Tomb Raider Multiplayer Makes Lara Persistent

Many fans might have described the recently announced multiplayer element of the upcoming Tomb Raider as superfluous, but the development team working on the new Lara Croft adventure says that it gives everyone reason to explore the game world for longer periods.

Daniel Bisson, a producer working at Crystal Dynamics, tells Eurogamer that, “With single player, there’s a start and there’s an end. And you have some games with a rich universe, and you think you want to stay there forever and then it ends. You want to stay in that universe – there are some games like that.”

He adds, “One of things that was pitched was can we make that Tomb Raider universe persistent? We wanted to do that, and we explored new maps and new types of gameplay, and for me that’s very meaningful – taking that world and making it persistent.”

It’s still unclear whether Crystal Dynamics wants the multiplayer element of the game to have any sort of influence on the single player.

Bisson also says that before the rebooted Tomb Raider was in development, the team used Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, a smaller isometric experience, to show that the universe supported gameplay for more than one character.

The developer admits that the game does not require multiplayer, but he believes that fans who are already enjoying the single player will try it out and end up having fun with it.

The rebooted video game will show a young Lara Croft going on her first ever adventure, exploring a mysterious island and battling her first enemies.

As the game progresses, players will see the characters evolve and discover her inner strength.

Tomb Raider will be offered on the PC, the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft on March 5 of this year.