Tomb Raider (2013 video game)

Alongside the single-player mode is an online multiplayer mode, which allows players to compete in several maps.[11] In each multiplayer match, there are two enemy teams: four survivors and four scavengers,[12] and there are three types of games for multiplayer to compete in, played in five different maps: the modes are Team Deathmatch, Private Rescue and Cry for Help.[13] The first mode is a player versus player (PvP) combat scenario, with teams pitted against each other, and the winning team being the one to kill the opposing team in three separate matches. In the second mode, the "survivors" team must take medical supplies to a specific point on the map, while the "scavengers" must reach a certain number of kills, both within a ten-minute time limit.[12][14] The third mode, "Cry for Help", involves the survivors exploring the maps and retrieving batteries for defended radio beacons while being hunted by the scavengers.[9] Across all three modes, weapons and destroyable environments from the single-player campaign are carried over.

The game is set on Yamatai, a fictional lost island in the Dragon's Triangle off the coast of Japan. The island—and the kingdom that once existed there—is shrouded in mystery, given its reputation for fearsome storms and shipwrecks that litter its coastline. Yamatai was once ruled by queen Himiko, known as the "Sun Queen", who, according to legend, was blessed with shamanistic powers that enabled her to control the weather. Very little is known about Yamatai's history in the time since Himiko's death, other than that the island's infamy was established shortly thereafter. In exploring the island, the player may find evidence that—among others—Portuguese traders, United States Marines, and a Japanese military project were all stranded on Yamatai at various points throughout history. At the start of the game, the island is populated by the Solarii Brotherhood, a violent cult of criminals, mercenaries, and shipwreck survivors. The Solarii Brotherhood has established its own society based on the worship of Himiko, complete with a social structure and laws, with their exact purpose and intentions being explored throughout the story.

The player takes on the role of Lara Croft, a young and ambitious archaeology graduate whose theories on the location of the lost kingdom of Yamatai have convinced the Nishimura family—descendants from the people of Yamatai themselves—to fund an expedition in search of the kingdom. The expedition is led by Dr. James Whitman, a celebrity archaeologist who has fallen on hard times and is desperate to avoid bankruptcy, and is accompanied by Conrad Roth, a Royal Marine turned adventurer and close friend of the Croft family who serves as mentor to Lara; Samantha "Sam" Nishimura, Lara's friend and a representative of the Nishimura family who films the expedition for a documentary; Joslyn Reyes, a skeptical and temperamental mechanic and single mother; Jonah Maiava, an imposing and placid fisherman who is willing to believe in the existence of the paranormal and esoteric; Angus "Grim" Grimaldi, the gruff helmsman of the Endurance; and Alex Weiss, a goofy electronics specialist.

Lara sets out on her first expedition aboard the ship Endurance, intending to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai. By her suggestion and against Whitman's advice, the expedition ventures into the Dragon's Triangle. The ship is struck by a violent storm and sinks, stranding the survivors on the isolated island. Lara is separated from the others and is forced to escape the cave of a deranged savage. As Lara locates the other survivors, she finds more evidence that the island is inhabited. She finds her friend Sam and a man called Mathias, who claims to be one of the passengers. As Sam tells Mathias the legends of Himiko, Lara passes out; when she wakes, Mathias and Sam are gone. When Lara reunites with the other survivors, Whitman decides to break off from the main party with Lara and search for Roth, who is still missing, while the rest of the group (Reyes, Jonah, Alex, and Grim) look for Sam and Mathias. As Lara and Whitman explore, they discover that the island's inhabitants are worshipping Himiko, confirming that the island is Yamatai. The two are captured by the islanders and taken to a settlement along with other survivors from the Endurance. When the survivors attempt an escape, the captors turn on them. Lara is separated from Whitman and is forced to kill one of her attackers. She locates an injured Roth, and using his equipment, she sets off for a communications relay at the very top of the mountain to contact the outside world and call for aid.

After successfully hailing a plane searching for the Endurance and setting a signal fire for them to follow, Lara witnesses a fierce storm materialize and destroy the plane. Although the pilot successfully parachutes to safety, Lara is powerless to stop the island's inhabitants from killing him. Lara is contacted by Alex and Reyes, who reveal that Sam has been kidnapped by the island's inhabitants, a violent cult known as the Solarii Brotherhood. Lara, who is closest to Sam's position, tries to rescue her but is foiled by Mathias—revealed to be the leader of the Solarii—who orders her killed. Lara is saved by the intervention of a samurai dubbed "Oni" and taken to an ancient monastery in the mountains. Escaping again, Lara stumbles upon a ritual chamber, where she learns that a "fire ritual" was used to choose the Sun Queen's successor as part of a ceremony called the "Ascension". A terrified Sam manages to contact Lara and informs her that the Solarii intends to put her through the fire ritual, which will burn her to death if unsuccessful. Lara fights her way through the Solarii fortress with help from Grim, who is killed after the Solarii captures him. With Roth's help, Lara infiltrates the palace and witnesses Mathias putting Sam through the fire ritual. Lara tries to save Sam, but she is overpowered by Mathias and his men. Sam is not harmed by the flames, which are extinguished by a great wind, marking her as Himiko's rightful successor.

Lara narrowly escapes captivity once again and doubles back to help her friends, whose attempts to reach Sam have resulted in their capture. Aided by Whitman—who managed to negotiate some degree of freedom with the Solarii—Lara returns to the palace to rescue Sam as Roth commandeers a helicopter to get them out. Having witnessed the storm that forced the search plane to crash, Lara sends Sam to escape by land and tries to force the pilot to land as a second storm brews up, striking the helicopter and forcing them to crash. Lara nearly dies, and Roth is fatally wounded by Mathias while saving her. Lara realizes that the storms are being magically generated to keep everyone trapped on the island. She meets up with the other survivors, who have evaded the Solarii long enough to secure a boat that can be repaired and used to escape. They are joined by Whitman, who claims to have escaped, though Lara suspects him of working with the cultists. Lara heads for the wreck of the Endurance to meet up with Alex, who had previously gone there to salvage the tools needed to repair the boat. She finds him trapped under the wreckage, but Alex forces her to flee from Solarii cultists and sacrifices himself so Lara can escape with the tools.

Following the lead of a World War II-era Japanese military expedition researching the storms, Lara explores an ancient coastal tomb. She discovers the remains of the general of the Stormguard—the Oni defending the monastery—who had committed seppuku; in his final message, he reveals that Himiko's successor took her own life rather than receive her power, leaving Himiko's soul trapped in her body after death. Lara realizes that the "Ascension" is a ritual that transfers Himiko's soul into a new body, destroying the host's soul in the process. Himiko's spirit wants to escape its current body, and Mathias plans to offer Sam as a new host. Lara returns to the survivors to find that Whitman has betrayed them, abducting Sam and giving her to Mathias. Lara, Jonah, and Reyes give chase to the monastery, with Lara arriving just in time to see Whitman killed by the Oni. After fighting her way through the queen's guards, Lara arrives at the top of the monastery in time to see Mathias start the Ascension ritual. She works her way to Mathias, confronting Solarii and guards alike. Lara kills Mathias when she shoots him from the roof of the monastery using her signature dual-wield style, before destroying Himiko's remains to save Sam. With the storms dispersed, Lara, Sam, Reyes, and Jonah leave the island and are picked up by a cargo ship. As she and her friends sail home, Lara decides that there are many more myths to be found and resolves to uncover them, stating that she is not returning home just yet.

Lara Croft's model is animated using compiled performance capture, a technique used in the previous installment Tomb Raider: Underworld.[23] The game was built on Crystal Dynamics' game engine called "Foundation".[24] Lara's face is based on that of model Megan Farquhar. "Turning Point" CGI teaser trailer premiered at the E3 held in June 2011, emphasizing the release date was to be in the third quarter of 2012.[25] The trailer was produced by Square Enix's CGI studio Visual Works.[26]

Keeley Hawes did not return as Lara Croft for 2013's Tomb Raider, after working on Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary, Underworld and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. She reprised the role of Lara in the downloadable game Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, which was released in December 2014. Crystal Dynamics was said to be auditioning dozens of voice actresses.[27] The voice actress of Lara Croft was revealed to be Camilla Luddington in June 2012.[28] Lara is played by Nadine Njeim in the Arabic dub,[29] by Nora Tschirner in the German dub, by Alice David in the French dub, by Karolina Gorczyca in the Polish dub, by Yuko Kaida in the Japanese dub, by Benedetta Ponticelli in the Italian dub, by Guiomar Alburquerque Durán in the Spanish dub and by Polina Sherbakova in the Russian dub.[30]

The gameplay trailer was released online in May 2012, showcasing more action-based gameplay along with varying plot elements. The trailer confirmed the presence of several other non-playable characters besides Lara on the island, many of which appear to be part of a menacing organization.[31] On 4 June, at Microsoft's E3 2012 press conference, a new gameplay demonstration was shown, depicting environmental destruction and other interactivity, stealth combat using a bow and arrow, quick-time events and parachuting.[32] During the summer, gameplay was shown of Lara hunting, exploring the island and killing for the first time. They were shown at Eurogamer Expo at London on 27 September.[33] On 8 December, a new trailer was shown during Spike Video Game Awards. At the beginning, an introduction was made by Camilla Luddington and during the event, the trailer was followed by a musical orchestra, led by music composer Jason Graves.[34] The next week, IGN presented: Tomb Raider Week. Each day from Monday to Friday, previews, features and trailers were released, showing more details for the upgrading system, survival tools and challenge tombs.[35] Tomb Raider went gold on 8 February 2013.[36]

Prior to the game's release, various stores offered extra items as a way of attracting customers to order the game from their store. In North America, GameStop offered the in-game Challenge Tomb. Best Buy orders received the Tomb Raider: The Beginning, a 48-page hardcover graphic novel, written by the game's lead writer Rhianna Pratchett, and telling the story of "how the ill-fated voyage of the Endurance came to be". These orders also came with the Aviatrix Skin as well as the Shanty Town multiplayer map.[54][55] Walmart orders received a free digital download of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, access to a real-life scavenger hunt, the Shanty Town multiplayer map and an exclusive Guerrilla Skin outfit.[56] Pre-orders from Microsoft Store received 1600 Microsoft Points for Xbox Live.[57]

Customers ordering from Amazon received access to the Tomb Raider: The Final Hours Edition, including with a 32-page art book, an in-game Hunter Skin for Lara, and a digital copy of Geoff Keighley's The Final Hours of Tomb Raider for the Kindle Fire.[58] Customers received the Shanty Town multiplayer map and an access code to a real-life scavenger hunt.[59][60] Customers who purchased from Steam received a free copy of Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light, a Challenge Tomb entitled Tomb of the Lost Adventurer and the Shanty Town multiplayer map.[61] Steam offered three exclusive bonus Team Fortress 2 items.[62]

In the United Kingdom, ShopTo.net offered a digitised graphic novel, entitled Tomb Raider: The Beginning.[63] Orders from Amazon.co.uk received the Shanty Town multiplayer map.[64]

Exclusive for Europe is the Survival Edition. This edition comes with a mini art book, double sided map of the in-game island, CD soundtrack, an exclusive weapons pack, and a survival pouch.[65] The Collector's Edition for Europe contains everything from the Survival Edition along with an 8" Play Arts Kai Lara Croft figurine in a metal box.[66] The Collector's Edition for North America is similar to the European one, but instead of a mini art book and a survival pouch it contains three iron-on badges and a lithograph.[67] A new version of the game including re-built graphics and all downloadable content, titled Definitive Edition, was released on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2014.[53]

The Survival Edition from Steam includes a digital 32-page art book, 10 downloadable tracks from the Tomb Raider soundtrack, a digital double sided map of the game's island, a digital comic, the Guerilla Skin outfit and three in-game weapons from Hitman: Absolution.[61]

In the United Kingdom, Game offered the exclusive Explorer Edition bundle, which included an exploration themed Challenge Tomb and a skill upgrade.[68] Exclusive to Tesco was the Combat Strike Pack, which included three weaponry upgrades and a skill upgrade.[69]

A limited edition wireless controller for the Xbox 360 was released on 5 March 2013.[70] A download code for an Xbox exclusive playable Tomb Raider multiplayer character was included.[71]

At E3 2012, during Microsoft's press conference, Crystal Dynamics' Darrell Gallagher unveiled that Xbox 360 users would get early access to downloadable content (DLC).[72] In March 2013, Xbox Live users had early access to the "Caves & Cliffs" map pack. The map pack consisted of three new Tomb Raider multiplayer maps, entitled "Scavenger Caverns", "Cliff Shantytown" and "Burning Village".[73] The pack later became available for PSN and Steam users in April. The "1939" multiplayer map pack was released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, consisting of two new multiplayer maps, entitled "Dogfight" and "Forest Meadow".[74] Later in April, Square Enix released a Japanese Language Pack on Steam.[75] A multiplayer DLC pack was released on 7 May, entitled "Shipwrecked", on Xbox Live, PSN and Steam, offering two additional multiplayer maps, "Lost Fleet" and "Himiko's Cradle".[76] Additionally, a single player outfit pack was released on Xbox Live. The pack contained the Demolition, Sure-Shot and Mountaineer outfits.[77]

The game sold more than 1 million copies less than 48 hours after its release.[105] In the United Kingdom, Tomb Raider debuted at number one on the charts, and became the biggest UK title launch in 2013, surpassing the sales of Aliens: Colonial Marines, before being overtaken by Grand Theft Auto V.[106][107] Tomb Raider set a new record for the franchise, more than doubling the debut sales of Tomb Raider: Legend. Furthermore, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Tomb Raider set new week one records as the fastest-selling individual formats of any Tomb Raider title so far, a record which was previously held by Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.[106] Tomb Raider topped the charts in France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States.[108][109][110][111][112] In the United States, Tomb Raider was the second best-selling title of March, excluding download sales, behind BioShock Infinite.[113] In Japan, Tomb Raider debuted at number four with 35,250 units sold.[114]

Three weeks after its release on March 26, Square Enix announced that the game sold 3.4 million copies worldwide at retail, but has failed to reach predicted sales targets.[115] Crystal Dynamics however defended Tomb Raider's sales, stating the reboot had the "most successful launch" of any game that year in addition to setting a new record for highest sales in the franchise's history.[116] On 22 August, Darrell Gallagher, head of product development and studios for Square Enix, said to Gamasutra that the game had sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.[117] In the United Kingdom, Tomb Raider was the 6th best-selling boxed game of 2013.[118] In January 2014, Scot Amos, executive producer of Tomb Raider, revealed that at the end of 2013 the game achieved profitability.[119] On 3 February, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, a re-release for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, debuted atop the UK charts.[120] Gallagher predicted on March 6 that the game would surpass 6 million units by the end of the month.[121] By April 2015, Gallagher announced that the sales had reached 8.5 million, making the game the best-selling Tomb Raider title to date.[122] As of October 2021, the game has sold more than 14.5 million copies.[123][124]