Many games go through development cycles that involve multiple ideas and directions that originally get scrapped. With all of its polish, it may be hard to believe that Tomb Raider also had a very different direction starting out.
Tomb Raider Empire has unearthed a very early prototype of the game when it was something called Ascension. In this stage, the game was inspired in part by games such as Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, and Resident Evil. Combat against nasty-looking monsters was a focus before Crystal Dynamics decided to branch off into the “survivor” theme that we got in the final product. While that’s probably better, this prototype still looks pretty intense and atmospheric, particularly the middle section. Still, I can’t help thinking that things would have ended up being kind of repetitive. Check out the video below.
Would you have preferred the direction the team originally went with, or do you think the final product was a better idea? Tell us in the comments, or discuss Tomb Raider in our forums!
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