Tomb Raider Game Analysis

This essay is an extended version of the previous analysis of the action-adventure game Tomb Raider (2013). While playing this game, I found myself immersed in Lara Croft’s world, particularly Yamatai, the island where the events of the game take place. As the game progressed, my knowledge about the fictional world expanded along with my imagination of it. Gordon Calleja argued that gamespace is “a powerful factor in engaging players and giving them the sense that they are inhabiting a place rather than merely perceiving a representation of space”. The fictional world in video games, which is created in the gamespace, also plays a significant role in making the player understand the rules of the game (Juul, 2005). In addition, Jesper Juul argued that games project fictional worlds

According to Juul, the blank gaps in the fictional world refer to incompleteness of the game, while the bits that are inconsistent point to incoherence. The aim of this essay is to discuss how the fictional world of Tomb Raider is projected in the game, focusing on how the game attempts to improve coherence with minimal HUD, invisible boundaries of levels and the setup of the camps, and how that is achieved. Moreover, I will argue that the game design of Tomb Raider cues players into imagining a fictional world by using graphics, sound, text, and cut-scenes.

Although many fictional worlds do not articulate every element of the world that is introduced to the audience 's imagination - which often results in incoherent elements in the fictional world - the game Tomb Raider attempts to improve coherence. This is done by the minimal HUD (head-up display) design. The HUD only displays information that is (absolutely) necessary, which varies depending on the actions the player takes. Every now and then there is a pop up that notifies the player about the extraneous bonuses (i.e Art Gallery unlocked), hidden tombs, challenge progress, current location