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Without a doubt, Microsoft's press conference at Gamescom 2015 has been chock full of excitement and gaming goodness for fans of the company. As a matter of fact, the tech firm mostly stuck by Phil Spencer's statement prior to the event claiming that the Xbox One will have less third-party exclusives, and focus more on first-party titles. For example, 343 Industries showed off a Halo Wars 2 trailer that announced its availability for Xbox One and Windows 10, while the makers of Crackdown 3 revealed in-game footage featuring destructible environments. However, Microsoft's presentation for Rise of the Tomb Raider today somewhat diverged from their mission of focusing most of their attention on exclusives.

As previously reported, Rise of the Tomb Raider is set to be a timed exclusive for the Xbox One, so technically, its labeling as a Microsoft-only title rings a bit false. And as it happens, a lot of multi-platform players anticipating the upcoming installment in Lara Croft's archeological adventure series were sad to hear that they would have to wait several months for the game to release on PC and a year for PlayStation 4. Not to mention, Square Enix knew its exclusivity would disappoint fans. At any rate, it's worthy of note that Crystal Dynamics certainly wowed those in attendance and people streaming the conference at home with an impressive gameplay trailer for Rise of the Tomb Raider.

As shown in the above footage, Crystal Dynamics has certainly refined a lot of the graphics and gameplay mechanics for Rise of the Tomb Raider. To be specific, the developer reassured fans that while the title will retain base camps' upgrade methods, players will also be able to craft ammo and "master new" skills unavailable in the previous game. On top of that, Lara has customizable play styles which allow for alternative approaches to level progression, such as stealth-driven techniques or a more offensive, gung-ho attitude.

Additionally, the video shows off a bunch of new types of kills that Lara can utilize. One of the coolest has definitely got to be her hunting knife utilization, which lets her take down enemies while remaining hidden in silence and shadow. Plus, our heroine can now wield bottles as actual weapons – instead of only using them as distractions – mark multiple bad guys with her bow, and she has learned a ton of new grapple take-downs.

With so many new combat features added to Rise of the Tomb Raider, fans of the franchise ought to be pleased once the game finally releases. Moreover, players' enthusiasm for the title should be met with aplomb once they get to experience the open-world that's three times larger than its predecessor.

Rise of the Tomb Raider launches on November 10, 2015 for the Xbox One and Xbox 360. It’ll hit PC early in 2016 and finally arrive on PlayStation 4 during the holiday period of 2016.

Source: GamesHQMedia