PC version of Tomb Raider Features Realistic Hair

By Kevin Mitchell Posted on February 27, 2013

Fact: Creating realistic hair in a videogame is not easy.

Using the WWE games as a reference – yes, I know this isn’t the best reference point – for hair technology, Triple H’s entrance has never been able to replicate realistic flowing hair, sometimes the sequels make things slightly beteter and other times things look like a mess. One game in particular, Alice: Madness Returns, featured pseudo-realistic hair physics, and for the time it was quite impressive, until now that is.

AMD and Crystal Dynamics have co-developed a new technology that allows for real-time hair lighting and physics for the first time ever in a videogame. Only on the PC version of Tomb Raider, will gamers be able to turn on the TressFX Hair and stare open jawed at Lara’s naturally flowing hair, and not her chest. Gravity, wind and the player’s own movements will allow the hair to move and curl in a realistic fashion, while a collision detection system makes sure that each strand doesn’t pass through one another or other surfaces on Lara’s body.

I will be reviewing the PC version of Tomb Raider as soon as it arrives and will take my own screenshots of the game with TressFX enabled, but in the meantime take a look at the comparison below.