14 DAY TRIAL // Crystal Dynamics has some big plans for its upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, as they’re scrapping the previous version of protagonist Lara Croft with a younger and more vulnerable heroine that needs to overcome all sorts of challenges that will endear her to players.
While original Tomb Raider games have impressed through their gameplay, recent ones only tried to capitalize on the sex appeal of their heroine, Lara Croft, who went on adventures wearing all sorts of skimpy things.
With the upcoming Tomb raider reboot, however, Crystal Dynamics is introducing a younger, less sexualized version of Lara Croft, one who’ll help get players interested in her adventures.
"When people play Lara, they don't really project themselves into the character," Executive Producer Ron Rosenberg told Kotaku. "They're more like 'I want to protect her.' There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her.'"
The different challenges faced by Lara will still paint her as a hero, but she’s going to have a much tougher time in her adventures, so players will feel more connected to her ordeal.
"She's definitely the hero but— you're kind of like her helper," he added. "When you see her have to face these challenges, you start to root for her in a way that you might not root for a male character."
"The ability to see her as a human is even more enticing to me than the more sexualized version of yesteryear," he said. "She literally goes from zero to hero... we're sort of building her up and just when she gets confident, we break her down again."
There are going to be many traumatic events but Rosenberg highlights that the story won’t shock for shock’s sake.
"She is literally turned into a cornered animal," Rosenberg said. "It's a huge step in her evolution: she's forced to either fight back or die. We're not trying to be over the top, shock people for shock's sake. We're trying to tell a great origin story."
The new Tomb Raider game will be released next March on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.