Tomb Raider: An Uncharted Journey

Tomb Raid3r: Uncharted is a 2017 crossover Action Adventure, Third-Person Shooter game co-developed by Crystal Dynamics and Naughty Dog and published by Square Enix exclusively for the PlayStation 4. It is the sequel to 2015's Rise of the Tomb Raider and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, the third installment in the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot saga from CD, the twelfth Tomb Raider game and the fifth installment in the Uncharted series.

The game takes place immediately following the events of Uncharted 4, where an older Nathan "Nate" Drake meets Lara Croft, now fully-enshrined as the legendary Tomb Raider. The game's story is centered largely around the two titular legendary explorers, meeting for the very first time, with lots of character development and in-game interactions between them as they learn to co-exist to battle the mercs hunting them for what they know and supernatural forces beyond their recognition together.

Story
The game starts out with a cinematic cut scene in Nate Drake's home. Now married to Elena Fisher, he gives her an ancient artifact he discovered from a "friend of a friend"-which Nate smugly remarks as regifted-as an anniversary gift: Relic of Joan of Arc, said to contain the remnants of the French saint while also containing ancient mummy remains inside. However, she is found stabbed to death in their bed during a home invasion, Nate breaking free after being attacked and tied down by a merc named Markus, who's henchmen carried out his wife's execution.

Mourning the loss of his beloved wife, Nate is shown getting drunk at a bar, visibly depressed as he sits there, drinking the night away. However, he is confronted by his close friend, Victor Sullivan. Arranging to meet another close friend of his, he hands Nate a photograph of a young, pony-tailed brunette in a blue-gray tank top: a fellow explorer/researcher like himself named Lara Croft, soon to be celebrating her 25th birthday exploring the ancient ruins of Tikal, Guatemala with her remaining friends from the Endurance shipwreck. "Wow, she's better-looking than I thought. Any crazy ex-boyfriends I should know about?"

- Nate "Actually, she's never been the social type."

- Victor "Oh, playing hard to get? I think I can manage."

- Nate

The next day, Lara arrives in the Guatemalan jungle of Tikal with her friends Joslin and Jonah. They set up up a camp site, while Lara arms herself as she gets ready to venture through the ruins and journey one of the many Mayan temples with her friend, Kaz Weiss-sister of Alex Weiss -who informs her of an ancient artifact buried within. However, they are ambushed by members of the Descent, a group of mercenaries targeting Lara and Co. for their discovery of Yamatai-led by Angus Cheverell, a middle-aged assassin, and Raven, his feminine, dark-haired aid wearing a ninja mask-and their pack of guard wolves accompanying them. Lara, using stealth, wits and resourcefulness-which includes equipping a looted sniper rifle from one of their dead bodies with the silencer uncapped from her pistol after quietly taking him out with her bow when she runs low on arrows-navigates through the jungle, quietly taking out enemy mercs along the way while protecting her friend. Kaz is spotted when they approach the temple, however, the mercs are distracted when a plane comes landing nearby. In the distraction, Lara hurriedly grabs Kaz as they sneak into the temple. Nate Drake, along with Sully, take out the swarming Descent mercs after leaving the plane and enter the temple from the other side.

After journeying through various obstacles within the temple and taking out a panther lurking inside, Lara is met by the sudden arrival of Nate and Victor, who also find the artifact in question: the Relic of the Arctic Circle, missing. Kaz comes out of hiding and is greeted along with her friend, Lara to Nate by Sully. Their relationship starts out rocky, however as Lara initially has trouble gravitating to Nate's cocky, smug attitude and mannerisms, in particular, his incessant bragging about finding the lost treasure of El Dorado. This animosity is exacerbated when he walks in on her swimming nude during a cinematic cut scene at a nearby lake late at night. However, Nate later confronts Lara, shown sitting down reading her father's journal in her RV. After revealing her father's life's work-and thereafter being separated from her parents, Richard and Amelia Croft, on an expedition-Nate informs Lara of him being sent through the foster care system after being abandoned by both of his parents and his father's suicide. Lara begins to open up towards Nate upon hearing this, sympathizing with him as she, too, suffered through an orphaned childhood. She later follows Nate to his bedroom after listening to footage from his camcorder out of curiosity. He's shown watching footage of him and his late wife, Elena, filming their journey to Panama together after recovering Francis Drake's tomb. Lara anxiously sits down and watches with him, sharing the same love of journeying and ancient artifacts as Nate, who masks his look of sadness over his wife's murder as they watch.

Lara wakes up the next day, falling asleep right next to Nate while watching his wife, Elena's tape, and is greeted by her Endurance crewmates for her birthday celebration. For her 25th birthday, Nate agrees to take Lara to a marvelous discovery of his: an ancient kingdom buried underneath the statue of El Dorado-discovered to have been relocated yet again following the events of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune from a map he uncovered-where he promises Lara a "big surprise". However, they're closely followed by the Descent mercenaries, led by their two heads: Angus and Raven, in search of the same ancient relics located near the Tomb of El Dorado in a race against time. They are ambushed, however, by hordes of Descendants while in search of the artifacts. After easily taking them out with their honed marksman skills, they scurry around the Tomb of El Dorado, finding the tomb of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt. Angus finds her jewel, and completes one fourth of the Taliasman of Boreas he's trying to fulfill. The Descent mercs follow a trail of foosteps Lara and Nate left to Jonah and Sully, who blast through all of them as they journey to another tomb located near El Dorado containing the next two artifacts with Kaz and Joslin following close behind them: the relics of Zetes and Calais, the twin brothers of Cleopatra and sons of Boreas. However, they are ambushed by Angus and Raven, kidnapping them and detaining them on their vessel while stealing the relics and fulfilling three quarters of the Talisman.

During this time, Nate leads Lara right to the tomb of El Dorado, but are swarmed by Descent mercs. Lara suddenly leaves the scene when they have Nate dead to rights, but hops on her stashed motorcycle and takes them all out, lighting them up with her submachine gun while cycling around them.

Nate then leads her directly to Cleopatra's Underwater Palace secretly buried underneath it. He reveals to her that Cleopatra's Palace is not so much a palace as it is a tomb where the Spanish Conquistadors found and buried her corpse many centuries ago. They are greeted by a swarm of obstacles, eventually coming across a moat. They put on scuba masks and venture through the underwater monastery, killing a couple sharks along the way. They venture through an underwater passage way when they hear something preying on them. Nate and Lara stealthily evade the creature's trajectory when they find a grating leading to the end of the water trail. They are quickly followed by the sea serpent, staunchly chasing them at the other end of the tunnel while Nate and Lara try to pry themselves out of harm's way. Nate and Lara quickly dislodge the grate with their pick axes, unflooding the palace and narrowly escaping the serpent, caught in the impact of the huge rupture as they make their way back on foot. Nate leads Lara through a corridor with ancient Hindu markings on the walls. Reading them aloud to her after translating them-while demonstrating another one of his skills to Lara-he reveals that the creature is none other than the ancient Leviathan from the Holy Bible, the protector of Cleopatra's Palace after being buried here many centuries ago. The creature follows them, however, as they escpe through falling platforms as the creature chases them through the corridor. Lara shoots the spiked platform hanging above them, smothering the creature in the process. They proceed right through a crawlspace into a catacombs-like room with mummified corpses engraved on the wall when they suddenly come to life and grab Nate. Lara saves Nate, however, they are greeted by swarms of zombified mummies as they emerge from the wall and start swarming Nate and Lara.

After taking out the mummified Descendants, Lara steps on a contraption which activates a capture net that drags her to the rim of the pit. More mummy Descendants start crawling the walls, swarming her as she fights tooth and nail to escape. Nate eventually saves Lara, shooting the noose holding the net while their platform falls. Nate frees Lara, however, the contraption activated another switch that unlocked a gate in front of them, from which a giant plesiosaur emerges in a nearby moat. After killing the plesiosaur, Nate  discovers a relic buried right underneath the El Dorado statue: the familiar Joan of Arc relic, a gift to his ex-wife, revealing that the Descendants originally found near El Dorado merged together with the mummified remains as a result of said artifact. They are then swarmed by two gigantic spiders. They kill them both together, then obtain an ancient artifact after entering the front of the temple: the Relic of the Arctic Circle. Nate shares his vast knowledge of mythology with Lara, revealing that it belongs to Khione, Goddess of Snow and sister of Cleopatra. They are now very close after all their interactions together, but Lara is attacked and abducted when they make it out. Nate tries to save Lara, but is attacked by Markus and held at gunpoint while they escort her to their ship.

Lara, now joining her captive friends, is tortured by Raven, trying to pry answers out of her after snatching the Relic from her, completing the Talisman, but she refuses to speak. Nate soon comes to her rescue, though, after raiding the ship and taking out her mercenairies as he navigates through the ship. He follows her to the dock, where he is confronted by Markus, the man who murdered his wife. After killing Markus, he unties Lara and escapes with her, swimming out into the ocean and making their way onto the shore of the Island of Samoa together.

After once again making their way on foot, Nate notices Lara practicing a few Judo attacks. This prompts a question from Nate about it. Lara reveals, in playable flashback form, that she was taken under from a clan-set during the timeline of Rise of the Tomb Raider-after narrowly escaping a torture camp of the Trinity-the group of mercenaries hunting her for her knowledge and discovery of Yamatai-known as the Tribunal, led by Art Ducasse-a young, muscular tall man with black hair-who her best friend, Sam, introduced to her. They fled her to their dojo/hideout in China, located just outside the Himalayas, after being extracted from the Trinity. Wanting to build her strength and fulfill her potential, Art would teach her the art of Jiu-Jitsu. Lara would go through the motions, slowly learning it in various small (playable) sparring intervals and grew an affection for him due to his efforts. After various training regimes, their dojo was found and discovered by the Trinity and subsequently attacked, with Lara once again barely making it out with her life.

Setting back to the game's present timeline, Lara reveals to Nate, in an emotional, almost hyperventilating tone, that the two people she loved more than anything in the world-Sam and Art-died that day. Nate hugs Lara and sympathizes with her, having, too, lost the person he cared for most, in which he reveals to her his ex-wife, Elena's fate. The two, now drawn even closer together, sharring yet another common bond, venture through Samoa, taking out more Descent guards along the way, who learn of their location, in various gunfights. They eventually reach a control center and contact the others, but are attacked by Angus and Raven and imprisoned in a Samoan jail.

Lara would spend her nights continually practicing Jiu-Jitsu in her cell after enduring various torture regimens, which included waterboarding, drowning her head in water and lashing via whip. Now pushed to the peak of her ability in her tortorous conditions, and constantly envisioning the images of torture and []'s inspirational words while teaching her various Judo arts, Lara continued to practice Jiu-Jitsu in her tiny cot, constantly playing the images of her sparring regimens in her mind. She eventually masters it after much practice, motivated from her endless torture while in this prison and her burning desire to free Nate and herself, triggered by the apparent loss of her other close friend, Sam, also in playable flashback form.

After scurrying the Himalayas and Mt. Everest, going through various polar bears, Siberian tigers and Trinity mercs along the way, Lara unravels another marvelous discovery: Mt. Everest is not, in fact, a mountain, but an active volcano, a fact the Trinity had successfully covered up for years. Attempting to sacrifice Sam to the volcano, Lara envisions saving her from them as it begins to errupt. She remembers Sam sliding away, falling off the high cliff, and Lara diving from a foot rope off the edge of Mt. Everest and catching Sam many feet down. Lara then plays those final haunting images in her mind as Sam slips from her fingertips and supposedly falls to her death. Forever distraught by those lasting images, Lara uses memories of her journey with Nate, who she's also becoming increasingly close to, to motivate herself to master her learned Jiu-Jitsu technique and free each other from this hellish Samoan prison.

Lara ends the night punching the nearby wall, letting out an angry howl before passing out on her cell bed. She wakes up the next morning, dragged out by Raven and various men. Lara is tied down in a chair torture, however, Lara breaks free, and takes out her torturers, Raven fleeing as she takes out of the last of her men. After donning a new spandex uniform on the nearby wall, Lara navigates through the prison, taking out prison guards and escaped inmates along the way before reaching Nate's cell block at the far end of the prison. Raven puts a bag over Nate's head and straps him to an electric chair, threatening to electrocute him if he doesn't reveal his crew's location. However, they are met with the arrival of Lara.

Lara takes out each of the 12 men accompanying her with QTE-triggered Jiu Jitsu attacks/throws she mastered in her numerous days in her cell, letting out an emphatic yell after decapitating the last of her henchmen. Huffing and puffing, Lara is soon congratulated with a clap from Raven.

"Well played, Miss Croft, in fact, I think I sense a little... too much Croft in here."

- Raven

Lara is stunned when her doppelganger suddenly appears before her. After defeating her evil clone in a rough battle using her newly-mastered, now Black Belt-caliber Jiu Jitsu skillset, Lara picks a loose gun off the ground and frees nate, shooting his straps on the electric chair. They are met by the arrival of Sully and Co., who escorts them to the crew's new ship parked along the shore, which Nate uses to wow Lara as a surprise after handing her a walkie talkie for contacting each other should they ever split again.

"I've got a little surprise for you, Lara. No peaking! *approaches ship* Feast your eyes." "Wow, incredible! This looks nicer than the Endurance ship my crew used to sail."

- Lara "Yeah, that, too. By the way, did I forget to tell you how stunning you look in that new outfit?"

- Nate

They then set sail for Tonga when Nate agrees to continue to go tomb-mining with Lara. While on dock, Nate confronts Lara, who is seen shooting targets with her bow. After Lara informs nate that civilizations have used it as a survival tool for centuries, she hands it over to Nate, who uses it to practice his aim and archery skills with it.

"Mind if I give it a try?"

- Nate

Gameplay
The game features an offline single-player, online and offline multi-player co-op modes, and various "Vs." online multiplayer modes.

Single Player
In the offline Single Player mode, the game alternates between solo missions of Nate and Lara and co-op missions, where the player can control either Nate or Lara with the other being AI-controlled as they navigate through various levels together.

Co-Op
In the game's Co-Op mode (can be played either online in a party or offline with another player), the game's solo missions are played simultaneously in split screen mode (or via system link) while each player controls their selected character (who would otherwise be AI-controlled) during Co-Op missions.

Mutiplayer
In addition to the interchangable Co-Op mode, the game also has various "Vs" mutiplayer game modes, with the "Rescue", "Deathmatch", "Team Deathmatch", "Free For All" and "Cry For Help" returning from the first game with a new "Descendants" game mode, a third person take on Call of Duty's famous "Zombies" game mode featuring Descendants. It also has a special 4-player "Vs" game mode, "Clash of the Titans", with the game's SP final fight scenes reenacted by humans on both ends, unlocked after beating the game's single-player or Co-Op modes.

Levels

 * Ruins of Tikal, Guatemala (Lara)
 * Mayan Temple (Nate and Sully)
 * La Isa Del Pacifico (uncharted island near Guatemala; Pacific Ocean):
 * Monastery (Angus and Raven)
 * Cavern (Joslin and Sully)
 * (Relocated) Tomb of El Dorado (Lara and Nate)
 * Cleopatra's Palace (Lara and Nate)
 * Pacific Ocean (Nate)
 * Descent ship (Nate)
 * Isle of Samoa (Lara and Nate)
 * Dojo/clan hideout (Lara; flashback)
 * Samoan Prison (Lara)
 * Himalayas (Lara; flashback)
 * Mt. Everest (Lara; flashback)
 * Vava'u, Tonga (Lara and Nate)
 * (Frozen) Mariner's Cave (Lara)
 * Streets of Paris, France (Lara and Nate; motorcycle)
 * Paris Catacombs (Lara and Nate)
 * London (Angus and Raven)
 * Croft Manor (varied)

E3 Reveal
Sony kicked off their E3 2016 panel with a sweeping announcement, confirming a full exclusivity deal with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, making the third TR installment a PS4 exclusive. Naughty Dog co-presidents, Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra, then took the stage with another major announcement: "but Lara is not alone: joining her exclusively on the PS4 will be none other than Uncharted's Nate Drake."

- Naughty Dog co-presidents Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra.

This announcement was made following the 2015 holiday sales competition between the crossover games' two predecessors, with Sony wanting to capitalize on the success of the sales battle between PS4's Uncharted 4 and then-timed exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider for the Xbox One (later released for PS3, PS4 and PC in 2016).