Tomb Raider's 'Controversial' Scene Has Not Affected Its Sequel Negatively
When Tomb Raider rebooted in 2013, it fell under some great controversy due to its depiction of an attempted rape which is used to catapult Lara into the situation where she had to kill another human being for the first time. According to Senior Designer Michael Brinker, this controversy has not affected Rise of the Tomb Raider.
In an interview with Finder, Brinker responded to questioning about the negative press received centring on the use of rape as a narrative device. "In every development studio it’s the same – in every problem you’re trying to solve and in every situation you put your character in – you’re always thinking, “is this too much? Is this too little? Does this hit the right notes? Does it say what we want to say?” And there’s always a back-and-forth with that."
"So in any game you make you’re going to run into a discussion [like the “rape scene”], so we spend a lot of time making sure we go back to the roots of the character. We look at the layers of history. We look at the story we’re trying to tell. And with Rise of the Tomb Raider, we look at the immortality mythos. Then we ask, “does this situation support the narrative? Does it support what we’re trying to do?” That’s the only thing that influences us pulling back on certain directions."
"What I’m proud about in Rise of the Tomb Raider is that we’ve worked out what our survival elements are and what our actual woman-versus-wild situations are in the game. Those to me speak to a smart, resourceful character who’s utilising her environment. So we’re looking at Lara in terms of that evolution and that rise, which is now more about being prepared than vulnerable."
Rise of the Tomb Raider will launch exclusively on Xbox consoles on November 13 before moving to PC early 2016 and PlayStation 4 next Winter.