Lara Croft Doesn’t Have To Kill Everyone In ‘Rise Of The Tomb Raider,’ Stealth An Option

The gameplay footage of Rise of the Tomb Raider mostly involves showing off the different ways Lara Croft can kill bad guys and animals when she’s not jumping, climbing, and leaping. Crystal Dynamics wants players of the Xbox One and eventual PC and PlayStation 4 title to know she has her stealthy side too. In fact, she can make it through almost an entire level without killing anyone she’s so stealthy.

Creative Director Noah Hughes opens this new stealth play through video by saying fans wanted to know if it was possible to make it through the “Advancing Storm” level shown off at Gamescom without killing anyone.

“We’ve built our combat to offer as many choices as possible,” Hughes explains, “In this case, it’s possible for Lara to make her way through the area with zero kills.

“Of course, sometimes combat is unavoidable, but how you approach combat in Rise of the Tomb Raider is often up to you,” he adds.

Our alternate Gamescom “Advancing Storm” playthrough demonstrates a completely non-lethal approach. #TombRaider https://t.co/aBfhXN7Rrg

— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) August 22, 2015

Lara is able to hide and bushes and hide behind objects to avoid being seen. However, sometimes an enemy soldier is standing in a spot that she can’t get by without having her cover blown. The object at this point is to distract the guards by throwing bottles or cans to get them to move and check out the noise. Her bow is also an option as she is able to shoot an arrow near a guard to achieve the same affect.

Thanks to the different stealth option on display in the video, Lara is able to sneak through this one entire Rise of the Tomb Raider area in just four-and-a-half minutes without so much as touching an enemy. That’s compared to the six minute Gamescom video that culminated in an explosive gun fight.

The skills that players unlock as they play through Rise of the Tomb Raider will augment her stealth abilities, combat abilities, and survival abilities. It will be up to the player’s to decide what kind of character they want in Lara Croft.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is hardly the first game that offers the ability to play without killing hordes of enemies. Dishonored is the most recent notable example that first crosses my mind when I think of games that offer this kind of choice. Offering this kind of variation in gameplay does offer new challenges in multiple play-throughs, however, and keeps the action from getting stale.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is launching as an Xbox One timed exclusive on November 10, 2015. A Windows PC version will be released in the first quarter of 2016, followed by the PlayStation 4 in the fourth quarter.

[Images via Tomb Raider]