Tomb Raider New Game Open-World 'Leak' Has Us Optimistic

A new leak regarding the next Tomb Raider game has surfaced, and it’s got fans feeling cautiously optimistic.

I hate that I have to say this, but it’s been far too long since we last had a new Tomb Raider game.

Sure, these remasters and ports are nice, especially the recent Switch 2 port of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, but come on now. Shadow of the Tomb Raider was eight years ago!

Unfortunately, it looks like we may still have to wait a while longer, as Crystal Dynamics has not had a good run lately. Following the poor performance of Marvel’s Avengers, the company was set to co-develop a Perfect Dark reboot along with The Initiative.

However, the game was cancelled back in July, with layoffs also hitting the staff. Although the company states that development on the next Tomb Raider has not been effected, there is still no sign of the next game even getting announced.

A new report from leaker V Scooper describes “tentative details” for the next Tomb Raider title. As always, take these comments with a grain of salt until they’re confirmed by an official source.

The next game in the series has apparently “been reworked to improve the characters,” and that “Lara's portrayed at her prime, her career's peak. Hunting Ashoka’s mythical weapons that grants conquest power.”

The report also claims that there will be an open world, with “harsh deserts, cliffs, abundant jungles & icy mountains”.

This report follows an earlier one from early last year which claimed that 'a natural disaster strikes northern India revealing ancient emperor Ashoka's ruins and artifacts Lara strategically races against a Society of Raiders and other rivals for these powerful relics'.

Tomb Raider fans are hopeful that we could see a snippet of the title at some point in the near future.

So far, all we really know about it is that it’ll use Unreal Engine 5 and featured a story that unifies the three separate canons of the series.

“Crystal Dynamics need a W. Rooting for them,” reads one comment on Reddit.

“I just hope these ones feel more like Tomb Raider,” reads another comment. “I really don’t like the whole unifying aspect, they were better off just creating another new timeline or going back to Classic Lara.”

However, a few other fans are a little sceptical about the future of the series.

“We're never gonna get classic Lara doing backflips over packs of wolves and run & gunning through fantastical setpieces ever again, are we?” reads a comment in the same thread. “Got into the series with the classic remasters, and it's a bummer to get into a franchise through games that the series has definitively left behind.”