Tomb Raider developer reveals cut features

Crystal Dynamics has revealed some of the features that had to be cut from Tomb Raider, including horses.

Brand director, Karl Stewart, claimed the game originally featured horses and a young girl companion for Lara Croft.

Stewart told OPM: "Some of our soul-searching was about [asking] how we bring Lara to life in a way we've never done before. She's had a personality, but not anything like what we show now with that emotion and intensity.

"We added a little girl at one stage. She was going to be a companion, a way to show Lara in a different light. We had a horse, too. It was great for her to move around on, but we soon realised that a horse implied 'open world' like, 'Why can't I gallop around the whole island?' So the horse had to go."

Stewart went on to explain why Lara has a bow in the upcoming game.

"The short answer is, bows are sexy. It's the in-thing right now, from Hunger Games all the way through to Avengers.

"The long answer is, we started to look at emotion as a big part of our game, and when we delved into that - we started back in late 2008, so it's been a long time - we looked at the evolution of things like the James Bond series.

"Back in the day when Sean Connery and Roger Moore were James Bond, there wasn't much emotion. That was the way it was, it was culturally relevant to an audience. Then you get Pierce Brosnan and Timothy Dalton trying that same tone 25 years later, and people feel like it's cheesy. Games, like movies, are more aware of emotion these days."

Check out some Tomb Raider screenshots here.