When it was originally confirmed that Rise of the Tomb Raider would be heading first to Xbox One, despite the franchise long having been a PlayStation stalwart, you’d have been hard pressed to find a SONY fan who wasn’t at least a little disappointed. However, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for this loyal party, because they may be getting the better part of the bargain when the game does eventually land on their console.
The game is out in November on Xbox One, and today it was announced that a $30 season pass will also be available along with the game. Over on Amazon, the season pass is described as including “a range of content that will extend your single-player campaign, and also allow to you compete with friends.” The latter part of that claim we know nothing about, because Crystal Dynamics have stated that the game will not feature multiplayer but will allow you to interact with your friends. For now we can only speculate.
And that perhaps brings us on to a bigger problem; albeit one that should be saved to discuss fully for another time. Alas, what is it with this trend of season passes being announced without consumers being informed of what they will actually provide as DLC? We’ve seen the same coming from Bethesda ahead of Fallout 4. Who in their right mind would spend a considerable amount of cash on something that doesn’t even have a description? Like I said, that’s a tangent for a later date, but it seemed relevant to bring it up here.
The point I am making, one way or another, is that PS4 owners might actually be better off in regard to Rise of the Tomb Raider. Firstly, in this day and age you can’t rule out that the game won’t launch in an abysmal state – it’s something that happens all too often in this medium these days. But by the time the game launches on PS4? By then the developers will have had time to iron out the kinks or, even if there are no major issues, they could make any minor/necessary improvements.
Moreover, I wouldn’t be surprised if the contents of this $30 season pass – of which we still do not know – are compiled into some sort of ‘complete’ edition for when the game releases on PS4 in 2016 at a cut price. All I’m saying is that things aren’t always as they seem. Whilst many PS4 owners were rightly frustrated initially about the whole situation, Crystal Dynamics owes them an apology and it might just do that with what could be a more polished product that will offer a better value for money.
Or that might not happen, in which case feel free to murder them on Twitter.