In-depth at E3: Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

Stevivor sat down for some hands-off time with the announced-at-E3 Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, a direct sequel to the popular top-down puzzler Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

As with most titles appearing on current-gen consoles, The Temple of Osiris moves from two-player to four-player coop, alongside a host of improvements. The devs in attendance at the presentation were happy to boast the title’s improved, dynamic lighting. Lighting has changed so dramatically since the game’s last-gen showing that Lara now gets to carry a torch, rebooted Tomb Raider-style. The torch will be necessary to light extremely darkened tombs.

Yes, you read that right: tombs. While many complained that Square Enix’s rebooted Tomb Raider barely featured tombs at all, this game – which stars a Lara true to her PlayStation roots (perhaps with a boob reduction) – takes place smack dab in the middle of one.

Lara and newcomer Carter, a competing archaeologist, find themselves locked in a tomb that houses the trapped spirits of Isis and Horus, wife and son of Osiris, respectively. Set, an ancient baddie who bested Osiris himself and separated and scattered his body, trapped wife and son, never to escape. Thankfully, Lara and Carter’s arrival at the tomb begins to free the two Egyptian gods, though curses the pair themselves. The story sees the party of four trying to escape the tomb, remove their curses and find and join Osiris’ parts together to defeat Set once and for all.

Current-gen technology means more power in general, and Lara and company look great. Detail in character models is ridiculous, especially when considering the top-down view of the game means you won’t really get that much of a close-up of the characters anyway. As in the previous game, asymmetrical co-op is the name of the game, with any combination of two-, three- or four-player co-op needing unique characters and at least one archaeologist or Egyptian god. Archaeologists come with twin pistols as default weaponry alongside remote bombs and a grapple gun. The Egyptian gods come with mystical, hieroglyphic-affecting powers alongside lazer-staffs and similarly, remote bombs.

The game will automatically alter levels to cater for those playing. Different puzzles will be presented to a two-player team than a three- or four-player team. Because the game has drop-in, drop-out co-op, levels might reload to cater to new groupings… so don’t think you can cheat the numbers system to get ahead with a puzzle that’s stumping you.

Red skull collectibles return and new to the franchise are collectible rings and amulets that enhance powers in certain ways. Rings are player-specific, and randomise throughout the game, meaning you’re encouraged multiple playthroughs to find different ones to then equip. Amulets, when equipped, will give benefits to the entire group of those playing. When a level is completed in the game, each human player will receive their own chest in a dedicated treasure room; the game’s rarity system kicks in at that point, giving you common, rare or ultra rare drops. Additional weaponry can be found in-game, and up to four unique weapons can be assigned to any character at any given time.

While the game and its puzzles are great, the best fun can be found in messing with your friends. The highlight of the thirty minutes we spent with the game was watching its developers kill one another. Lara can grapple to a hook and hold the gun for Isis to walk along so she doesn’t fall into a pit of spikes, but if Lara decides to let go, it’s lights out for her partner. In the same way, Isis can easily retaliate by planting a remote bomb near Lara and blow it to send her over the edge of a tomb. After a while, mutually-assured destruction became a thing; Isis set a remote mine near Lara before deciding to walk upon the grappling gun tightrope; if Lara decided to kill Isis, Isis could detonate the bomb as she plummeted to her doom. Think of it as an insurance policy.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is a super fun, chaotic co-operative game that has a wealth of surprises for those who feel a bit nostalgic for the Tomb Raider of old. Look for it on Xbox One, PS4 and Windows PC.