14 DAY TRIAL // The rebooted Tomb Raider introduces a new take on main character Lara Croft and the main writer working on the game insists that the focus on core human emotions has not eliminated the feminine nature of the protagonist.
Rhianna Pratchett tells KillScreen that, “It is a human story at heart. But there are things – the language she uses, or the way that she interacts – that could be said to be more feminine.”
The key to the new Tomb Raider story is subtlety, with the narrative allowing players to see how Lara’s gender affects her actions but without an overt focus on it.
The writer adds, “She is a young woman, so we wanted her to feel like a real young woman. That was one of the problems in the past with old Lara. There is more to gender than what you have on the front of your chest.”
The vulnerability that defines the first hours of Tomb Raider is linked to her humanity and the circumstances that she’s exposed to and not to her gender.
Pratchett acknowledges that at the moment the video game industry is dominated by white male protagonists and believes that big companies like Square Enix need to take steps to correct the situation and promote more diversity in order to attract a more varied audience.
The new Tomb Raider reboots the entire series and players have been praising the game for its new mechanics and for the way Lara Croft evolves during the story.
Recently, one of the leaders of Ubisoft has also talked about a potential female leading character for Assassin’s Creed, saying that the time is not yet right to make that move.
The team working on Tomb Raider has confirmed that it has no plans to deliver more single-player story-based downloadable content for the game in the coming months.