One of the best sagas that the nineties gave us was undoubtedly Tomb Raider. Starring the intrepid Lara Croft, it was a boom in 1996 as a replica of the adventures of the iconic Indiana Jones. Who does not remember that first encounter with the dinosaur? That shocking scene is never forgotten.
With nine subsequent installments (not counting spin-offs , such as Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light), the saga created by Core Design suffered more than evident wear, until Crystal Dynamics (with a first resurrection attempt in 2006 with Tomb Raider Legend and two more installments, including the one on its tenth anniversary) decided to restart its story with the homonym Tomb Raider in 2013. And in my case, I was fascinated to air it on an intense weekend.
Be careful, SPOILERS. Do not continue reading if you have not passed the story …
A more real Lara for a more … realistic game?
Crystal Dynamics chose to know the beginnings of an inexperienced Lara , without having had to deal with death with her own hands until then. A Lara with a more youthful appearance, with much to learn and a seemingly idyllic destination for her learning as an archaeologist: Yamatai Island. A place located in the Dragon Triangle, where the lost kingdom of Yamatai is believed to be.
However, everything is cut short when they arrive aboard the Endurance , as if the island prevents the crew from escaping from there … And with many dangers to face. The curious thing, apart from being an aspect criticized in the form of memes , is that Lara went from overnight to being horrified when killing a wolf and a human enemy, to becoming a complete unscrupulous hunter. Not for nothing was the law of the jungle and it was better for the bad guys to die than for Lara herself to die, of course. But how quickly the trauma passed … “The powers of the island.”
The fact is that beyond those mercenaries in search of the same objective as Lara and his family, from the outset there was no glimpse of a paranormal component so marked to what came later, discovering what was happening with the Storm on the island, for example. It was not like in other Tomb Raider , like the one from 1996, where a dinosaur surprised us at the first change. This reboot went easy .
In addition, it surprised with the prominence of the island, three years after the end of Lost, in the sense of having to revisit previously explored areas, but with other parts to access when obtaining the improvement or object of rigor. It wasn’t linear like Uncharted, wow. And personally I was very grateful for the change, being a reboot that renewed the Tomb Raider brand in a big way , differing from the opinion of my colleague Rubén, where he claims that he lost all his essence.
Himiko’s big reveal before the final leg
Throughout the adventure, Lara followed a logical path across the island, with a few laps in between. On these routes, he gradually discovered the island’s past, such as its connection with the Second World War , with Japanese scientists and the Nazi army with the aim of using the strong storms of the island to destroy the Allies. Or learn more about the Solarii, protectors of Himiko.
Himiko was the Queen of the Sun of Yamatai Island, ruling several millennia ago with the help of her Storm Guard. But one thing is what the legend says or the writings tell and another is to see it with Lara’s own eyes, discovering a corpse in one of the most hidden parts of the island. Said body was that of the General of the Storm Guard himself who protected Himiko herself. But why did he apply seppuku with his dagger? This has crumb …
It turns out that Himiko had found in the maiden Hoshi, one of the Daughters of the Sun , the perfect candidate to succeed her on the throne when the queen died. Now this ritual involved something macabre and dark: Himiko would steal Hoshi’s body, extinguishing his soul in the process. Hence, in the first instance, Hoshi committed suicide to prevent his own soul from being destroyed, while the General committed suicide to avoid the disgrace of not having known how to protect his queen.
A Japanese soap opera, come on. And what does Lara paint in all this? She nothing. Rather, her friend and partner Samantha Nishimura , being the candidate chosen by the Solarii to offer to their queen Himiko and to start her “ascension” ritual.
Lara’s last attempt to avoid it leads her to a new destination on the island, accessible only by torpedo boat. A monastery located in the northern part of the island. And at high altitude, in addition, with a very strong wind.
There he sees again the traitor James Whitman , the doctor who was the architect of the Endurance expedition, along with Sam herself and the leader of the Solarii, Father Mathias . Until when you reach a bridge, something happens. The Oni warriors of the ancient Storm Guard come to life and effortlessly kill the doctor, a moment used by both Mathias and Sam, as well as Lara, to cross the bridge and reach the next area. And it is there, shortly after entering the monastery, when we see his entire army .
The Storm Guard … in all its glory
In that instant, Tomb Raider wants us to feel fear . Lara moves stealthily, knowing that a misstep or inopportune noise will lead to certain and instantaneous death from any Oni warrior. And there is an entire army that does not stop advancing along the central road, until it reaches the bottom with two huge lines of more soldiers. And with others at the top of the room.
Lara is in a clear disadvantageous position, so she has to get out of there shitting milk … Something that she achieves with little effort, despite the initial impression of seeing that one of the Oni warriors is a being of enormous size . But, of course, you can’t get away with it, and shortly after leaving that room, you run into a few stragglers oni, who offer quite a bit of resistance thanks to their armor. Also, when we shot them in the head, we discovered that they have the appearance of mummies …
The thing does not stop there, of course, having a new scare on another bridge, with the giant Oni, to see how the wind takes it, until seeing a Lara in Rambo mode against several waves of Oni warriors shortly after, having to take advantage of the environment (with many explosives) and his skill with weapons and dodging movement, to escape from there … with more corpses than treasures.
The final fireworks comes with a warning, a point of no return (until the story goes on), with more paranormal ration of millennial warriors and Himiko herself trying to resurrect at the cost of Sam’s body. And yes, with a fight between Lara and the giant warrior. Because a Tomb Raider without a fantasy ration is not a Tomb Raider .
Unforgettable moments from video games
- The final stretch of A Way Out with a totally brutal rule change
- The Red Dead Redemption Ranch Massacre
- The airport mission in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Vaas’s monologue on insanity in Far Cry 3
- The chaos theory cliffhanger in Life is Strange and what came next
- The masked character from Resident Evil 5
- The Nightmare with the Scarecrow in Batman Arkham Asylum
- The Mercy incident in Gears of War 3
- The concert scene in Alan Wake
- The harsh reality of The Walking Dead’s farm
- The Journey to Sanctuary in Borderlands 2
- “Do you want?” By BioShock
