Game - Rise of the Tomb Raider Cold: Darkness Awakened
Release Date - March 29th, 2016
Platform - Xbox One
Cold: Darkness Awakened is the third DLC pack for Rise of the Tomb Raider. Included for free with the season pass, or individually at $9.99, Cold Darkness Awakened takes Lara to a decommissioned Cold War research base, which holds a dark past that has been unleashed into the Siberian wilderness. A failed experiment by a Soviet scientist has led to a horrible affliction on the Trinity soldiers. As this deadly affliction spreads, Trinity soldiers transform into bloodthirsty killers who thrive on carnage. Lara must rely on her wits, physical agility, and crafting abilities to overcome this new enemy and shut down the decommissioned base.
The enemies in Cold: Darkness Awakened have terrible eyesight and basically blind. As a result, they track you via the noise you make. The environment is incredibly dark, but fortunately Lara has a glowing light around her to aid navigation. It illuminates a small circle around her and casts ambient light into the distance to allow her to see some enemies. This pack not like the main game or even Baba Yaga as stealth is the only way to go through it. You can use your bow or firearms, but they are definitely not recommended. Since the enemies use sound for navigation, any gunfire draws massive amounts of enemies right to you. Your arrow count is limited and you'll need to craft them as you go. Fire and explosive arrows are also required in order to access certain areas. We found the best way to take out the enemies was to melee using a bow. It only takes three shots to melee kill an enemy with the third being the kill shot. Certain enemies are equipped with shields or weapons and can't be melee killed, so you'll need to sneak up behind them in the dark. The lighting is definitely a strategic addition as it forces you to be stealthy in your approach. There are ways to just "run and gun" through the mission if you choose, but it takes away from the spirt of what Cold: Darkness Awakened is supposed to be.
As you're walking around, Sofia (from the main game) will be providing guidance via a helicopter above. Weapons caches and prisoner locations pop up as you go, offering some minor side quests and achievements. You'll need to finish these all before you destroy the core, because that is the end of the pack and continues require a full restart. I suggest saving the core for last and freeing all the prisoners first as a result. There are three towers that you need to shut down and stop their toxin production prior to destroying the core. Each of these towers require multiple steps and Sofia provides the instructions. She'll tell you to look for a flag inside the tower. If the flag is Japanese, pull the blue water shut off lever. If it is not Japanese, lower the green conduit. It sounds easy enough, but there are enemies inside each tower. Since they are such small areas, they constantly attack you and leave little time to maneuver.
Once you destroy all three towers you'll need to access the core and destroy the pistons. The core is based on a single level and loaded with enemies. Lara will need to take the "run and gun" approach here because there is no time to stop and aim without getting hit. Destroying the pistons and escaping will end Cold: Darkness Awakened, so be sure to locate any hidden weapons and prisoners prior to doing so. Overall, Cold: Darkness Awakened was a good mission, but wasn't as detailed as both the main game and Baba Yaga. One of the most impressive feats of Rise of The Tomb Raider was how the cinematics showed such emotion on the characters' faces. This emotion drew you in and immersed you more into the game. Cold: Darkness Awakened does not have any of these cinematics. Even though the mission is still incredibly well done and you can hear the emotion in Lara's voice, I still would have liked to see maybe a small cinematic to wrap everything up.
Cold: Darkness Awakened was an interesting end to Rise of The Tomb Raider and does offer more variety than you would expect. Lighting enemies on fire with gas barrels, shooting them with fire arrows or creating molatov cocktails are only a few examples of show you can dispatch these mutated Trinity soldiers. I recommend picking it up as it completes the story in a rather interesting way while also leading into the next game. It's available now for $9.99 or free with the season pass on Xbox One.
