Skip to main content

‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ officially announced alongside teaser trailer

Shadow of the Tomb Raider Teaser Trailer [US] - ESRB

Alicia Vikander’s new rebooted Tomb Raider film premieres on Friday, March 16, and looks to examine Lara Croft’s origin story — again — but if you’re more interested in playing as Croft rather than watching her, we have some good news: Shadow of the Tomb Raider is real, and it’s coming this September.

Recommended Videos

Square Enix officially announced Shadow of the Tomb Raider on March 15, along with a September 14 release date for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A full reveal will follow on April 27. The announcement was accompanied by a brief teaser video, as well, which you can watch above.

Some — OK, all — of the surprise was spoiled a day earlier, as some clever internet users decided to inspect the HTML code of the page and found a curious line hidden in there.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the climactic finale of Lara’s origin story,” the page said. “Available September 14, 2018. Pre-order now.”

Rise of the Tomb Raider first released in 2015 for Xbox One and Xbox 360 but eventually came to both the PlayStation 4 and the PC later on. Microsoft had partnered with Square Enix to release that game as a timed exclusive, but as Shadow of the Tomb Raider isn’t being released this way, all players can experience it at the same time.

In December, Square Enix published a message to let fans know that a new Tomb Raider game was in development, but didn’t mention its name explicitly. However, the publisher began each sentence with the letters S, H, A, D, O, and W, giving a tease of what was to come.

It isn’t yet clear which studio is developing the new game, though Eidos’ name is mentioned once in the code. Earlier reports have said Eidos Montreal will be developing Shadow of the Tomb Raider rather than Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the previous two games.

2013’s Tomb Raider reboot set a new bar for a series that had been struggling to make much of a splash, and Rise of the Tomb Raider was an even better sequel, with brilliant set pieces and a better-written story. We can’t wait to see what Square Enix has planned for Croft’s next adventure.

If you want to play Shadow of the Tomb Raider early, head over to the game’s official website. Square Enix is giving fans the chance to play the game early at three different events.

Updated on March 15: Added official announcement.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Maneater, and more are January’s free PS Plus games
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Review

Sony has revealed its next batch of free games for PS Plus subscribers. The January's freebies include Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall, as well as Maneater for PlayStation 5 users.

Both PS4 and PS5 owners will be able to add Shadow of the Tomb Raider to their library starting Tuesday, January 5. The action-adventure game is the third installment of the recent Tomb Raider series reboot. It features excellent bow combat, robust exploration, and tons of puzzles for Lara Croft to solve.

Read more
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 gets a visual upgrade but stays wonderfully familiar
THPS 3 + 4

The year was 2001, and I was flat on my back in the middle of the street after bailing hard from a failed ollie.

Once I dusted myself off, I decided to try again, but in a safer, more digital aspect. Two decades ago, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 devoured my free time, and now the remake is back and doing the exact same thing. An excellent remake, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 brings two classic titles to a modern audience but adds little to the original experience in a way that leaves the game feeling curiously anachronistic.

Read more
The best PlayStation launch games, ranked
best ps1 games sony ps1

The most important time in a console's life is its launch. This is when a new piece of hardware needs to prove that it is worth investing in, which always comes down to games. Launch titles are rarely the best games on the system, although some of Nintendo's launch games buck that trend, but at least need to show off what the system can do. PlayStation always had a secondary selling point with its consoles, such as doubling as a CD player or DVD player, so it is interesting to speculate how successful those early consoles would've been judged solely on their games. We now have launch titles from the PS1 all the way up to the PS5 (and soon to be PS6) to look back on with fresh eyes to see just how good those first games were.

Air Combat - PlayStation 1

Read more