Tomb Raider’s new version of Lara Croft has now been unveiled to the world, and she looks stunning.
However, with so many iterations of the character by now, there’ll always be debates on which version is the “best one”.
We now essentially have four different types of Crofts: Classic Lara, Legend Lara, Survivor Lara, and now Unified Lara.
I mean, technically Unified Lara exists as a combination of all three previous eras, so she should be “best” by default. But the debate continues.
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One post on Reddit has compared three versions of Tomb Raider’s Lara; the original, the one from Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and the new Unified Lara that will appear in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
Given that all three are technically the same story, it’s fun to compare all three with each other.
“I like how TR1 Lara doesn’t give a single sh**,” reads one comment underneath the post.
“God TRA Lara's nose always looked so weird from that angle,” reads another comment.
“Omg I'm so happy we got Lara back,” reads a third comment. “I'm just hoping she's going to be as sassy as TR1 Lara but she seems to be more LAU-Lara coded to me. We'll see next year!”
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be released in 2026, followed by Tomb Raider: Catalyst in 2027. The series last had a mainline entry in 2018 with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and fans had been waiting for a new game ever since.
Legacy of Atlantis is a reimagining of the original 1996 game, similar to the recent Resident Evil remakes from Capcom, set after Shadow of the Tomb Raider where Lara is now an experienced explorer.
Alix Wilton Regan will be playing Lara Croft in the new game, taking over from Camilla Luddington who played the character in the Survivor trilogy.
As for Tomb Raider: Catalyst, it’ll be set as a direct sequel to 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld with Lara navigating the aftermath of a mysterious cataclysm in Northern India.
Expect the game to play similarly to the Survivor Trilogy with its focus on interconnected levels and environmental puzzles.
With these two new Tomb Raider games, the series’ timeline is going to be a little messy.
Crystal Dynamics has a lot of work ahead to make it digestible to casual fans, and I’ve no doubt 2026 will spell a big return to form for the franchise.
Topics: Amazon, Tomb Raider