New Tomb Raider Approved
A brand new Tomb Raider game is in development and seems to be closer to the original PlayStation games than the reboot trilogy.
Square Enix plans to celebrate Lara Croft’s 25th anniversary all year round with retro-styled, nostalgic content and other fun surprises. With all this going on, developer Crystal Dynamics will be heading towards the next big Tomb Raider adventure, but we’re unlikely to hear much about it for a while yet.
For now, we have a little idea of what to expect, thanks to franchise game director Will Kerslake. He said the upcoming project will blend the original games with reboots, which of course was a kind of starting story for tomb raiders.
We plan to combine these timelines, telling stories based on the breadth of both Core Design and Crystal Dynamics games, the future of the Tomb Raider after [the reboot trilogy], he explained in his 25th-anniversary video. “With the Tomb Raider’s extensive history, this is not an easy task and we want patience throughout the process.”
There are no major announcements in 2021, but old-school fans of the franchise will no doubt be pleased to hear that the Tomb Raider is at least partially returning to its roots. This blending of old and new does not mean a return to the meticulous controls of the original games. This will probably be interesting to see after three matches of a younger and more inexperienced adventurer regarding where we find Lara in her life and who she is.
The final game in the series, 2018’s Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, received quite a lot of praise for its renewed emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, but some of its narrative choices, its brutally bleak tone, and odd character moments have been heavily criticized. If Crystal Dynamics can pull that darkness back a little bit, great. Much better if the new game also allows us to lock a butler in the recessed freezer.
