Guardian of Light to feature “hand-drawn” motion comics

Fresh details from GDC: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light won’t feature traditional cutscenes as seen in canon series. The spin-off will be opting for a more stylish exposition.

The folks at Game Informer has put up a debut look at Lara Croft’s co-op outing, and they’ve spilled details not only on the story behind this year’s artifact the Mirror of Smoke, but how it’s going to be told.

The seeds of the story are planted two thousand years ago, when a battle waged between armies of good and evil over a powerful artifact known as the Mirror of Smoke. Totec, the leader of the Army of Light, triumphed over his evil counterpart, Xolotl, and took control of the mirror, banishing Xolotl from the world and becoming the Guardian of Light. Totec entombed himself in the mirror within the Temple of Light to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

Millennia later, enter Lara Croft. The mirror caught the eye of Lady Lara Croft, who finally discovered the temple that houses the artifact deep within the jungles of Central America. However, in a less-than-courteous exchange, the mirror is snatched away from her by a mercenary group that has been tracking her every move. With the mirror removed from the Temple of Light, Xolotl returns to power, kills the mercenaries, and vanishes. Totec also reanimates, blaming Lara for her carelessness, but realizing that they must work together to get back the Mirror of Smoke and avoid an eternal darkness blanketing the world.

Simple enough story, sure, but Crystal D seems more than up to give a skillful exposition of the 2010 adventure. According to GI, the game’s cinematics will come in the form of “hand-drawn, motion-comic inspired cutscenes.” (Image above not actual representation of the cinematics.)

“The music, sound effects and voice acting will also be iconic Lara,” but there’s no word as of yet who’ll be playing Lara Croft for the spin-off. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on that.

[Image credit: Justice41]