Square Enix has showcased the cancelled horror game as part of its 25th-anniversary celebration.
The developer has released new footage and details about the cancelled survival horror game Tomb Raider Ascension and its scarier than anticipated.
In the footage’s description Square Enix states: “Check out footage from Tomb Raider: Ascension, which took Tomb Raider deep into survival horror territory during the exploratory phases of what would eventually become the 2013 reboot. It was through Ascension that the team honed in on telling an origin story through the lens of survival.”
In the video, we see a grayed-out character that is clearly modelled on Lara Croft traveling through varied landscapes such as old ruins, dark creepy caves, misty hill country with mystical shrines and lakes, and exploring inside an old mansion with freaky creatures that she incinerates with a blow torch.
She then goes head to head with a lone creature and only her trusty axe. The music crescendos and adds to the excitement as she finds herself on a mountaintop on horseback galloping across the magnificent scenery when she meets a mega creature.
Running for her life she leaps off a cliff being followed by many of these dark creatures. The video then progresses through the stages of development, shining a spotlight on the combat and the work that went into its creation.
Two more videos were released, one of which focuses on the game’s “Early ideas” and the other on the game’s “Branding.”
Early Concepts:
Branding:
Ascension was first mentioned in Square Enix’s digital Tomb Raider: The Final Hours book, where it was revealed that the more survival-horror take on Tomb Raider had been shelved because Crystal Dynamics doubted its potential.
Crystal Dynamics asked themselves if Ascension would be as good as Rocksteady’s Batman: Arkham Asylum game at a team meeting, according to the book. When no one predicted it would be as good, the team opted to abandon Ascension in favour of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot.
The original story of Ascension would’ve been about Lara Croft teaming up with a 6-year-old girl named Izumi (the Japanese word for Fountain), as they adventured through a mysterious island inhabited by ghosts and monsters.
These videos share an interesting insight into video game development and its stages and it just goes to show the extent of horror we could’ve seen if Ascension was allowed to be completed. I think it’s safe to say that Ascension would have been a game to make many toes curl and would’ve deviated a bit from the original Tomb Raider theme.