At times, it’s been tough being a Tomb Raider fan. While the series has never been completely out of the spotlight, there have been periods of long waits between mainline games. The first major one was the three year gap between the commercially successful but critically lambasted Angel of Darkness (Core Designs’s final title) and Legend, the first title developed by U.S.-based Crystal Dynamics. After a nice three game run, there was another gap, this time five years long, before the next mainline entry, simply titled Tomb Raider. Another three games in this so-called “Survivor Trilogy” ended in 2018 with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and that’s when the long wait began. For years, rumors and supposed leaks of a new title were rampant, and some were unsure if a new title would ever come out, with speculation that the developers had gone back to the drawing board numerous times. Some fans had flat out given up hope; some went so far as to say the rights of the franchise should be snatched from Crystal Dynamics and given to another developer for taking so long.
Now to be fair, in the last seven years we have gotten many other types of Tomb Raider content: We got another live action film in 2018 starring Alicia Vikander. The Top Cow comic book series got re-released in attractive (but HEAVY!) hardcover compilations. The first six games by Core Design got well-done remasters, including the Gold levels that had been locked to PC owners for literally decades. There was a Netflix animated series, which just recently got a second (and likely final) season. Some figures had come out to give fans something to spend their money on in the meantime. Lara was a DLC character in other franchises (Call of Duty, Fortnite). A live action series from Amazon is currently in development. There were a couple mobile games, and a tabletop game which I have yet to play. But a mainline game seemed to constantly elude us.
That is, until last night at the annual Game Awards. A few days beforehand, there was an announcement that there was going to be, um, an announcement at the Awards, something big with Tomb Raider. Could this finally be a new entry in the series? Well, not only was there a new game, but TWO. That’s right: Lara Croft returns to the big time with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (2026) and Tomb Raider: Catalyst (2027). To say this is exciting news is an understatement. Most franchises only get to say that one new game is coming, but Tomb Raider got two. And based on what little we saw in the trailers, Lara seemed back to her familiar self from the classic games! It makes the seven year wait worth it, not to mention having to wait almost an hour and a half through the show to see the trailers.
Not much is known about either game’s plot aside from the brief bits given in press releases, but notably, Legacy of Atlantis will be a remake of the 1996 game’s plot, about Lara’s race to collect pieces of the Scion. I know, that game already got a “reimagining” with Tomb Raider Anniversary in 2007, but this one looks to be even grander in scope, and the prospect of playing some of those famous TR moments but with the graphics of modern games and (likely) some new mechanics is very tasty indeed. Catalyst, by contrast, will be a brand new story, focusing on Lara spelunking in India and competing against rival treasure diggers. It will use Unreal Engine 5, and Lara’s new voice actress is Alix Wilton Regan (Assassin’s Creed Origins, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood).
While we wait for more news, gaze at the teaser trailers as shown at the Game Awards:
Both games will be available for Playstation 5, Xbox Series, and Steam. Are you excited for more Lara Croft over the next couple of years? Share you comments below!
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