For those of you who don’t recognise who’s looking back at you in the mirror these days, it may not be too difficult to believe Tomb Raider is celebrating its 30th anniversary next year.
Series stewards Crystal Dynamics will mark the occasion with reimagining Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a top-to-bottom recreation of the original PS1 Tomb Raider game.
The remake will mark the first half of a double-header, with all-new title Tomb Raider: Catalyst following in 2027.
That game will see beloved protagonist Lara Croft whisked away to Northern India, in a title that’s being billed as a direct continuation of 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld, almost 20 years later.
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The franchise is in many ways coming full-circle then, reintroducing us to the sassy and sometimes sexy superhuman star of the original games.
But Crystal Dynamics boss Scot Amos believes evolving the character to meet the tastes of the time is a part of the well-spoken adventurer’s enduring appeal.
As part of a group Q&A session late last week, he said:
“We've had the privilege and honour of looking at this character and actually being able to say, ‘How do we reimagine and how do we help her evolve over time?’ Like, who that character was, who the character becomes, and also evolving with gamers’ tastes and perceptions of what is the right character for the right time period of how people are experiencing games today.
So, certainly for us, it's been a privilege to be able to say, ‘Hey, how do we take Lara down to that next new generation of who this character needs to be, but still always retaining that core DNA that's made her iconic.’”
Beginning with the 2013 reboot Tomb Raider, the developer introduced a grittier, more grounded incarnation of Croft.
While she would gradually become more capable in Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider respectively, narratively she was still presented as a rookie, with both stories taking place many years before the first game.
Legacy of Atlantis, being a reimagining of the character’s debut, shows the heroine at her sassy best, doing gymnastics on cliff edges and leaping through the air shooting dinosaurs.
Game director Will Kerslake is eager to underline that while the two new titles will feature the same character, she’s at different stages of her career, with Catalyst taking place many, many years after the original game – itself much later than the aforementioned Survivor trilogy.
But while the dev is eager to depict the evolution of the character, there are also fundamentals that all versions of Lara must include.
He explained:
“We’ve had the same art director and lead character artists who've been working on Lara for many games now. And so, they always have core DNA elements that they look to maintain while updating both the realities of the modern standards of what engines can handle and what is required, and then making sure that she's in the right era for each version of the character depending on where that story is being told.”
While we ultimately enjoyed the Survivor trilogy, there’s been a hunger for traditional Tomb Raider for many years now, so we think Crystal Dynamics has made the right call here.
It’s going to be interesting to see how much her character changes in Catalyst, but for now we’re just excited to see the confident Croft return in Legacy of Atlantis.
Remember, the character will be embodied by seasoned voice actress Alix Wilton Reagan in both games, who has a fantastic track record and seems more than befitting of the role.
It’s going to be an exciting couple of years for Tomb Raider fans.