Things are starting to fall into place for Rise of the Tomb Raider. While there's still over half a year between us and the earliest possible release for this holiday 2015 title, we're finally starting to get whispers of what the game might look like. And by 'whispers', I mean a roaring avalanche of information that came with GameInformer's , which centers entirely on our intrepid lady of tombs.

All this new knowledge, combined with our own exclusive Rise preview session (which you can hear about in the video below) have shed a lot of light on what Lara's new adventure will entail. Secret societies, bigger tombs, a mythical city and the return of old friends - there's a lot to catch up on, and you can find it all packed into the following slides. Onward!

At the start of Rise's E3 trailer, Lara's in therapy, talking through the trauma inflicted by her fun-filled excursion through Yamatai. Or rather she's not. Because explaining what happened to her would sound completely insane, which apparently puts her in an unfortunate spot. "Lara feels like an outsider in the real world," explained creative director Noah Hughes in an interview with GameInformer. "Her next expedition is a way of dealing with the trauma she's been through, but it's also a way of finding peace by chasing any shred of evidence that what she saw was real."

That's suggests there's going to be a big focus on Lara's questionable state of mind in Rise, especially when you consider Crystal Dynamics' handling of her story in the meantime. The currently running both make a big point about how the trauma she experienced at Yamatai is still affecting her. While we can certainly expect Rise to delve more deeply into Lara's PTSD, don't expect her to spend the entire game at the doctor's office. She's got something to prove to herself.

Lara Croft's explored so many exotic locales, racing to beat nondescript bad guys to magical treasure, that 'thwart supernatural scheme' probably shows up right before 'buy milk' on her weekly to-do list. Rise looks to stick with that tradition, sending Lara to the frozen tundra of Siberia to discover the legendary invisible city of Kitezh. An ancient city that supposedly sank to the bottom of a lake when its citizens prayed for salvation from an invading Mongolian army (not sure how much better of an option that is, but all right), Kitezh supposedly contains the secret of immortality, and Lara's ready and raring to raid for it.

A setting like Siberia definitely ups the ante in terms of survival. Say what you will about Yamatai and its population of murderous cultists, at least it was warm. The unforgiving weather Russia's northernmost parts is bad enough, particularly since Rise promises to utilize a dynamic weather system, but throw in hungry bears and wolves intent on having Lara for breakfast, and it seems like everything's going to want her dead. More than normal, even.

Lara already has to deal with horrendous weather, vicious animals, and the trappings of her own psyche, but why not make things interesting and throw in a malevolent secret society? While Lara had to deal with the fanatic exploits of the Solarii cult in her first adventure, this time she's up against a well funded group called Trinity, which is very interested in getting to Kitezh before she does.

This organization was named dropped in the first game, where secret GPS documents referred to them and their interest in supernatural phenomena, so they've technically been in the picture all along. The group showed up in person in the Tomb Raider comic as well, and it's members made a sincere effort to blow up Lara with a rocket launcher when she tried to protect one of their assassination targets. Expect them to take up the mantle of trying to brutally kill Lara at every turn, though probably with more advanced weaponry. Oh boy.

Lara may have been anchored to a single location for her last adventure (for obvious, deeply traumatic reasons), Rise is apparently going to offer a little more variety. GameInformer reports that the game will take place in at least two locations, and though we already know about Siberia, the second spot remains a mystery. However, they're will apparently be stark geographical differences between the places Lara will visit, so wherever she goes next, it won't end up feeling like a rehash.

Most of the images we've seen of Rise so far focus on Lara's romp through a winter wonderhell, with the exception the one above, which looks distinctly desert-like. Given that ominous-looking helicopter overhead, our guess is that Lara's going to go all Amazing Race to find scattered clues about the magical city she's trying to get into before her enemies find it. Or is that too Nick Cage?

We've seen Lara leaping toward sheer rock faces before. By now she's no stranger to the old 'jump at a wall and stab your axe in at the last minute so as to not die' trick. But we haven't seen her do that while hurling herself over what looks like a half-mile deep mountain chasm, after being chased off a cliff by a giant marauding bear. We're still uncertain how much platform jumping will feature in the gameplay itself, but if it's anything like that little stunt, it looks like the platforming genre itself may be getting a gritty reboot.

In addition, Crystal Dynamics has noted its commitment to one more, very important thing. "We'll have more tombs in the game featuring a full spectrum of puzzles," says Hughes. "Some tombs are much larger than in the last game... We want puzzles to make logical sense, so the solutions to the puzzles in this game won't always be some confounding security system of the ancients; it might be that Lara just needs to navigate the space in a way that subverts its original intent." While that may seem a bit vague, it definitely feels like a step in the right direction. Given that one of the main criticisms of the original reboot was that it lacked a proper selection of crypts to plunder, a renewed focus on the thinky-bits Lara's known for is nothing but good news.

While combat was a big (big, big, big) thing in Lara's blood-drenched Yamatai trip, and she had an impression set of scavenged weapons at her disposal, she's since upped her arsenal. While she was previously able to upgrade her arms with random salvage, Rise will use a tricate crafting system, which will let her to alter her weapons for different purposes. Advanced traversal, for example, or choosing whether to give her bow greater ease of use, or greater stopping power. She'll also be able to build things like traps and explosives, which give her all sorts of fun ways to destroy anyone who gets in her way.

This new system is already being compared to the scavenging mechanic in The Last of Us, which seems pretty apt. We can't say we mind though, because that system made collecting even random junk feel important while encouraging us to explore the game world. Hopefully Rise doesn't totally shadow TLOU, since variety's the spice of life, but but we're excited to see what a new team with new thoughts can do with a mechanic that good.

Whether this is a good or bad thing comes down to perspective. While some fans enjoyed the interplay between Lara and her comrades, particularly in her efforts to protect Sam, others felt they were needlessly tacked on and detracted from her badass adventures. Still, depending on how they're used, it's nice for Lara to have a humanizing element that keeps her from looking like an indestructible human pincushion. Either way, we still not sure of their role in the overall game, so the months ahead will tell how that's going to shape up.

As you may remember from the small fan-based nuclear explosion that detonated last August, Rise of the Tomb Raider will be Xbox One and Xbox 360 exclusive when it releases this holiday season. However, , though it's not yet confirmed how long it will last or what other consoles it might touch down on in the future.

While this is a frustrating move for anyone that doesn't have ready access to a box of X's, there is hope yet that the exclusivity window will be short. And hey, who knows? Your patience may be rewarded with a .

So that's everything we know about Rise of the Tomb Raider for now. But expect fo to start pouring out like the brains of so many arrow-perforated mooks very soon indeed. Keep an eye on this article, and we'll update it with every fact that arises as we move towards the game's Holiday 2015 release.

And while you're here and snuffling around for E3 info like a pig looking for video game-scented truffles, check out some of today's other reveals. Like .