The murderiffic Gamescom 2015 demo for Rise of the Tomb Raider left some fans cold with its display of Lara Croft's capacity for brutal killing. Today, publisher Microsoft Studios released an alternate playthrough focused on stealth, presumably intended to allay fears that developer Crystal Dynamics was turning Tomb Raider into a game more about killing than adventuring.
Noah Hughes, creative director on Tomb Raider at Crystal Dynamics, introduces the video to explain that it's possible to get through this particular area in a non-lethal fashion.
"We've built our combat to offer as many choices as possible," says Hughes, "and in this case, it's possible for Lara to make her way through the area with zero kills.
"Of course, sometimes combat is unavoidable," Hughes continues, "but how you approach combat in Rise of the Tomb Raider is often up to you."
Distraction is the name of the game here, as Lara fires arrows, bottles and cans to draw guards away from her path so she can sneak by them. It takes just four and a half minutes for her to get to her goal. And not only is nobody dead — nobody even has any idea she was ever there.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is set for release Nov. 10 on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Square Enix is publishing the Windows PC version, which will be released in early 2016, as well as the PlayStation 4 version, which will be available next holiday season. For more gameplay footage, check out some actual tomb raiding below.
