1.0The Escapisthttps://www.escapistmagazine.comHeath Smithhttps://www.escapistmagazine.com/author/heathsmith/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="iZYXJwbyv4"><a href="https://www.escapistmagazine.com/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-was-designed-to-be-hard/">Shadow of the Tomb Raider was Designed to be Hard</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://www.escapistmagazine.com/shadow-of-the-tomb-raider-was-designed-to-be-hard/embed/#?secret=iZYXJwbyv4" width="600" height="338" title="“Shadow of the Tomb Raider was Designed to be Hard” — The Escapist" data-secret="iZYXJwbyv4" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(c,d){"use strict";var e=!1,o=!1;if(d.querySelector)if(c.addEventListener)e=!0;if(c.wp=c.wp||{},c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage);else if(c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if(!t);else if(!(t.secret||t.message||t.value));else if(/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret));else{for(var r,s,a,i=d.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),n=d.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),l=0;l<n.length;l++)n[l].style.display="none";for(l=0;l<i.length;l++)if(r=i[l],e.source!==r.contentWindow);else{if(r.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message){if(1e3<(s=parseInt(t.value,10)))s=1e3;else if(~~s<200)s=200;r.height=s}if("link"===t.message)if(s=d.createElement("a"),a=d.createElement("a"),s.href=r.getAttribute("src"),a.href=t.value,!o.test(a.protocol));else if(a.host===s.host)if(d.activeElement===r)c.top.location.href=t.value}}},e)c.addEventListener("message",c.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),d.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",t,!1),c.addEventListener("load",t,!1);function t(){if(o);else{o=!0;for(var e,t,r,s=-1!==navigator.appVersion.indexOf("MSIE 10"),a=!!navigator.userAgent.match(/Trident.*rv:11\./),i=d.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),n=0;n<i.length;n++){if(!(r=(t=i[n]).getAttribute("data-secret")))r=Math.random().toString(36).substr(2,10),t.src+="#?secret="+r,t.setAttribute("data-secret",r);if(s||a)(e=t.cloneNode(!0)).removeAttribute("security"),t.parentNode.replaceChild(e,t);t.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:r},"*")}}}}(window,document); </script> https://www.escapistmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Shadow-of-the-Tomb-Raider_11.jpg?fit=1080%2C6081080608My name is Heath Smith, Lead Game Designer on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I’d like to illuminate how and why we came up with Shadow‘s customizable difficulty settings – individual settings for not just combat, but exploration’ and puzzles as well. The first reason for separating the difficulty levels? To honor the fact that players would be spending an equal amount of time playing each one. From the earliest days in the development, we knew we wanted this to be the most balanced Tomb Raider of the survivor trilogy. Our goal was that each of the game’s pillars – combat, exploration […]