New Tomb Raider game features archery.
The seemingly unstoppable rise of fictional characters wielding a bow and arrow continues apace. The Tomb Raider gaming franchise has had a reboot, and the very cover itself features Lara Croft holding what looks like a composite bow with ornate scrolled tips. Watch a bit of the gameplay here:
There’s a clear bowhunting meme, plus it looks like you might be able to ‘augment’ your bow in the game, however that is going to work.
On top of that, Tomb Raider doesn’t move completely in lock-step with Uncharted. Early on, players are introduced to the campfire hubs, where Lara can craft better weapons with salvage she’s collected and unlock new skills with XP she’s racked up. They’re familiarised with the game’s shooter mechanics as Lara hunts deer and fends off hungry wolves. They also activate her “Hunter’s Instinct” mechanic by tapping the right bumper, illuminating useful items and objectives in her environment.
The moment that Lara steps away from the body of her first kill, however, both she and Tomb Raider change. The character takes her first step towards honing her ruthless survival instincts and the game flowers into a series of open-ended playgrounds… While embargo forbids me from going into detail about some of the collectibles, I can report that picking salvage is a high priority in the game. Shortly after Lara’s initial scramble for survival, players gain access to both a pistol and bow, both of which can be augmented to cause more damage and increase their rate of fire. Not long after that, a submachine gun is added to the mix and the list of possible augments balloons considerably. Players will need to collect as much salvage as they can to kit out Lara’s arsenal, so it’s worth solving every puzzle, smashing open every container they find and looting every enemy they fell.
Source: The Guardian
Watching the video above will give you an idea how ‘accurately’ the archery is simulated. I get the feeling we haven’t seen the last piece of entertainment this year featuring some kind of sexed-up pseudo-traditional archery suggesting rugged independence. Or the last spurious or semi-spurious use of bows as a fashion accessory.
Still, somewhere down the line it might inspire one or fifty or five hundred people to take up archery for life, and I’m all good with that.
