Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015) launches for PlayStation 4 on October 11th and with it comes an exclusive PSVR experience called ‘Blood Ties’.
While Rise of the Tomb Raider launched on Xbox One in 2015 and PC early this year, the 20 Year Celebration edition of the game is headed to PlayStation 4 in October, featuring all DLC released for the game to date as well as the new Blood Ties mission which can be played on a standard screen or with PlayStation VR, according to the official PlayStation Blog. Blood Ties will have players exploring Croft Manor:
In the wake of her father’s death, Lara’s uncle challenges her ownership of Croft Manor. Lara is determined to reclaim her legacy and prove that she is the rightful heir, but to do that she will need to confront her past head on. Explore Lara’s childhood home in an hour of new Story Mode gameplay, and uncover a family mystery that will change her life forever.
The PlayStation Blog calls the Rise of the Tomb Raider PSVR experience a “purely explorative piece of content.” Unfortunately it sounds that the action-oriented variant called ‘Lara’s Nightmare’, which involves killing supernatural ghouls in the mansion, is not compatible with PlayStation VR.
Rise of the Tomb Raider Blood Ties on PlayStation VR has two different virtual reality control schemes, according to the PlayStation Blog. The first, Free Mode, gives you fairly standard stick-based movement. The second, Comfort Mode, lets you teleport around by placing a figure of Lara where you want to move and then pressing a button to appear there; the Comfort Mode also enables comfort-turning which causes controller rotation to snap in increments, both known techniques for allowing more comfortable virtual rotation and movement.
Both control schemes use the PS4 controller rather than PlayStation Move. Still, thanks to the tracked controller, you can pick up objects inside the Manor and manipulate them by rotating the controller in your hand. In dark places you’ll also be able to wield the PS4 controller like a flashlight, pointing it where you want to look, the blog says.
Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration launches on October 11th with PlayStation VR launching on October 13th.