Aug 9, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider lets you independently adjust difficulty of puzzles, traversal and combat

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Shadow of the Tomb Raider has an impressive set of difficulty options that lets you independently adjust difficulty for puzzles, traversal and combat.

It means players who enjoy the challenge of solving puzzles and exploring but struggle with combat, for example, can tweak the game to suit.

There are four unique settings for puzzles, traversal and combat, developer Eidos Montreal said in a blog post. These are easy, normal, hard and the brilliantly-named Deadly Obsession. (Pick Deadly Obsession and it applies to all three categories, which means you can't change the difficulty for the remainder of the playthrough.)

Aug 8, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider - Difficulty and Accessibility

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition - MJCrystalD

Play the way you want in Shadow of the Tomb Raider with new accessibility selections and customizable difficulty settings! Go beyond the single toggle for altering gameplay and say hello to new options like:

Optional Y Axis Inversion
Toggling on and off Vibration
Reducing Camera Shake
The option to center the camera horizontally so that it is ‘soft locked’ on Lara’s back, requiring the use of only one stick for movement. The other stick can still be used to move the camera if desired.
The option to tap rather than hold left trigger to aim down the sights
The option to use right (default) or left stick to aim, when looking down sights (left trigger)
The option to hold button press prompts rather than repeated tapping
The option to push the stick directionally for crank control prompts rather than rotate
Adjustable aim sensitivity

Our Audio accessibility options include:

Subtitles: Off, On with Color, On without Color
Environmental Subtitles: Display subtitles for all conversations taking place nearby, or only for critical conversations
Closed Captioning: Display additional or interpretive information such as sound effects, musical cues, and other relevant audio information

We’re not stopping there because we’ve made it possible for players to independently adjust difficulty for puzzles, traversal, and combat. There are four unique settings for the aforementioned trio: Easy, Normal, Hard, and Deadly Obsession. While traditional options like easy, normal, and hard can be swapped at any time, once a player chooses Deadly Obsession, it applies to all three categories (puzzles, traversal and combat) and they will be unable to change the difficulty for the remainder of the playthrough. Choose-wisely…

A loyal friend to any Tomb Raider completionist, Survival Instincts is back once again. Adventurers looking for a more holistic experience can toggle Beacon (next objective location) and Glow (interactable objects) on/off regardless of difficulty settings (except when on the Deadly Obsession setting, of course).

For a deeper look at the game’s difficulty settings, feast your eyes on the breakdown below.

Combat

Easy

Aim assist enabled
Enemies have lower health and do less damage
Ammunition boxes are plentiful
Enemies have illuminated silhouettes

Normal

Enemies have normal health and damage
Ammunition boxes are rare
Enemies have illuminated silhouettes

Hard

Enemies have increased health, do more damage and locate Lara more quickly.
No health regeneration in combat
Ammunition boxes are rare
No hit markers on the reticle
Enemies are not highlighted in Survival Instincts

Deadly Obsession

Same as hard
No HUD icon when Lara is being detected by an enemy

Exploration

Easy

Obvious white paint on critical path
Longer saving grab timer
Base camps are lit

Normal

Discreet white paint on critical path
Normal saving grab timer
Base camps are unlit

Hard

No white paint on critical path
Reduced saving grab timer
No Survival Instincts during exploration
Base camps are unlit

Deadly Obsession

Same as Hard
Base camps are unlit and require resources to light
Game only saves at Base camps

Puzzles

Easy

Lara gives direct hints on next action to perform
Interactable objects are highlighted in Survival Instincts
Objects necessary to progress highlighted in blue during Survival Instincts
Longer window of opportunity for timed mechanics

Normal

Lara gives general hints on the next action to perform
Interactable objects are highlighted in Survival Instincts
Normal window of opportunity for timed mechanics

Hard/Deadly Obsession

No hints are given by Lara
No Survival Instincts
Shorter window of opportunity for timer mechanics

The Survival Instincts beacon (which highlights the next objective location) and glow (objects Lara can interact with) can also be toggled on or off regardless of difficulty settings, except when on the Deadly Obsession setting.We hope these additions allow more fans than ever to enjoy Tomb Raider.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be available on September 14th, 2018 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows PC/Steam. Pre-order Digital Deluxe, Digital Croft or Croft Edition now to get Shadow of the Tomb Raider two days early!

Aug 8, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider teases brutal stealth kills, deadly tombs, cave-swinging

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Phil's look inside Eidos Montreal's darker, deadlier and stealthier Shadow of the Tomb Raider suggests its combat will combine stealth and assault closer than before. Its latest trailer talks tactics in the process of doing so.

Cue some Rambo/Predator/Metal Gear Solid 3 levels of jungle hunting:

The gruesome takedowns depicted there look cool, but I'm most taken by Lara Croft hugging bushes and donning mud camouflage—and I like the idea of planning each assault ahead of the event, no matter how gruesome each one winds up. I'm sure the poor chap above had it coming.

Launched earlier this week, another short shows off the huge, intricate tombs Lara will explore. I suspect these are brimming with levers and spike pits and pressure plates.

Beyond the caves, here's a glimpse at the pre-Mayan apocalypse backdrop you're tasked with steering Lara around:

And here's some of the, let's say, less than orthodox ways you'll do so. The whip-leveraging moves shown around the 28-second mark below are particularly impressive:

That sure trumps my once-a-month 20 minutes on the treadmill. Rather her, than me.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is due September 14, 2018. Till then, read Tom's impressions of an early build.

Jul 29, 2018

Square Enix shows off Shadow of the Tomb Raider's improved climbing techniques

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Square Enix has shared a new video of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, this one focussed on the climbing improvements coming to the latest addition in the Tomb Raider series.

Entitled "Treacherous Traversal", the brief 37-second teaser gives an insight into how the team has revised Lara Croft's climbing techniques. Whilst climbing (and plummeting to a painful death, of course) has always been a key facet of Croft's stories, along with her trusty grappling hook and traversal rope, she can also wall-run, switch direction mid-air, and grab onto handy vines, too.

Here, take a peek yourself:

Jul 29, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider video shows Lara's new climbing techniques

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Square Enix have been keeping a steady supply of videos coming to showcase various features of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. We've seen the series' biggest ever hub and its gorgeous jungles and in this latest video we see some "treacherous traversal".

It includes dynamic climbing reminiscent of 2003's Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and features Lara hanging from ropes, carefully navigating a death trap made of spinning blades, and using the grappling hook she had in Rise of the Tomb Raider—only now it lets her swing around like Spider-Man. With luck all this will add up to a movement system more interesting than we've seen in the rebooted series so far, which has tended to be about pushing in the direction you need to go and watching as a climbing animation happens—at least until something collapses beneath you.

Near the end of this video Lara does land on a rooftop that immediately crumbles and sends her toward a flooding river, so it's not all change.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is due on September 14.

Jul 23, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider video showcases the series' biggest ever hub

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn't open world, but like its predecessor, it'll boast its fair share of wide open areas. Chief among these will be Paititi, a hidden city in Latin America which has been "untouched by modern culture", according to the gameplay video embedded below.

Paititi is also the biggest hub area in the series yet. In addition to picking up side quests and the location of challenge tombs, you can also interact with its barter-based economy. There are plenty of folk around, and talking to them may flesh out certain parts of the overarching story.

Not that any of this is surprising: it's a video game town with lots of busywork. But it sure looks beautiful. Check it out:

Jun 26, 2018

Video: The most exciting PC games still to come in 2018

We Happy Few - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Matthew Castle)

Coming soon to YouTube: 'Top 10 Ways To Hurt People With Your Elbow In Yakuza 0'

Has it really been six months? 2018 is passing in a blur of frozen architects, drug-pushing prophets and accordion duets. Hell, six months ago the RPS Video Department was but a glint in Graham s eye. You may also recall a gathering of the most exciting games of 2018, a rundown of the year as it looked back in January. With E3 done there s a clearer picture of what the rest of 2018 looks like. Many games have slipped to February 2019 – the stampeding bandits of Red Dead Redemption 2 have them running for the hills – but we ve rustled up 15 of the remaining games that fellow video person Noa and I are looking forward to.

(more…)

Jun 11, 2018

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gets some extremely murder-y new gameplay footage

Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition

As part of its E3 showcase, Square Enix has offered a new glimpse at Shadow of the Tomb Raider in action - and things are getting pretty murder-y in the jungle.

It's an extremely brutal seven minutes of footage, starting off with Lara perched high in the branches of the jungle canopy, surveying the route ahead. What then transpires is a lengthy sequence of stealth in which Miss Croft brutally dispatches everyone in her path using a quite astonishing variety of murder-tools.

There are crossbows to the head, knifes to the chest (and quite possibly forehead), extremely solid-looking bits of machinery to the face, and molotov cocktails consuming everything and everyone in their path, as horrified screams float up from the jungle floor. It's pretty bleak.