Tomb Raider: Underworld concludes the story of Lara's search for her mother who is supposedly trapped in a place called Avalon. Continuing the events from Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary , her search brings her once again to locations around the globe from the cold wastes of the Arctic to the beautiful landscapes of Thailand. This time even the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea is not safe from Lara's exploring. At the same time the game continues to explore the idea of monomyth, this time incorporating the influences of Norse mythology into its narrative.
The basic gameplay remains the same as in most of the previous iterations of the series with a focus on exploring, solving riddles and dodgy climbing passages instead of instant action and gun fights. For this Lara once again learned a few new moves including jumping between walls introduced in Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time .
The game features a sonar map to help players with riddles, showing Lara's immediate surroundings as a 3D grid for better orientation around the levels. If asked, Lara gives general but helpful tips on what to do next.
The differences from the previous Tomb Raider games developed by Crystal Dynamics include the complete lack of quick time event (QTE) moments. Instead, the game slows down in critical moments, while still allowing the player full control over Lara's movements. Another change is the more non-linear level design, which is more in line with traditional entries of the series.
Tomb Raider: Underworld was released for Xbox 360 on 2008-11-21 .