Developer Crystal Dynamics recently shared early gameplay footage of Tomb Raider Ascension, a canceled survival horror title that featured horrifying Silent Hill-esque enemies. Tomb Raider Ascension is no secret, given that Crystal Dynamics shared cursory details about the project during 2012’s Geoff Keighley-produced “Final Hours of Tomb Raider” documentary series.
Ascension at its core constituted a Resident Evil-inspired survival horror game that would drop Lara Croft on a mysterious island replete with monstrous and ghostly threats. Apparently, Crystal Dynamics also took cues from PlayStation 2 classic Ico, as Lara would’ve been paired with a young girl during her adventures across the island. The Ascension prototype ultimately failed to make the final cut, though, resulting in the studio building what eventually evolved into the Tomb Raider reboot in 2013. That reimagining of the beloved action-adventure franchise spawned two sequels, 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider and 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider – Deus Ex developer Eidos-Montréal helmed the latter.
Earlier this week, Crystal Dynamics shared seven minutes of Tomb Raider Ascension gameplay footage from its incipient stages of development. Instances of Lara using a torch, squeezing through tight spaces, and traversing open environments resemble Tomb Raider 2013 pretty faithfully. However, there’s much about this prototype build that bears more in common with the likes of Konami’s Silent Hill. Some of the creepy creatures that Lara contends with offer a few examples, particularly the faceless monstrosity of mammoth proportions that she flees from around the four-minute mark. This scene also provides a glimpse at work-in-progress horseback riding mechanics, which never found its way into the rebooted series of games.
The Ascension video provides an interesting look at what could’ve been, but perhaps it’s best Crystal Dynamics abandoned the survival horror-leaning project? Tomb Raider (2013) still homed in on survivor-based qualities, with hunting and scavenging mechanics that forced players to manage Lara’s progression as the adventure continued. These mechanics, specifically, informed gear upgrades, which proved integral to navigating the title’s threat-laden hub areas.
At the start of the 25th Anniversary celebration, Crystal Dynamics teased that future Tomb Raider games will attempt to link the reboot and original series timelines. How the studio plans on pulling off such a feat isn’t yet known, but it sounds as though Lara Croft’s next set of escapes could prove even more exciting than those of the past.
