Rise of the Tomb Raider for PC is out now on both Valve's Steam and Microsoft's Windows Store. The good news, for those who are interested in the game but are short on cash to pay the full price, is that there's a trick to get the game via the Windows Store for just $9.
On Windows 10, hit the Windows key to bring up the Start bar and type region. A few results will appear; click on region and language settings.
At this point, pick Ukraine as your region and click on this link to open the Windows Store Ukrainian page for Rise of the Tomb Raider. You may also pick India and click on this link, though in this case it will cost you slightly more ($13).
You can now enter your credit card details as you normally would. Just make sure to also pick the same region you have previously chosen.
Enjoy this "deal", as there's no telling if and when Microsoft may choose to rectify the trick itself. The Windows Store version of Rise of the Tomb Raider is basically identical to the Steam, though a few differences have been reported - one is that the game apparently can only run at Full Screen Windowed Mode rather than Exclusive Full Screen; another is that it seems to use the Xbox One controller's impulse triggers, unlike the Steam version.
Don't worry if the progress bar doesn't seem to progress as it should, as it's among the known issues listed on the store:
- Windows 10 download progress bar does not actually display progress.
- Due to a UI issue download progress may not be accurately displayed (despite downloading without issue).
- When pausing and resuming the download, it may appear that the download has reset (appears to start from 0). However, actual download progress has not been affected.
If you own an NVIDIA card, remember to check the performance guide and download the latest optimized drivers. An AMD hotfix should also be released soon with some performance improvements.
