Chances are that if you ask gamers what the best release of 2015 was, more than a few of them would respond with Rise of the Tomb Raider. Developer Crystal Dynamics and publisher Square Enix brought the direct sequel to 2013’s best selling Tomb Raider out at a time when sequels like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Fallout 4 were sure to provide serious competition. As it turned out, Rise of the Tomb Raider sold well for consoles but did especially strong sales for PC.
Aside from its excellent sales, the game was also a big favorite amongst critics, topping many best of the year lists and even helping to renew Hollywood’s interest in basing a new Tomb Raider film, starring Alicia Vikander (Jason Bourne) as Lara Croft, on the rebooted video game franchise. With such a strong fanbase for the Tomb Raider video games building with each of the most recent releases, a follow up to Rise of the Tomb Raider was a given.
To date not much has been said about a sequel at all, but now it appears that Square Enix might have had the title of their upcoming Tomb Raider adventure involuntarily leaked by an employee on a Montreal subway. Kodaku has reported that a Reddit user happened to spy the screen of a fellow commuter’s laptop and was able to snap a photo (which can be seen below) where the title Shadow of the Tomb Raider can just barely be seen.
The rather industrious (if not slightly intrusive) commuter who took the photo also told Kodaku that the page displayed on the laptop was talking about visuals, but that he couldn’t make out much of what it said from his vantage point. Kodaku reached out to Square Enix for comment but so far has not received a response. There have been rumors up to this point that Shadow of the Tomb Raider would be the title of the upcoming game, so this is just further proof to strengthen that theory. It’s also looking as though this time around the game will be developed by Eidos Montreal – the studio responsible for Thief and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, rather than Crystal Dynamics.
Though Shadow of the Tomb Raider very well might be the title of the next installment in the Lara Croft franchise, exactly how far into development the game is remains unknown. Hopefully the popularity of Rise of the Tomb Raider won’t create a rush to get the next title out. Publishers like Rockstar have proven time and time again that the best titles always benefit from a lengthy development. Many fans don’t mind waiting a little longer if the end product looks and plays like something that was carefully considered.
At present, the Tomb Raider film is set for release in the spring of 2018, so it’s very possible that the release of Shadow of the Tomb Raider will coincide with that date to some extent. For now however, we have only this blurred photo of a laptop on a subway journey to keep us intrigued as to what sort of Lara Croft adventure awaits gamers.
Screen Rant will keep you up to date on all news of the sequel to Rise of the Tomb Raider.
