One of the highlights of my gamescom 2012 experience was attending the Tomb Raider community event. I was one of 60 Tomb Raider fans to enjoy a private demo of the game on a big screen in the Tomb Raider theatre at the Square Enix stand at gamescom, and then got the opportunity to spend some hands-on time with Lara Croft in her new adventure.

Global Brand Director Karl Stewart and Community Manager Meagan Marie joined us from Crystal Dynamics, traveling all the way from Redwood City, California to show just how valuable the fans of the franchise are to the development team. Karl walked us through a demo of the game, the first was the one shown behind closed doors to press at E3 (you can read my preview over here), and the second was an extended version of the one presented at Microsoft’s 2011 E3 press conference.

Even though I had seen most of the gameplay demo before, sitting in the Tomb Raider theatre surrounded by people from all around the world who love the series and having commentary by Karl Stewart, it somehow all felt new to me again, and left me feeling even more excited for the game!
Karl and Meagan had not come empty-handed either. When thinking about what gifts to bring with Karl had suggested water bottles because he always travels with his own water bottle…and so it was that we each left with very nice Tomb Raider branded water bottles. We also got Tomb Raider keyrings and badges, along with an awesome limited edition Tomb Raider art poster that will be framed for above my desk.

Next up was the hands-on session, something which I had personally been looking forward to ever since I saw the gameplay demo at E3 2011 where we had seen just how gritty and brutal this Tomb Raider was going to be. You can read more about my hands-on experience with the game soon, but for now it’s enough to tell you that it lived up to every one of my expectations and left me wanting more.

Square Enix Europe also made a video souvenir of the VIP community event, and I was fortunate enough to feature in the video, which you can watch below.

Thanks to Karl, Meagan and the rest of the Crystal Dynamics team for a great night. We can’t wait for next year March! Until then stay tuned to El33tonline, and feel free to browse through our previous coverage for screenshots, trailers and an interesting interview with Crystal Dynamics Executive Producer, Ron Rosenberg.

You can also flip through some more photos from the event below, and stay tuned for El33tonline’s interview with Karl Stewart and our hands-on preview, coming soon!

Tags: crystaldynamics, gamescom2012, squareenix, tombraider