Rise of the Tomb Raider Endurance Mode
By Dalton Cooper 26 December 2015
Microsoft announces that the first DLC pack for Rise of the Tomb Raider, a challenging new experience called Endurance Mode, is available to download now.
While it didn’t sell quite as well as its predecessor, Rise of the Tomb Raider has earned critical acclaim nevertheless, and is one of the Xbox One’s strongest holiday exclusive games. While some gamers may have just received the game over the holidays and haven’t had a chance to complete Lara Croft’s latest adventure, others have likely seen all that the core game has to offer. The latter individuals will be happy to know that they now have a chance to expand their Rise of the Tomb Raider experience, as the game’s first major DLC pack is available now.
The DLC is called Endurance Mode, and it retails for $10. Alternatively, those that purchased the Rise of the Tomb Raider season pass can now download the DLC at no extra charge. It includes the titular new game mode, Endurance Mode, as well as a new outfit and weapon for Lara to utilize in her adventure.
The goal of Endurance Mode is to survive as long as possible in the harsh wilderness that players should be familiar with from playing through the story. Endurance Mode increases the difficulty by making the survival experience more realistic. For example, to start a fire, Lara first has to collect fuel, and if she doesn’t have a fire, she will die from hypothermia.
Furthermore, if Lara takes damage in Endurance Mode, her health will not regenerate. On the contrary, the only way to heal Lara in Endurance Mode is to eat food, which must be hunted. Players will be starting Endurance Mode with virtually nothing at their disposal, and must utilize the game’s crafting system effectively in order to succeed.
As we pointed out in our Rise of the Tomb Raider review, the game is somewhat lacking in the replayability department, so Endurance Mode is a welcome addition to the experience. It should give those that have already mastered the core experience a new challenge to overcome, and its hyper realism and difficulty could prove to be very interesting.
The release of the Endurance Mode DLC marks the first release from the game’s season pass. Two more DLC expansions are planned after this, including the horror-themed Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch DLC, and the Cold Darkness Awakened DLC. We’re not exactly sure what Cold Darkness Awakened will entail, but its description makes it sound like a Horde Mode, perhaps one that has an online component.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is currently available as a timed Xbox One exclusive, with PC and PS4 versions coming in 2016. The Endurance Mode DLC is available now.
Source: GameSpot
