Tomb Raider may be a fairly large presence at this year's Comic Con thanks to the numerous demo stations on the show floor and in various clubs and hotels in the surrounding area, but its panel was surprisingly short and understated. Geoff Keighley of Spike TV fame emceed the panel, which consisted of global brand director Karl Stewart, lead script writer John Stafford, lead actress Camilla Luddington, and lead writer Rhianna Pratchett.

With such an all-star cast of "lead" this-and-thats, I honestly expected a little more action. Granted, they did show off Lara's first kill (not just in the game, but in the character's timeline as a whole) in more detail than they did at E3. But that's detail that I honestly would have rather had time to absorb by myself, as it is a very pivotal moment in the game.

Much of the early discussion at this point revolved around a documentary video that was being produced by Geoff Keighley and hosted by Chuck's Zachary Levi. This brief series of documentaries will go behind the scenes of the last few months of development on Tomb Raider and should hopefully provide an interesting look at what it takes to develop a AAA game. The episode that they showed off centered around Camilla and her starring role in the game. The process of acting out each and every scene was surprisingly taxing, both emotionally and physically. In a later anecdote, Camilla explained that for two and a half years she was coming home from work with bruises, but due to the nondisclosure agreement she had signed, she couldn't tell anyone where she had gotten them. Awkwarrrd.

Crystal Dynamics left by saying that they had to reinvent themselves as a studio and the way they make games even as they reinvented Lara Croft in Tomb Raider. It's been a long and not altogether smooth road, but the end is in sight. Look for more Tomb Raider news to come, including a hands-on preview, right here on GameShampoo.