Square Enix has given its development studio extra time to reboot Tomb Raider.
What role will Roth play in molding Lara?
Roth is an important character. We really showed how Lara is a character that needs encouragement, that needs motivation to actually do what she’s got to go do to survive because she’s really not ready for it. Roth will help her with that.
Can you talk about the game’s hubs?
The hub spaces are very large environments on the island. It’s one where you can see from bottom to top a very huge distance. Everywhere you can see, you can actually climb. It’s very freeform. We have a built-in wall-to-wall pass. We’ve introduced a new system for traversal that allows you to steer in an analog way once you’ve jumped. Mid-flow you can actually twist and turn. You can grab different objects as you’re going through the environment. Really, it’s about you allowing Lara and yourself as a player to explore a lot of space and ultimately use your resources and what you collect along the way to continue that cycle of survival.
Can you just talk about the size of the world?
In terms of size of scale, this is an open world game. This is a game that has no linear structure to it. You have the ability to go to hubs. You have the ability to traverse them in many different ways. They’re gear-gated, so you won’t be able to explore the hub in full until you actually get the right equipment and own the right abilities to unlock certain areas. The scope and scale of them is the largest spaces we’ve done. Ultimately, you have a system that allows you to fast travel through areas you’ve explored and go back to them once you have new equipment to go and explore once more.
