The original Tomb Raider is set to return in a brand new reimagining next year.
If you tuned into The Game Awards, you’ll have seen not one but two new Tomb Raider games unveiled in celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary.
Tomb Raider: Catalyst is the next mainline adventure in Lara’s journey; teased as the biggest Tomb Raider to date, it’ll see Lara travel to northern India after a “mythical cataclysm” unleashes “ancient secrets”.
That’ll land in 2027. Next year, however, fans can look forward to Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a reimagining of 1996’s Tomb Raider made by Flying Wild Hog in partnership with Crystal Dynamics.
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It is essentially a remake, although I recently had the opportunity to attend a Q&A where studio head Scot Amos and developer Will Kerslake explained why they’re so keen to sell Legacy of Atlantis as a reimagining.
A Love Letter by Fans for Fans
Scot and Will detailed that Legacy of Atlantis steps beyond being a straight forward remake, although all of the familiar story beats and locations are present.
As Scot explained, to say that technology has advanced in the last 30 years would be an understatement and Legacy of Atlantis is a product of those changes.
The title’s gameplay, controls, and camera are all elements which have been updated to suit modern tastes.
While Scot and Will were loath to open up too much about gameplay, the duo did drop one tease.
“If you poke at that trailer, there’s a lot of cool stuff that’s in the game,” Will said.
Legacy of Atlantis has been recreated in Unreal Engine 5 so backgrounds that were previously flat have been totally reimagined, resulting in some pretty impressive 3D vistas.
Many “Cool Surprises” Await Players
Legacy of Atlantis’ updates stretch far beyond simple changes to the game’s controls.
Both Scot and Will promised “cool surprises” in the game, explaining that what was impressive in 1996 would likely no longer impress an audience in 2026.
The appearance of the game’s tyrannosaurus was provided as an example; the dinosaur does, of course, appear in the remake as shown in the trailer.
The teams had to ask themselves though, ‘How do we make a sequence like this impressive to the modern player?’
It’s in instances like this that players will experience those aforementioned changes and surprises.
I should also stress that the story has been slightly tweaked as the Survivor Trilogy - comprising Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider - canonically serves as Lara’s origin.
Legacy of Atlantis will honour this.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam in 2026.
Topics: Tomb Raider, PlayStation, PlayStation 5, Xbox, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PC, Steam, Interview