Rise of the Tomb Raider Shows How To Survive An Avalanche At E3 2015

At the Xbox press conference, Crystal Dynamics showed a new gameplay demo of Rise of the Tomb Raider. The sequel to the 2013 reboot of the action adventure game, Rise of the Tomb Raider takes Lara to the snowy mountains of Russia in search of some ancient ruins.

The trailer opened with Lara advancing through an icy cave, equipped with her now-signature climbing axe, while also sporting cold-weather gear. As she leaves the cave and advances up a mountain, some of the new environment's hazards came into play. Lara trudged slowly through deep snow, and icicles fell as she climbed up a craggy wall.

Some familiar platforming elements were shown in the new snowy environment, as Lara shimmied along a narrow platform, climbed with her climbing axe, and leapt across bridges. This platforming disturbed the environment, and an avalanche initiated a scripted sequence that forced Lara to run for her life. She slid down ramps and ziplines, but is eventually knocked unconscious.

This is what I'm interesting in playing in Rise of the Tomb Raider: the parts of the game where I'm alone, low and resources, and there are dangerous creatures lurking just out of sight.

This section of the demo didn't show much new in the way of gameplay, but the new mountainous environment looked spectacular. After Lara regained consciousness, some short new clips showed scenes that were much more intriguing. We saw Lara crafting her signature bow and arrow, as well her being taken to and subsequently breaking out of prison, then pushing a minecart to solve a puzzle, as well as a brand new underwater swimming section. The demo ended with Lara facing off against a bear, so it seems like her new environment will bring with it new dangers.

This is what I'm interesting in playing in Rise of the Tomb Raider: the parts of the game where I'm alone, low and resourceless, and there are dangerous creatures lurking just out of sight. It was hard to tell from the scripted platforming sequence if the sequel's environmental exploration will feel more puzzle-like than its predecessor, but that will be key to making me engage with them more this time around. Overall, Rise of the Tomb Raider's showing was typical for that of a press conference: loud, flashy, impressive on a surface level, but lacking greater detail for fans of the rebooted series.

Rise of the Tomb Raider's release date was also announced at the Xbox press conference, and the game continues to be an Xbox One exclusive for the holiday 2015 period.

For all the Xbox news, take a look at our complete Microsoft E32015 news round-up.