch a glimpse of a laptop screen bearing that title.
CARD ID: 331081, CARD TYPE: Imgur
Rhianna Pratchett, the writer on this rebooted series, summed up the reason for re-imagining Lara during a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"Classic Lara had been a playgirl with the money, gadgets, and guns to deal with any situation, jetting around the world and having these big adventures, and being very James Bond-y. That’s not quite as relatable in this day and age of economic strife as maybe she once was," Pratchett said.
"With this Lara, I wanted to bring her down to earth a little bit more, and think about her as an average London student just out of university who paid her way through and worked bar jobs — someone more in line with young women in London today."
With the origin trilogy wrapping up, Pratchett is also looking ahead at what might be next for Lara's adventures.
"I’d love to write an older Lara in her 50s, who’s grizzled and war-torn, because we get that with male protagonists,” Pratchett said, pointing to examples like Metal Gear's Snake and Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher.
"And maybe she has to take another character under her wing, which is often done with dad figures in games — it’s the ‘dad-ification’ of games, like John in The Last of Us or Booker in BioShock Infinite," she continued.
Pratchett has also imagined what it might be like to turn Lara into a mother.
"How would that work? How would she even have time? I’d love to see more action moms in games. There’s so much we can do, so many stories we can tell, it feels like we’re just scratching the surface."
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
