A few months after Shadow of the Tomb Raider's release last year, players made a curious discovery: a blank eighth slot in the game's downloadable content menu. Players hadn't been aware of any other content besides the seven planned bonus tombs that Square Enix formally announced.
This cryptic slot wasn't immediately visible when the latest Tomb Raider launched on September 14, 2018. It wasn't until April, shortly before the final promised bonus tomb went live, that the eighth slot made its highly debated appearance - and as of now, several months later, Square Enix still isn't saying anything about it.
While it's true that there's nothing officially new to report on this front, Tomb Raider fans are as active as ever in their speculation over--and eagerness for--the extra unnamed content that has been talked about since April. As a matter of fact, there's an entire 500+ page thread (and still growing) at the unofficial Tomb Raider forums dedicated to the discussion of the "8th tomb slot." The thread has most definitely had its ups and downs over the last few months, as huge events like E3 2019 and Gamescom 2019 have come and gone without any news. Now, having just passed the 1-year anniversary of the game's release, people are doubting whether anything will ever come of this long-running speculation.
That's not to say some fans aren't still trying, of course. The game's official Twitter page may have graduated to news about the upcoming Tomb Raider movie sequel, but a good number of 8th DLC fan queries are littered throughout that tweet's replies. Some members of the forum have decided there's nothing to wait for; one dejected fan writing, "In other news, we’re one week away from Shadow’s 1 year anniversary. Usually, things get announced 1 week before the release so DLC8 canceled, end of the thread." Well, it wasn't the end of the thread, and it definitely didn't end the fan theories about possible DLCs.
All this does beg the question: if there's truly nothing coming, couldn't Square Enix just tell fans not to get their hopes up? And if there is something coming, then Square Enix is certainly taking its sweet time in announcing it. Unfortunately, it seems like fans are just being left to draw their own conclusions for the time being, and whether that 8th tomb is out there (or ever was at all) remains a mystery.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: Tomb Raider Forums