Tomb Raider

Story

he game begins with Lara setting off on her first expedition aboard the ship Endurance to find the lost kingdom of Yamatai. At her suggestion and against Whitman's advice, the expedition ventures into the Dragon Triangle, east of Japan. The ship is caught in a violent storm and shipwrecked, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island. Lara is separated from the others and captured by a strange, wild man. She manages to escape, while her captor is killed when the cave collapses as a result of her actions. While searching for the other survivors, Lara finds more evidence that the island is inhabited, such as strange carvings, corpses and animal sacrifices. Eventually, she finds her friend Sam and a man named Mathias, who claims to be a teacher who was shipwrecked on the island. When Sam tells Mathias the legends of Himiko, Lara faints. When she wakes up, Mathias and Sam are no longer in sight. When Lara rejoins the other survivors, Whitman decides to accompany Lara and search for the still-missing Roth, while the rest of the group (Reyes, Jonah, Alex and Grim) set out to find Sam and Mathias. During their exploration, Lara and Whitman discover that the island's inhabitants worship Himiko, confirming that the island is Yamatai. When they discover a shrine erected in Himiko's name, they are captured by the islanders and taken to a settlement along with some other survivors of the Endurance. When the survivors attempt to escape, their captors turn on them. Lara is separated from Whitman and tries to hide, but is found by one of the islanders and forced to kill him. She fights off the remaining attackers and reunites with Roth, whom she saves from a wolf attack. Lara manages to activate a radio tower and call for help, but the plane responding to the call is hit by a freak storm and Lara hears a mysterious voice saying in Japanese, "No one leaves". Unable to save the surviving pilots, Lara is contacted by Alex and Reyes, who reveal to her that Sam has been kidnapped by the islanders, a violent cult called the Solarii Brotherhood. Lara tries to rescue her, but is stopped by Mathias, the leader of the Solarii, and is to be killed: She is saved by an attack from samurai-like Oni. Escaping from the old monastery where she was taken by the Oni, she learns from Sam that Mathias wants her to undergo the "Ascension", a "fire ritual" to find the next Sun Queen, which will burn her to death if it is not successful. Lara follows them to the Solarii fortress and is assisted by Grim. The Solarii take Grim hostage, but he sacrifices himself so that Lara can escape. With Roth's help, Lara infiltrates the fortress and sees the ritual begin. As the fires are lit, a strong wind blows them out, revealing Sam to be the next Sun Queen. Lara escapes again and meets up with her friends. They hatch a plan to rescue Sam and escape. With the help of Whitman, who has managed to negotiate a measure of freedom with the Solarii, Lara returns to the palace to rescue Sam, while Roth commandeers a helicopter to free her. Lara succeeds, but persuades Sam to escape by land when she sees another storm approaching as the helicopter nears. When Lara tries to force the helicopter pilot to land, they are brought down, with Lara nearly dying. Roth brings Lara back to life and then receives a fatal blow from Mathias, who was meant for Lara. As she mourns Roth, Lara accepts that the storms are not natural, but somehow connected to the Sun Queen and meant to prevent anyone from leaving the island. She meets up with the other survivors who have escaped the Solarii long enough to secure a boat to leave the island, assuming it can be repaired. They are joined by Whitman, who claims to have escaped, although Lara suspects him of working with the cultists. Lara and Alex find parts for the boat in the wreckage of the Endurance. They are attacked by the Solarii and Alex triggers an explosion, sacrificing himself so that Lara can escape with the tools. When Lara comes across a report about a World War II Japanese military and Nazi scientific expedition that searched the island for a way to weaponize the storms, she decides to explore a tomb on the coast where she finds the remains of a samurai general who committed seppuku. A message he left behind reveals that he led the Queen's Stormguard, the oni who defend the monastery, and that the Queen's successor took her own life rather than assume the power of the Sun Queen. Lara realizes that the ascension is not a ceremony to crown a new queen, but a ritual in which the soul of the original Sun Queen is transferred into a new body; the Sun Queen had learned to become virtually immortal by transferring her soul into the body of a young girl every time she grew old. The suicide of the last priestess had interrupted the ritual and left the queen's soul trapped in her old, decaying body, and Himiko's spirit had wanted to escape this body ever since. As a descendant of Yamatai, Sam is a suitable candidate, and Mathias plans to make Sam an offer.