The rebooted Tomb Raider series has done an excellent job imparting a sense of high-altitude danger, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider looks like it’s expanding on that theme in a new gameplay video.
Dubbed “Treacherous Traversal,” the brief clip shows Lara Croft rappelling, swinging, and leaping from treacherous cliff faces and through whirling deathtraps, and in less than a minute establishes the teeth-clenching tension the series has cultivated in recent years. Lara is relying heavily on a grappling hook this time around, and in one scene she’s alternatively swinging between and attaching her rope to hooks that jut out below a rock formation high above a mountain jungle.
Her rope comes in handy in other situations as well, whether she’s descending into a tomb full of spikes or rappelling across a sheer face of granite. The video is full of kinetic energy, only pausing long enough for Lara to wait as spinning, bladed arms move by to give her an opening to climb up the central pillar in what appears to be an enormous meat grinder.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s PC release date is September 14th on Steam. It’s set in and around Paititi, an ancient Peruvian city, and from what we’ve seen so far it seems like it’s taking Lara in a new direction.
She’s the archaeological equivalent of a Jedi now, and will have to reckon with the damage she’s capable of inflicting with her finely-honed combat and survival abilities.