Rather than a sequel, the team decided to reboot the series, re-establishing the origins of Lara Croft for the second time, as they did with Tomb Raider: Legend. Tomb Raider is set on Yamatai, an island from which Lara, who is untested and not yet the battle-hardened explorer she is in other titles in the series, must save her friends and escape while being hunted down by a malevolent cult. Quick time events are scattered at regular intervals throughout the game, often appearing at crucial or fast-moving points in the game's plot, such as extracting a shard of metal, and escaping a collapsing cave.
The combat of the game borrows multiple elements from Naughty Dog's Uncharted series, with players having the ability to free-aim Lara's bow and the guns she salvages, engage in close-quarter combat and perform stealth kills. There is a character progression mechanic in the game: better items, weapons and equipment are gained as players progress, though the appearance of most of these items is closely linked to events in the story. In addition to the main story, players can complete multiple side quests, explore the island, revisit locations, and search for challenge tombs.
Alongside the single-player mode is an online multiplayer mode, which allows players to compete in several maps. The first mode is a player versus player combat scenario, with teams pitted against each other, and the winning team being the one to kill the opposing team in three separate matches. In the second mode, the "survivors" team must take medical supplies to a specific point on the map, while the "scavengers" must reach a certain number of kills, both within a ten-minute time limit. The third mode, "Cry for Help", involves the survivors exploring the maps and retrieving batteries for defended radio beacons while being hunted by the scavengers. Across all three modes, weapons and destroyable environments from the single-player campaign are carried over.
The game is set on Yamatai, a fictional lost island in the Dragon's Triangle off the coast of Japan. At the start of the game, the island is populated by the Solarii Brotherhood, a violent cult of criminals, mercenaries, and shipwreck survivors.
