Our journey to E3

9th June 2018

My journey began a day before I was due to fly to the United States. To make sure I wouldn’t arrive too late at the Parisian airport that would take me to Los Angeles, I took my backpack and my suitcase to a hotel close to the airport. Such an adventure leaves everybody excited and, of course, that was the case for me; I was so excited that I managed to injure myself like a rookie by slamming my head on the hanging bed in my room! I did bleed a little bit, but if Lara could survive much worse, I should be fine. I laughed, bandaged myself up, and went to sleep to prepare for the big day.

10th June 2018

I arrived at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport and had to find my sidekick Quentin, the webmaster of “Pilleurs de Tombes” fansite, so we could check in and register for the plane together. Time flew as we were reunited and greeted each other. Thrilled, we confirmed our flight and left our luggage to the airline – all that was needed to catch our flight and reach LAX.

The flight was long and draining; no fewer than eleven hours long. However, exhaustion quickly vanished when we realised we had set foot in North America! After getting our suitcases back, our patient driver led us to his car to get to our hotel in Hollywood – Los Angeles’ famous district known for its cinema studios. Our bedroom was perfect for our stay, but we had not yet seen any trace of the other ambassadors. They arrived the following day and, because of this delay, Quentin and I decided to explore and sightsee the streets. We also got some rest because of the infamous jetlag.

11th June 2018

A few hours of sleep later – thank you, jetlag – Quentin and I woke up at 6:30 AM, Los Angeles’ time. While we were planning the day’s schedule and contacting the other webmasters to know when they should arrive, our Community Manager, Meagan Marie from Crystal Dynamics, contacted me to tell us she would be arriving at the hotel shortly (with welcome gifts for all.) Excited, we quickly prepared to greet her. Around 8:00 AM, Meagan arrived with a big smile on her face and presented us with goody bags. We were grateful and super excited to give those to our E3 mates. After this, she left to attend to E3 (the convention hadn’t yet opened to the public.) The goody bag contained a comic-book from the ‘Dark Horse’ series reuniting the first chapter, a coloured porcelain skeleton head, a California cap, a Rise of the Tomb Raider poster and a dedicated Tomb Raider card.

We rested all morning and then my phone rang: two more ambassadors had just arrived at the hotel! We met June from “Tomb Raider China” and Jonathan from “Lara Croft Daily”. We greeted each other and helped them out, then unanimously decided to grab some lunch. As the next few hours went by, we were pleased to meet and greet the other ambassadors: Rui from “Lara Croft BR”, Vitor from “Tomb Raider Place”, Michelle (aka Emma) from “Okh Eshivar”, Juan from “Tomb Raider Collection”, and Laurie from “Survivor Reborn”. Laurie’s husband, Jay Walker (a Square Enix employee from England), had joined his wife for the journey and shared the adventure with us all.

Our group quickly became friendly and relaxed with each other; everyone was excited about E3 the next day. We spent our afternoon in town, grabbed dinner in the evening, and then went back to our rooms to rest and prepare for the big day. Little did we know that a dream team was being formed.

12th June 2018

The night was short, but everybody was pumped for D-day. After we all had brunch, our driver arrived at the hotel to take us to the Los Angeles Convention Center. Los Angeles’ crowded and turbulent roads made things more interesting during the ride, but after half an hour we finally arrived at the convention center. Getting our badges in the 40°C burning sun was quite the challenge, but with a little patience we got them in the end! All the ambassadors reunited near the main entrance and called our other community manager, Morrigan Johnen, to confirm we had all arrived and got our badges. A few moments later, Morrigan arrived with open arms; she greeted us and let us into the mystical convention known as the Electronic Entertainment Expo.

The huge complex was amazingly decorated with effigies from the biggest video games industry names: EA, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft… All of them were there. We followed Morrigan and reached the main hall, where a huge booth caught everyone’s eyes: it was the Shadow of the Tomb Raider booth. It was radiant with artificial vegetation, surrounded by fake rocks and dozens of players waiting to get their hands on the franchise’s next title; we were amazed. We headed to the staff/press entrance, where we met Meagan Marie and were warmly introduced to the official booth cosplayers: Jenn Croft, Raymond Croft, and Saylum Croft. Their outfits had lots of detail and they all looked incredible. Taking turns, we all got to play the game’s demo that took place in Mexico, Cozumel, right at the beginning of the game. Quentin and I were the first ones to try it and neither of us were ready for what was ahead of us.

The game was gorgeous; the cave the player can progress through at the start was very detailed and dynamic. We quickly discovered a whole new bunch of gameplay mechanics, such as underwater exploration, new deadly traps, new puzzles that influenced the whole cave, and some new moves e.g. using a rappelling rope to get Lara safely down a cliff. A feeling of joy and satisfaction went through me after only a couple of minutes playing the game. After roughly forty-five minutes of gameplay, I finished the demo and felt extremely satisfied with what I had played, and even more impatient to discover more about the final game.

A few hours after playing the demo, we were invited to a small, private room to meet Jill Murray (lead writer) and Arne Oehme (level designer). They introduced us to the lost valley “Paititi” – one of the biggest hubs in the game – to show us new functions in the exploration of the game. Everybody in the room was silent and mesmerized from the game’s graphical beauty…until we all burst out laughing when Arne paused Lara to pat some llamas; everybody in the room unanimously dubbed this in-game action “Llama Croft”. After guiding us through the city’s most beautiful spots, Arne brought us to a zone with an optional tomb. However, compared to the other games, the entrances to these tombs were not easy to find – a fact that we were all glad to learn! After finding the entrance, Lara entered a large complex with traps everywhere as she pursued her journey through the tomb. At first, the traps seemed easy to pass, but right after that a humongous deadly trap activated and made everyone very uneasy… Just as the demo ended!

The next step was another demo: this one focused on the combat system. Lara was in the jungle with her bow and had to progress without drawing the attention of Trinity’s lackies. Arne approached a risky zone and climbed on top of a tree near an isolated enemy; without us even knowing, he had Lara execute the man from her hiding place by shooting a grappling arrow at the man’s back; Lara proceeded to drop behind the branch to raise the trapped enemy high into the air. Lara then strangled the unfortunate guy with the rope and left him dangling from the branch.

Everybody in the room was silent but hyped for what was next. The more Arne progressed, the more we learned how the stealth mechanic had been reinforced for this game – especially when we saw Lara cover her body in mud, loosen her hair into a more-savage style, and move like a predator with her knife in her hand. Our archaeologist uses her weapons – and foes’ fear – to safely progress to the next area. After she had eliminated every enemy, she received a call from her walkie-talkie and learned that Jonah had been killed. She was filled with anger and rage but was quickly ambushed by Trinity and forced to flee the area. After escaping multiple explosions, Lara was forced to dive under water. It was here that she remembered Jonah – their conversations, conflicts, and the call telling her he was dead. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and rose out of the water, with the ruins of the area on fire behind her. Lara’s facial expression was not visible; it was too dark and somber. However, Lara noticed an injured Trinity mercenary nearby trying to reach his gun. She walked up to him… slowly… like a predator chasing its prey. Everybody in the room was dead silent, eyes on the screen: Lara was absolutely terrifying. As soon as the guard reached his gun, Lara stepped on his arm to prevent him raising his weapon and stabbed him – bringing this second and final demo to a close. A few seconds passed; we were all silent. We all shared the same impression from what we had just witnessed. Then came a round of applause and we were presented with a short QA session about the game and the franchise.

After this presentation, we left the convention and went back to our hotel (it was, by then, late afternoon.) We were all really excited to write down our thoughts about the game and share what we had discovered on our first day at E3. The rest of the night was spent resting, eating together, and typing-up our impressions.

Here are some of the impressions I had about the game:

The combat system has been upgraded, especially the stealth mechanics. Lara can now use mud to camouflage herself and blend into the environment around her. She can also hide in dense vegetation on the walls to quietly ambush unfortunate enemies. The trick is to use fear and the jungle to your advantage against your foes. In addition, Lara will be able to learn new ways to kill her enemies; for example, she can kill two enemies at once while in stealth or use the bow and ropes whilst up a tree to snare and dangle men from its branches (N.B. I personally dubbed this the “Hangman’s trick” – a name that our community manager, Morrigan Johnen, seemed to really like!). Every aspect of gameplay – exploration, puzzles and combat – all seemed more difficult than in previous games. However, it will be possible to change the difficulty level on each of these categories individually. For example, you can have easy combat, medium exploration, and hard puzzles (in the latter, Lara won’t give you any advice). In fact, the well-known “white ledges” indicating where Lara can grab can be removed depending on the difficulty set by the player on the “Exploration” field. Lara will keep her gear and most of her abilities from the previous two games. A wider variety of resources will be available to craft new equipment and different types of ammo. For example, the “Fear Arrow” for the bow makes the enemy go completely crazy, forcing him to attack his own allies before succumbing to the arrow’s poison. In-game hubs will be bigger than the ones in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Moreover, it will be possible to interact with the local civilization to learn more about the game’s lore (for example, the Paititi valley history), and even gain some secondary quests. In addition, you will be able to haggle with some villagers in exchange for outfit enhancements. The grapple-axe will be more useful in the game: Lara will be able to grab a ledge above her and hoist herself up, but she will also be able to use it with a rappelling rope or even make a wall-run to reach another edge, just like in Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Lara will be able to explore underwater caves to discover new artefacts and resources, but the player better beware drowning because air pockets can be rare. Monoliths will be back, and Lara will be able to learn new languages thanks to the various documents and ruins she will discover. These will allow her to find rare resources just like a real archaeologist. Our British adventurer will have four models of weapons: a bow, a pistol, an assault rifle and a shotgun. However, the player will be able to choose the type of weapon from the matching model (for example, a sniper rifle instead of an assault rifle). Optional tombs will be more dangerous and complicated compared to Rise of the Tomb Raider. Lara will also be able to find and explore crypts (which are far less of a threat!)

13th June 2018

A great night’s sleep! I’m ready to go back to E3! After we’d all reunited and had breakfast at “Danny’s”, our driver drove us to the convention again. Morrigan was already outside to get us in as soon as we were dropped off! The day’s plans were to play one of the demos we had watched the day before, meet Camilla Luddington (Lara Croft) and Earl Baylon (Jonah Maiava) (I didn’t even know how I would react!), and then go to the E3 Coliseum for a press conference organized by Crystal Dynamics, featuring Camilla, Earl, Jill Murray and Darryl Purdy.

Our first stop was the demo test! We arrived in Square Enix’s private press room with three consoles set up for us to test the new demo. There was nothing new compared to yesterday’s entry, but if I had to give an impression about actually playing the demo it would be that it felt really immersive and impressive! Playing as Lara, moving like a wild animal tracking her foes, made the game experience much more intense and clearly played on our nerves. Everybody got the chance to play for a decent amount of time, then it was time for the scariest and most exciting moment of the day: meeting Earl and Camilla.

After they had both finished a live interview (hosted by Meagan Marie for Square Enix’s channel), they joined us in a corridor. Both actors greeted me warmly, took selfies with me, and signed autographs. Needless to say, I felt overexcited and extremely honoured to meet them, not to mention that they were so nice and genuinely pleased to meet us all.

After we took some photos, we all headed to the E3 Coliseum to watch the press conference. Our seats were reserved, and we were in a very good spot. During the interview, they showed us a clip from one of the game’s recording sessions; it featured both Camilla and Earl, and this video had been seen by everybody on the very first demo we tested on Tuesday. In this footage, we were shown how Lara and Jonah’s friendship is both deep and important; we were told it will constantly be put to the test during the game, and this was really reflected in the video. In this trailer, Jonah called Lara’s priorities and intentions into question because she is the one who unfortunately started (what seemed like) an Apocalypse. Jonah was screaming at Lara to make her understand that not everything revolves around her. Apparently, this performance was so intense on the recording day that both Camilla and Earl needed a break after it was done.

After the conference and a big round of applause – especially from the Tomb Raider fan group – we left the Coliseum and spent our final two hours exploring, shopping and eating. At the end of the afternoon, everybody gathered together to attend the community dinner organized by Crystal Dynamics. Our ambassadors, cosplayers, community managers, loyal influencers (such as streamer, Melonie Mac) and even Earl Baylon were there! This day was special for another reason: it was our dear Meagan Marie’s birthday! Everyone on the team wanted to gift her something so we got her a statue of Wonder Woman – a character she’s always loved – and an “Oscar” engraved with “Manager of the Year”. We also bought one for Morrigan because she helped us a LOT during our trip. Both seemed really touched by our presents and their smiles only made us feel happier. After a great meal, the night flew by via some round trips to the bar counter, and a lot of talking and friendly gossip between the community members.

Unfortunately, it came time to leave and we all had to say goodbye to our fellow community members and our Community Managers. This moment was pretty hard on me, as I felt – and still feel – grateful to them. I really appreciated my exchanges with them and I can’t wait to meet them again one day. The same thing goes for all the other fans I met who immediately accepted me and with whom I was able to talk about our stories linked to Tomb Raider. Our driver dropped us all back at the hotel to rest the day before everyone was due to leave California. In fact, Quentin and I left a day later than everyone else because of the lack of available flights. After all, every good thing has an end.

14 June 2018

By the time I woke up, an ambassador – Juan – had already left us for his 4:00 AM flight; it was a good thing I’d said goodbye to him the night before. I really wanted to spend time with my new friends, so I tried my best to hang out with them as much as possible before they had to leave. June, Michelle and I decided to take breakfast together as the other ambassadors wanted some Starbucks or rest after their short night. The hours flew by and it was time for Jonathan, Rui and Vitor to leave. We had a memorable farewell and all three left for LAX. Michelle and June stayed in our room to share our impressions about E3 and share some last laughs while they waited to leave. Again, it was sad to see them go, but we were grateful to have meet them. As for Jay and Laurie, both of them came to say goodbye after their Los Angeles tour. Quentin and I were very sad, but we were so grateful and happy to have met such wonderful, passionate and kind people. Both of us stayed in our room to rest and prepare for the departure day.

Just then, we had a message from Vitor and Rui: their flight had been delayed so long that it had been postponed until the next day. It was a blessing in disguise, so Quentin and I gladly invited them back at the hotel for the night, giving us the chance for us to share some more moments together until we all passed out asleep ready for the exhausting day ahead of us.

15 June 2018

Our trip to the other side of the world marked its end today. We woke up early with the remaining ambassadors to grab a nice coffee at the nearest Starbucks. After that, we finished packing our luggage and shared one last farewell with our Brazilian fellows. They were the first to leave, and an hour later it was our turn to check out of our hotel room and leave Hollywood, heading for LAX.

After a busy traffic jam and a quick check-in at the airport, we registered for our flight back to Paris. Eleven hours later, we arrived back at Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport. Quentin and I exchanged our last goodbyes to each other, and from then our roads separated: I headed straight toward the Parisian trains to reach Marne-la-Vallée station, where I would take my last train back home.