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The cat is out of the bag. Square Enix surprised the Tomb Raider fandom on December 7th and announced on their social media platforms that a new Tomb Raider game was in the works and would be revealed at a major event in 2018.
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Rumours had been circulating for a while on the web as to a potential sequel to the critically acclaimed Rise of the Tomb Raider. A little over a year ago, a Reddit user noticed someone in the Montreal subway working on a presentation for a game entitled “Shadow of the Tomb Raider”. The picture accompanying the post went on to become viral and was relayed all over the internet The latter, in an article published on November 1st, 2016 confirmed the existence of the game quoting an anonymous source and claimed that Eidos Montreal (Deus Ex) would take the lead on the game’s development. “Coincidentally”, if you isolate the first letter of each sentence of the recent announcement, the word “SHADOW” is revealed.
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A message to our fans! pic.twitter.com/HlDYsUtZMs

— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) December 7, 2017

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The Canada-based studio collaborated with Crystal Dynamics on the first instalment of the rebooted franchise back in 2013, building Tomb Raider’s multiplayer mode. Eidos Montreal’s involvement in the license grew in 2015 as it became Rise of the Tomb Raider’s co-developer, working on some of the game’s environments and fan-favourite optional tombs.
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Earlier this year, Marvel and Square Enix announced that they would partner on a series of games over the course of several years. The campaign was launched in January when a trailer for The Avengers Project was published online, a game on which Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal also work hand in hand. Very little is known about The Avengers Project or Rise of the Tomb Raider’s sequel – allegedly titled Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Rhianna Pratchett, writer of the two previous games declared in a tweet on December 8th that she was not involved in any way in the new Tomb Raider game. We can only assume that Shadow of the Tomb Raider will, after Lara’s formative adventure in Rise of the Tomb Raider and first steps as an archaeologist in 2013 Tomb Raider, let the fans witness her transformation into the quick-witted, fearless, daring explorer wielding dual pistols.
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With almost 7 million copies of the latest Tomb Raider game sold worldwide and an upcoming movie featuring the Oscar-winning actor Alicia Vikander, the future seems bright for the beloved English trailblazer.