Collector's Editions

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Artbook Edition

Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration Artbook Edition
Platform: PlayStation 4 and PC
Year: 2016
Region: PAL

This re-release of the former Xbox One exclusive (which had an exclusivity period of a year) coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Tomb Raider series, so Square Enix combined these two events into this edition, titled the ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration’. Those who pre-ordered could receive the so called ‘Artbook Edition’ of this version, which comes with a special packaging including an artbook. A more expensive collector’s edition containing a Lara Croft statue and some other extras was made available as well. However, in this article we will look at the Artbook Edition.

The art book is actually not a separate item but is part of the game case itself, which can be a bit disappointing to some but it also makes the whole thing nice and compact, as it’s the same size as a regular PS4 case.

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The case itself looks like a book with a ‘worn leather’ cover (in reality it’s made of paper with a rubbery texture) bearing a shining gold ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider: 20 years of an icon’ logo.

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The inside of the book reveals a nice artwork of Lara in a snowy environment, while on the right side we’re presented with a written introduction (in different languages in the case of the EU version): The Tomb Raider franchise celebrates a major this year, and we’ve marked the occasion with this limited edition book. It collects artwork from our incredibly passionate fans, from artists associated with the franchise throughout the years, and official concept art from the development team. While the art book represents a variety of interpretations and styles, the unifying theme celebrates 20 years of the iconic Lara Croft. Thank you to everyone who contributed.

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What follows is the aforementioned artwork, each crediting its creator, and what’s cool about it is that, as the introduction notes, they are all in very different styles and showing very different scenes.

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Then there is the additional content, which includes single player DLC, new modes, skins and the like. The complete list is as follows:

– VR supports for Blood Ties
– New ‘Extreme Survivor’ difficulty mode
– New outfit and gun inspired by Tomb Raider III
– 5 Classic Lara skins
– Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch
– Endurance Mode
– Cold Darkness Awakened
– 12 outfits
– 7 weapons
– 35 expeditions cards

All in all not the most extravagant collector’s edition, but as far as value for your money goes this is not a bad deal at all: for about the same price as a regular release you get this special edition of the game as well as all the downloadable content released for it so far on top of some new content.