Truth Revealed About Tomb Raider: Underworld Exclusive DLC

The creative director of Tomb Raider: Underworld, Eric Lindstrom, revealed in an interview about the downloadable content coming exclusively to Xbox 360. According to Lindstrom, it was not a decision of their own, but Microsoft approached them with the question whether they wanted to make additional content for the Xbox 360 version. He stated:

“To be honest, it completely came down in the other way. We were approached by Microsoft, who asked us if we could make some downloadable content for them. It was a great opportunity, it was a great deal and we’re happy to do it. The DLC that we’re making for Microsoft is especially made. It’s not part of the main game that we saved – we put all the game out there that we were going to put out there. Now we’re going to the trouble of adding on spaces where they logically make sense, telling parts of the story.”

The additional content will be released in two parts and will provide six hours of fresh gameplay. Beneath the Ashes comes out around Christmas and offers a new environment, new treasures to discover and different enemies. In early 2009 Lara’s Shadow will be released, introducing a new playable character.

Previously, Microsoft had had success bringing in exclusive content for Grand Theft Auto IV and for the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Fallout 3.

If there’s one thing that will be central to Tomb Raider: Underworld, it’s interaction. And especially interaction with the environment. Lara will be able to pick up almost anything in her environment to use as a weapon, but sometimes it may also be necessary to deploy an object as a resource. For example, you can use a found spear to spear enemies, but you can also use the spear as a small pole to jump over a large hole. A staff lying around can be fun to take a few knocks with, but push the staff into a hole in the wall and you can start spinning on it to jump to higher places.

But the environment also plays with you! Rain turns sand into mud, ridges slippery and Lara wet. You will definitely have to use the forces of nature during your world trip along locations such as Mexico and Easter Island…

Tomb Raider: Underworld will be released on November 21 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii, Nintendo DS and PC.