When the Tomb Raider franchise rebooted a few years back, it was because the franchise had become very derivative. What was once fun and revolutionary in some ways had become a slog, and thus, the need to make a new take on Lara Croft was born. Sure enough, Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix made this happen, and both Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider were major hits for the company. And now, with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, their success seems to be even more assured.
However, a few gamers found out that there was an unintentional secret in Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the form of an alternate ending. But only a few found it because it was overwritten via a day one patch from Square Enix. The ending, which you can view here, shows Lara getting a letter from Jacklyn Natla. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Natia was the name of the ORIGINAL villain in the ORIGINAL Tomb Raider game.
It wasn’t until the video was posted that the ending was confirmed, and it caused a bit of a stir online. As this would seem to indicate that the “ending” to Shadow of the Tomb Raider would mark the “beginning” of the next game, which would tie into or reboot the original game in the franchise. After this spreading on the internet, Square Enix made the following statement:
“During the course of development on Shadow of the Tomb Raider, multiple post-credits scenes were explored. Unfortunately one of the directions that was considered, but not chosen, was mistakenly included in the game. The Day One patch fixes this error, along with many other improvements. As always, we highly recommend that our players install the patch to enjoy the complete and most up-to-date experience.”
So there you have it, the ending was real, and Square Enix had it removed. Does this confirm where the franchise is going next?
