Tomb Raider: No Demo Or Online Pass

Tomb Raider global brand director Karl Stewart took to Twitter today to answer some of fans' burning questions about the upcoming reboot. He realized, among other things, that the game won't have a demo.

"There are no plans to release a demo of the game pre-launch," Stewart tweeted. "We don't want to spoil the story. We've weaved such an personal story we don't believe spoiling it by having you wait a week or so to play on, delivers on our promise."

The unsaid explanation here is that creating a demo takes time. We'd all like to sample a bit of the campaign - or maybe play a beta for the new multiplayer modes - but the time spent preparing that trial version is time not spent developing the actual game. Sometimes developers are able to create a demo while still polishing the full game but it seems like an increasingly rare occurrence. The fact that Stewart specifies there won't be a "pre-launch" demo leaves the door open for one being released sometime after the game hits stores, though.

Stewart went on to say that the game won't have an Online Pass. An Online Pass is a one-time-use code included with a game to allow the player to unlock the multiplayer modes. If you buy a pre-owned copy, odds are the code has already been used and you'll need to buy a new one. Looks like you won't have to worry about that with Tomb Raider, though.

Another trendy offering in games, the Season Pass, also won't be offered for Tomb Raider. A Season Pass let players buy access to all of a game's DLC at once for a discount. Max Payne 3 and Black Ops 2 are two recent examples of games with such a feature. Tomb Raider is definitely receiving DLC but you'll have to purchase it individually.

Tomb Raider will launch on March 5th.