New Tomb Raider: Underworld based on Norse Mythology
Written by Tombalina
The latest Lara Croft game sends the explorer swimming under the ocean to explore tombs protected by krakens and other Norse creatures. According to Eric Lindstrom, the creative director at Crystal Dynamics, developers chose Norse mythology as the basis for Tomb Raider: Underworld because it is largely unknown.
"When thinking about Lara Croft's next adventure, Norse mythology stood out as having less exposure than other mythologies in the world," Lindstrom said. "We also wanted this story to include a network of similar-looking ruins around the world that were very ancient, like 10,000 years or more. The Vikings had a reputation of doing more than your average traveling, so these elements fit together. We're not saying that all these ruins are Norse. They are far too old for that, but we are saying that the Norse were influenced by these ancient ruins they found in the world."
Krakens have appeared in other fantasy art and films, such as Clash of the Titans and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
"The kraken in Norse mythology is more the product of artists than of seafarers," Lindstrom said. "Some representations are very similar to giant squid or octopus, while others are more serpentine. We knew we wanted to include the Midgard Serpent, Jormangandr, in our story, which is more of a traditional serpent, so we wanted a clear differentiation. To avoid confusion with the Midgard Serpent, we made the kraken a creature with many tentacles, which also provided more gameplay opportunity as well."
All of the creatures appear realistically within the game world, where graphics are closer than ever to the photoreal on next-generation systems such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
"One of the ways we ground the fantastic in reality is by taking steps from the real world toward the fantastic," Lindstrom said. "We call it the onion, where we start with a beautiful but realistic environment, and then we slowly introduce elements that are beyond the reach of normal human experience and science. By the time you reach the heart of these ruins, you have taken on numerous elements of the fantastic and are ready for the big, ancient surprise in the middle of it all. Even then, we try to keep the fantastic grounded in the environment with the use of appropriately realistic color, texture, sound, etc."
Tomb Raider: Underworld was released at the end Nov, with versions for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2.
