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.
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.
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