14 DAY TRIAL // The recently revealed Tomb Raider game, which aims at rebooting the iconic adventure franchise, has received a few more details from Crystal Dynamics, its developer, concerning the heroine, Lara Croft, and how she is a blank slate at the start of the game, without any of the classic trademarks of the series.
The Tomb Raider franchise is one of the most long-running ones in gaming, but this didn't save it from falling into a sales slump in recent years, as gamers were no longer impressed with Lara Croft's usual adventures.
Now, the development team at Crystal Dynamics is trying to reboot the series with next year's Tomb Raider, a new take on the classic adventure gameplay that made the franchise popular, as well as on the heroine of the series, Lara Croft.
According to the developer, the game doesn't make an effort to acknowledge the big past of the series, and is just about a younger and more inexperienced Lara Croft trying to survive on a dangerous island.
"We looked at the franchise, what bogged it down in the past, what things detracted from the story and we took them out," said Tomb Raider global brand director Karl Stewart to Kotaku. "We're not going to worry about her parents, her background. This is about the here and now. You might not know anything about her parents throughout the entire game."
The newest Lara, while still retaining her attractive image, eliminates some of the infamous features that made her a symbol for the objectification of women in games.
"We are not creating a character that just appeals to men," Stewart said. "We want to have an effect that is deeper, that has highs and lows. You can see it's not just about sex appeal. She can't be huge chest and tight shorts. That was the vision of old Lara Croft. We needed to make substantial changes."
The new Tomb Raider also sees a more vulnerable Lara Croft, not just in terms of physical pain but also psychological, as she needs to try and save Captain Conrad Roth, her mentor who was trying to save her before the ship wreck.
"In the past Lara has never had a personal attachment to any character," Stewart said. "She's never had a relationship beyond telling someone what to do. We use that in a very psychological way. She loves Roth. She's known him since she was very young. She knows she has to save him."
Expect more details about the Tomb Raider franchise in the following months, while the actual game is expected in fall of 2012.