Nicobass and the team have struck again with an update on the elusive Tomb Raider 2 fan remake, and this one will make your heart absolutely soar. And feel kinda bad for Winston, too.
If you're a hardcore fan of Lara Croft and her timeless action-adventure series, there's a good chance you'll agree that the second game - released in 1997 - is still one of the best. You may have also spent some time wishing someone out there would bring the game into a modern light by decking it out with contemporary visuals and mechanics. Well, guess what.
If you didn't already know, a small handful of such fans got tired of waiting and took it upon themselves to complete the task. They're remaking Tomb Raider 2 using Unreal Engine 4 - a project they've dubbed The Dagger of Xian. And it's certainly no modest task either. Tomb Raider 2 is still one of the biggest and most ambitious Tomb Raider games to date, relative to its era at least.
But this dedicated team of developers based in France, headed up by "Nicobass," is doing it, albeit super slowly. This entirely fan-led project has been in the works for at least four years, but it isn't really showing any sign of completion yet either.
In fact, the team has been particularly adamant on not putting any end date on the thing, unfortunately. That's obviously because such a mammoth task being carried out voluntarily can and does take ages to complete (just look at Black Mesa, for instance).
But the project is indeed still humming along; we get reminded of this every few months when Nicobass tweets a new batch of screenshots of the game's progress. And they never cease to impress us.
This time it's in the form of a tribute to something we all did when playing the original game. Namely, locking Lara's loyal butler Winston in the walk-in freezer at Croft Manor. We did that not because we were simply cold-hearted (mostly, anyway). Rather, we did so because of how dang annoying the guy was, what with his rattly tea tray and terrifying capacity for omnipresence.
It's great to see that the team have their priorities straight, and we absolutely adore the nostalgic gesture. So heart-warming! Figuratively, that is.
You can play through a demo of The Dagger of Xian for free right now, downloadable here.
Source: Twitter