Speaking with franchise director Rich Briggs during a visit to Crystal Dynamics in San Francisco, California, I enquired about the name that the team ended up going with. Apparently it was quite a rigorous process when it came down to choosing Rise of the Tomb Raider, as both franchise creative director Noah Hughes and Briggs told me about an entire wall full of potential titles the team thought about going with – ranging from Tomb Raider 2 to a bevy of subtitled options.
Not content with just slapping a ‘2’ on the end of Tomb Raider, the team wanted something that portrayed more of what the game was actually about and the arc Lara Croft would be undertaking – hence why they opted to go with the final title. When I asked about a potential runner-up, however, Briggs revealed that the game was almost called Tomb Raider Ascension.
It seems as if the name just wasn’t fated to be used for the title, with Briggs confirming that the codename for the original reboot was also ‘Ascension’. Even then, Briggs and his team feel confident that the right decision was made in that boardroom, and that internal and external testing of it has proven positive thus far.
What do you think of the final name that the developers chose to go with for the new Tomb Raider sequel? Would you like to see the title Tomb Raider Ascension make a return at some point down the road? Get at us in the comments.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is available first on Xbox 360 and Xbox One on November 10, 2015.
