Tomb Raider is a multiplatform computer game developed by the American studio Crystal Dynamics with the assistance of Eidos Montreal. The global publisher is Square Enix, while the publisher in Russia is '1C-SoftClub'. Tomb Raider was released in March 2013 on the following platforms: PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.
The 2013 Tomb Raider is not a continuation of the series and barely connects with the previous installments of the game universe. It is more accurate to consider Tomb Raider as a reboot or relaunch of the well-known franchise. The main character remains Lara Croft, but she has changed significantly. Lara has become younger, has lost her large breasts, and now has realistic body proportions. Her character has also changed. Once a fierce tomb raider, she has become softer and more naive, with a lack of sternness in her gaze. The character no longer resembles a fierce warrior and has transformed into an ordinary young girl. But this was the main goal of the developers – to make gamers view Lara Croft from a completely different angle.
According to the game’s plot, 21-year-old Lara ends up on a mysterious island after a shipwreck, the shore of which is littered with the wreckage of various ships. She was traveling by sea as part of an exploratory expedition, but after the catastrophe, she finds herself completely alone. Lara hopes to find friends in the future, but for now, she just needs to survive. The island of Yamatai, shrouded in mystical aura, turns out to be a very dangerous place. Bandits, once decent sailors and pilots, roam around, wild beasts are ever-present, it rains constantly, and food is scarce. Lara Croft, having lost her iron-clad nerves due to her 'transformation', often cries and tries to somehow settle in the harsh conditions of the tropical hell, which is the lost piece of land called Yamatai.
A significant emphasis in Tomb Raider is placed on survival. To avoid death, Lara has to hunt for food - for instance, by killing deer. The island is home to other local fauna, but not all of them are peaceful and fluffy. The same wolves can attack her and tear her apart if she doesn’t kill them first. To defend herself from animals (and bipedal opponents as well), the heroine initially uses only a bow and a pickaxe she found in a dungeon, but later, she acquires more powerful weapons: a pistol, a machine gun, a shotgun, and even a submachine gun.
The developers made the game world more open, allowing free movement within a single location without any restrictions. The player is not prohibited from traveling between regions of the island, provided that a certain area has not been fully explored. Although Lara has changed, her desire to explore tombs has not diminished. In the world of Tomb Raider, catacombs and secret caves are often hidden in hard-to-reach or inconspicuous places, and finding them can be quite challenging. However, if the search is successful, the player enters the classic Tomb Raider phase, filled with puzzles and challenges. Some of these can be quite difficult and may cause certain difficulties. Nevertheless, the arising problems can be solved after activating the 'Survival Instinct' mode. This mode highlights the items that Lara can interact with.