Breaking Lara: Tomb Raider like we've never seen it before

When Crystal Dynamics said they were taking a more mature direction for the new Tomb Raider, they weren’t kidding. From reports and footage from the upcoming game is downright brutal: violent, merciless, and sexually explicit. Since the game is more a reboot than a prequel, the developers aren’t torturing the bad-ass weapons and tomb expert we’ve come to know over the years — they’re traumatizing a young, inexperienced girl. We have to wonder whether Lara will make it out alive with her sanity and endearing British wit intact. Throughout my own childhood and adolescence, I threw Lara off cliffs and watched her die in the most painful ways possible for the sake of progressing. It was often difficult to figure out which rocky juts were actually viable platforms and which would send Lara plummeting to her doom. Taking risks was a natural part of Tomb Raider, and with the convenience of saving anytime in the earlier games, players never so much as blinked when their clumsy mistake caused Lara to careen off mountainsides, drown in underwater labyrinths, or die in the clutches of a mythological monster or ferocious bear.

Now when Lara suffers, we’ll remember. The recent trailer from E3 and all of Lara’s very vocal screaming suggests that every time she falls, she’ll gain a new scar. Keeping Lara alive won’t mean avoiding constant reloads as much as it will helping her to survive — and hopefully resist total mental and physical exhaustion.

Every new challenge in life can be seen as a new challenge to overcome and to try out the survivor’s new set of coping skills.” When watching trailers and demos for the game, it’s hard not to cringe. There seems to be no end to what the developers are willing to put Lara through. While fans might draw numerous connections to the gameplay of Uncharted, it’s clear that what we’re seeing is far from the hapless adventures of Nathan Drake — even at their most grim. It’s doubtful that all of Lara’s travel companions will survive the ordeal, and aside for Lara’s self-referential “I hate tombs” line (thinkIndiana Jones and his feelings toward snakes), humor might be in low supply. Whoever this Lara is destined to become by the end of the game, she won’t be the same woman as the one we’ve gone on adventures with before. “I don’t think I’m that kind of Croft,” she says in the “Crossroads” trailer, picking up a gun for what might be the first time. “Sure you are,” a voice responds. “You just don’t know it yet.” Crystal Dynamics might be testing Lara’s courage in taking a life, but perhaps they’ve also raised new questions about possibilities in gameplay — how far developers are willing to go, and how much gamers would risk to see.