First Tomb Raider screenshots bring the grit

Time to party like it’s 1996, because developer Crystal Dynamics has dripfed Game Informer the first screenshots of the new Tomb Raider. It looks … dirty, grimy, gritty, and actually reasonably bloody, with the 21-year-old (she’s younger in this one, remember) heroine Lara Croft scuffed and cut up like a brawling badger.

It’s a different take on the Tomb Raider universe, and I quite like it so far. Those tombs look pretty atmospheric (and possibly a bit scarier than what Lara has encountered previously subsequently) and those fire effects, if real and not touched-up, are pretty ace. My one bugbear here: CAN WE PLEASE STOP WITH THE BLOODY QUICK TIME EVENTS (see: next shot).

Aside from that, it’s shaping up. See you next year, Croft.

[Via Game Informer]