Lara Croft bundles up for these Rise of the Tomb Raider images

By Will Fulton February 21, 2015

Crystal Dynamics has shared a batch of images from Rise of the Tomb Raider, the upcoming sequel to the studio’s extremely successful 2013 reboot of the action-puzzle-platforming series.

Set to arrive exclusively on Xbox 360 and Xbox One in late 2015, Rise of the Tomb Raider continues the story of a young Lara Croft as she becomes one of the greatest adventurers in the world. This time around the action is set in the frigid, northern wastes of Siberia, as Lara Croft and Jonah Maiava discover an ancient city built by the Grand Prince of Vladimir in the 13th century.

Improvements include updated crafting and a greater focus on environmental simulation, with dynamic weather and a day-night cycle that affects both humans and animals. Lara can now swim, opening up new modes of exploration. The game also features a greater emphasis on puzzles than the previous entry, hearkening back to the series’ more puzzle-centric origins.

Snow plays a prominent role, forcing Lara to cut trenches and allowing her to track animals by the prints they leave before new snow covers them over. One of the screens indicates that Lara won’t be bundled up for the entire game, showing a cliffside temple, reminiscent of Petra.

Rise of the Tomb Raider comes to Xbox consoles as a timed exclusive for holiday 2015, with other platforms to follow at a later, unspecified date.

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Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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