Amazon Game Studios and Crystal Dynamics unveiled trailers for two Tomb Raider adventure games at The Game Awards last Thursday.
And we heard more details on the games in a press briefing on Friday from the developers at Crystal Dynamics: Scott Amos, head of studio at Crystal Dynamics, and Will Kerslake, game director at Crystal Dynamics.
It was one of the biggest announcements revealed at Geoff Keighley’s awards show, but some details leaked out on Thursday morning. Lara Croft will be coming back in Tomb Raider: Catalyst, a brand new story in the Tomb Raider series debuting in 2027. And Croft will also be back in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a reimagined version of her iconic debut game.
This set of games is going to be very different from the most recent game series that introduced players to the young Lara Croft as she was beginning her adventures in the Survivor series. Those stories were captured in Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015), and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018).
Tomb Raider: Catalyst
Amazon Game Studios will publish the titles from Crystal Dynamics, a division of Embracer Group, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam.
Tomb Raider: Catalyst has been in development by Crystal Dynamics since the partnership with Amazon Game Studios was announced in 2022, and it takes place across northern India. It is set in the wake of a mythical cataclysm that has unleashed ancient secrets and awakened the mysterious forces that guard them.
When the most notorious treasure hunters from around the world descend on the region, Lara races to uncover the truth buried beneath the fractured landscape and stop those who would use its power for their own gain. As the ancient world collides with the present, Lara must decide who to trust among rivals and allies to prevent a catastrophe and protect a secret that could reshape the future.
Powered by Unreal Engine 5, Tomb Raider: Catalyst delivers the largest Tomb Raider world yet where Lara will traverse a landscape full of secrets, delve into lost tombs packed with intricate puzzles, and solve ancient mysteries using her unmatched brilliance and richly customized adventure tech.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
And the “reimagined” was part of the surprise. Amazon Game Studios, Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog unveiled Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a modern reimagining of Lara Croft’s genre-defining 1996 debut.
Developed in partnership between Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog, the game features stunning visuals powered by Unreal Engine 5, modern game design, and new surprises that honor the spirit and atmosphere of the original game.
As Lara Croft, players will harness their wits and athleticism to explore exotic locations lost to time, traverse treacherous landscapes, solve deadly contraptions, and face lethal predators in their quest for the scattered pieces of the Scion—an artifact of immeasurable power.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis aims to set a new standard for re-envisioning a classic by masterfully balancing innovation with gaming heritage, capturing the wonder and excitement that defined a genre while igniting a new sense of discovery through expanded storytelling.
Both Tomb Raider: Catalyst and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis games will feature actress Alix Wilton Regan as Lara Croft. Known for her performances in Dragon Age: Inquisition, Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect 3, Wilton Regan’s dynamic portrayal of Lara energizes gaming’s most iconic heroine with fresh spirit and depth, marking a new era in the Tomb Raider franchise.
Tomb Raider has racked up more than 160 million players, based on a 2022 survey, and it has sold more than 100 million copies since the first entry came out in 1996. The franchise includes more than 20 games. The new titles include the first brand new story since the last reboot of the series began in 2013.
The developer press briefing
Amos said that Tomb Raider: Catalyst will capture Croft at the furthest point in her career as an adventurer. That means she’s a lot older than she was in the Survivor series that ended in 2018. Alix Wilton Regan is playing the role of Lara Croft in both games.
“This is really where she is right now. Everything else is the history. So this is a great time for those longtime fans to see what’s next for Lara Croft,” Amos said.
For new fans, the team designed Catalyst so that players can jump in and pick up with her adventures “with no homework required,” he added. “You can jump right into Catalyst and feel this complete adventure top to bottom, and understand the story and the characters without having to know any of that prehistory.”
Amos added, “And of course, there’s that level of being able to satisfy the needs for folks who’ve been longtime fans, as well as getting new players to jump in and experience it. It is the largest Tomb Raider that we’ve made to date.”
Unreal Engine 5 will be useful in depicting high mountain peaks as well as the darkest tombs underground, Amos said.
A love letter by fans for fans
Amos said Legacy of Atlantis is a “love letter by fans — all of us — for fans.”
“Looking at the opportunity we had with this, we knew the 30th anniversary was coming up, and wanted to do something special to both celebrate that moment, but still play an homage to all of Core Design’s original design and intent from this amazing title that launched the franchise,” Amos said.
The game will have full 3D with updated camera controls and more.
Alix Wilton Regan is playing the role of Lara Croft in both games.
“Alix is just tremendous, like from the very first moment we met with her. From the very first casting calls we did, she loved this character. She was already a fan,” the devs said.
“She has that wit and that charm, that charisma, that is a natural essence and core for Laura, but she also has that confidence and that depth of emotionality that we need for telling these great stories,” the devs said. “We had the privilege of having Alix with us last night when she did the live reveal, which is just huge. To be able to see that and see the fan reaction is just so exciting.”
Amos said that the actress Alex understood what the taam wanted to do from the very beginning of the work. And she is pushing the emotional depth needed for modern storytelling.
The work doesn’t use the word “remake.” That’s by design, as the team wants to honor the legacy of the original game by modernizing the gameplay experience with Unreal Engine 5 technology. It will be “reimagined” for modern play, Amos said.
As for the timing, the Catalyst game is not taking longer to make because the Legacy of Atlantis has priority. Rather, this has been planned so that two separate development teams can do the work together. They’re sharing technology, assets and other resources. A single leadership team is overseeing both teams and it’s making sure both are within the canon of the Tomb Raider lore.
The devs did not answer a question about whether the Tomb Raider TV show at Amazon will incorporate the story in the games and visa versa, except to say that they have a vision for a cross-media franchise across both the live-action shows and the two games in the works. But they say “the fans will benefit from all of it.”
Using Unreal Engine 5
The Tomb Raider teams have used proprietary tools in the past, but they switched to Unreal Engine 5 in part because so many developers know how to use it. This way, people around the globe can contribute to the game as needed. The engine will be customized as needed by Crystal Dynamics.
“It was actually the intro of the original Tomb Raider, when she’s sitting there in Calcutta, in the hotel,” Kerslake said. “It’s a place that Tomb Raider has touched on before. It was a fan location that we were interested in, and it’s a region that offers vast and varied landscapes that are just begging to be explored.”
Kerslake said that the northern India location was chosen in part because it is so rich in ancient history and mythology.
Lara Croft has a grappling hook in the trailer, but the devs didn’t talk more about further gameplay details beyond what was in the trailer.
Surprises coming
Legacy of Atlantis will have surprises for fans, the devs said, even though it is a reimagining.
The core of the Tomb Raider experience will be puzzles, combat, traversal and death-defying action.
The devs noted Croft was the video game character who appeared on the most magazine covers over time and showed that women can be protagonists in video games.
As for the pressure of dealing with a world-famous franchise, the devs said, “We’ve experienced some of this pressure before, and Crystal certainly looking back in our history of what we’ve done with two regular different times. I think we put the most pressure on ourselves because we know as fans what we want. Everything we do is for the fans. So we listen very intently to our fans, to the audiences, to the players. There is a tremendous pressure to be respectful, but also keeping that iconic core that has made this character enduring for so long.”
The teams include both Tomb Raider veterans at Crystal Dynamics as well as newcomters as well.
Amazon Game Studios has been overseeing the project as publisher, and the devs said “they really got our vision from the first day.” For Amazon, it’s a cross-media franchise with live-action and games and eventually merchandise as well.
Legacy of Atlantis is a single-player action-adventure. The game will work with modern game controllers and it will have “modernized” combat. In the trailer, you can see velociperaptors, a wolf and a T-Rex.