Ok, so Marvel’s Avengers wasn’t the masterpiece we were hoping for. It still had some moments to it, though – it was SUPER AWESOME that Kamala Khan got some time in the sun. I was so incredibly excited to play though that part of the game. The other stuff? Unfortunate to say, not so much. But that’s okay. Crystal Dynamics has been busting it to add more content to the game and to fix issues and bugs, and I respect them for that.
That doesn’t stop me, though, for thinking about what they’ll do next. Will we hear about it this year? Probably not, but I think their perfect comeback to their critics would be two things:
- A Star Wars Battlefront II-esque comeback for Marvel’s Avengers
- Teasing what’s next for Lara Croft, seeing as though her origin story has been completed and she is now the Tomb Raider
My love for the reboot isn’t new. I drove through a North Dakota blizzard to pick up the first game. I’ve written extensively about how I feel about their take on this character I’ve loved since I was 8.
What would I love to see from the next game in the series? Like I wrote above, her origin story is completed. Shadow of the Tomb Raider put a pretty decent bookend on it. She knows her job now is protecting the mysteries of the world, not necessarily solving them. I want to see a time jump, among other things. A substantial one; five to eight years roughly. I think it only makes sense to put some distance between the last three games and any new ones that come out.
I’d also love, love, LOVE if the series took on an adventure based on Egyptian mythology. I’ve loved those stories ever since I was a kid; it’s why I was so big into Stargate growing up, and my love of The Mummy movies (the Brendan Fraser ones), is still so strong today. Egypt and its history is also ripe for stories revolving around the supernatural. We went to an island off of Japan for the first, Syria and Siberia in the second, and Mexico and the Amazon in the third. If Egypt is out, maybe something in Ireland. Or Norway. (I’ve got Vikings on the brain.)
A great new bad guy/bad girl needs to enter the mix as well. Trinity is all but gone. They’ve had so many losses throughout the three origin games, that it just wouldn’t be believable if they were back after a time jump. I’d look forward to a new villain more if they weren’t a guy and it was more of a mystery of who was the baddie; like how the movie of the reboot revealed Ana towards the end. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Mathias and Konstantin and Amaru, but I love those “Holy BALLS” moments. (Think like in Knives Out when the actual murderer is revealed.)
And as much as I love Jonah (and I do!), I’ve had it in my head that I want Lara to have a cool, globe-trotting BFF. Yeah, you’re probably rolling your eyes at me, but this is my wishlist after all. Maybe she met her a couple years after Paititi. In my brain, she’s basically Ruby Rose in XXX: Return of Xander Cage.
Would I like to see some closure in video game form with Sam? This is hard. I devoured the comics that released between Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider, and to me, there’s a firm ending for the two. (Polygon does a great write up about what happened.) Maybe because of the time jump between the comics and any game that were to come out, maybe Sam was able to heal. Regardless, I think that another run of comics would be the best way to give some update (if there was any) about their relationship.
Most importantly in this whole thing, I’d love to see Rhianna Pratchett again. She was the lead writer for the first two games, and her list of credits outside those is long as well. I think she really brought heart and soul to Lara. Something was missing in Shadow; I feel like Lara nearly took a step back in terms of character when the series got handed off to Eidos Montreal.
At the end of this, I know seeing news about Tomb Raider in 2021 is small. Crystal has a lot to do in terms of Marvel’s Avengers. That doesn’t stop the speculating, however. I think the combination of a big time jump, a brand-new villian, new allies and a change in focus of the mythology will help bring the franchise into Lara’s new era and put Crystal Dynamics back on top.