Eventually I came across this flimsy shack, where the semi-infamous “rape” cut-scene plays out. It’s not distasteful, but it’s very tense and I can tell you right now, it goes no further than what we’ve seen. It leads to a struggle for the man’s gun after Lara fights back and kicks him in the groin. The player has to quickly tap the “X” button to point the gun towards the aggressor and off goes his face! Well, not exactly, but it’s pretty gruesome and very effective in helping to communicate the shock, horror and realisation that Lara has taken another’s life.

Gun-play now becomes a two way street. Weapons can be toggled between by using the D-Pad. At this point, the temple and surrounding structures are on fire (see: hell) and I had to shoot my way out of this enemy-infested zone. Stealth is still a factor, and an option. Along the path, I was introduced to a few more mechanics. There was a distraction technique of shooting near an enemy with an arrow to make them investigate, but it honestly just gave away my position. Another was environmental strategy in the form of small gas lanterns, which could be shot down to create a fire.

Time for a stealth take-down.

Then, some hand-to-hand combat is explored. Pressing the “Y” button will simply push/shove an enemy, but sneaking up behind them and holding “Y” would initiate a grapple/silent take-down by which the player must rapidly tap “X” to complete it, choking out the enemy with Lara’s crossbow.  This is utilised often in an area where Lara has to climb the levels of this tower with multiple gunmen standing guard at different points on the path. The final mechanic that is introduced in this section is the use of zip-lines.  Jumping at a zip-line and pressing “X” has Lara slide down using her pry axe. It’s a great short-cut during traversal, but it’s use is not forced and repetitive like in Rage, for instance.

11 Buddhist-looking statues can be lit, like the one in the centre there.

Once out of there, we reach a smaller “Village Hub”. This area is largely platforming/traversal based, which breaks up the tone and pace nicely. After that, we enter the beginnings of the “Coastal Forest” hub. Here I took my time at this point to finally use my salvage points for further upgrades. I gave Lara the means to fight a little dirtier against enemies with a dust throw manoeuvre. This tactic is part of the “Brawler” sub-list, and is the one I briefly referred to earlier that works in conjunction with the dodge. Once a dodge has been activated, pressing “X” has Lara throw dust in a baddie’s eyes, momentarily incapacitating them. And finally, I enabling a quicker shooting and re-shooting of arrows with a bow upgrade, and some scavenging bonuses from boxes and dead bodies.

Captain Conrad Roth…stepping in bear traps too, I see.

After some travelling, Lara comes across Endurance’s Captain, Conrad Roth, who is wounded. He needs medical supplies, but they are not with him. Lara tries to help Roth walk her to its location, but he faints and she has to go it alone. On my way, I came across a GPS cache, which could be collected, in front of a cave entrance. It was an optional tomb on my continuation along the critical path. It’s probably one of the most obvious ones to find. However, walking inside, I was stunted by a high, jagged wall that couldn’t be ascended…yet. I exited, and the primary objective led me to a dark cave where faint movements in the shadows could be seen and it became quickly apparent that a wolf was stalking me.

A bear trap and then a wolf bite…that leg is ravaged! Poor Lara.

On the way out of the cave with the supplies, the wolf attacked and I had to shake the left thumbstick left to right to fight off the wolf. The quick-time like event ends with Lara killing the animal, allowing me to find my way back to Roth. Once I return, they share a brief conversation, which is more like a pep talk for Lara. Roth gives Lara a climbing axe, which enabled me to climb that wall I found earlier and proceed through this hub. I returned to its location. The tomb was quite simple, and the puzzle within had to do with weight distribution. The reward for completing these “side tombs” will usually be a relic, of which I could see 42 listed in the in-game menu.

Other than the relics, there are also a total of 53 documents to be discovered throughout the journey. The subject/type of document ranges from ancient scrolls to Endurance crew diaries. Actually, before opening the big gate with Whitman, I did find an entry of his nearby. Of course, I can’t tell you what it said. What’s nice about these documents is the fact that they are fully narrated in the voice of the person who wrote them, much like Lara’s Journals. I also want to point out the great use of color in player-guidance. It’s obviously not as blatant as in Mirror’s Edge, but points of interest usually feature some white, yellow or red painted wood boards as part of it’s structure, or nearby, that lead you in the right direction.

A great example of player guidance via color and the optional tomb.

Continuing on, outside of the last tomb, a storm had picked up, and climbing up the mountain, I came across a couple enemies at an outpost who were contemplating heading to higher ground. Something I neglected to mention until this point is that enemies are very aggressive; they will throw Molotov cocktails and shoot fiery arrows at your cover to disintegrate it and force you to move. And with a gun in their hands, they’re even deadlier. However, I successfully dispatched of them and progressed further upwards. Eventually daylight would begin to seep in-between the mountainous terrain and it actually began to snow.

At this point, Lara sits at another camp-fire and another flashback plays. Getting a message from Roth on the walkie talkie pushes Lara to forge on, where she encounters some more heavily armed men with machine guns. There’s a broken down utility truck pulled almost exactly out of WWII, and as it happens, I soon after come across what seems like an old WWII base (the Island is off the coast of Japan for those who don’t know yet). At this point, there is a bad guy using a search light, scanning the ground. I then had to time my movements so as to avoid the spotlight, all the while stealthily taking guys out along the way. Now, at this point, I must apologise; I was called in for the interview and so I had to pause the game. However, I was near the demo’s end and had been peaking over to the guy next to me, who was a bit ahead of me.

The ziplines I mentioned earlier. I just wanted to end on a fun screen. Wee!

What laid ahead was Lara making her way to the nearby radio tower in the hopes of being able to send out an SOS. However, there is a mini-boss like encounter outside the doors to this building where Lara is confronted by an armoured opponent carrying a heavy riot-like shield. Past that point, I have no idea how the demo ended although I assume there would have been a quite important cut-scene soon after that would have ended the play-through.

All in all, I must say that I am so excited for Tomb Raider’s release on March 5th. The game is looking and playing phenomenally. If I had one true critique at this point, it would be that Lara can seemingly change direction in the middle of a jump way too easily. It’s a very unrealistic animation and movement in a game that prides itself on being realistic. Otherwise, my experience with Tomb Raider was fantastic. To read the interview I had with Sr. Art Director Brian Horton, go here. I tried to ask questions that weren’t asked of him before, but the man has done so many interviews. I hope you all like it.