What a New Tomb Raider Game Can Learn From the Tomb Raider Reboot Trilogy

If a new Tomb Raider game is in development, there is a lot that Eidos Montreal could learn from the highs and lows of the reboot trilogy.

[masterfox]

please bring back voluptuous Lara and change her annoying voice for god sake!, I started playing all three games from my PS4, PS5 and PC (yeah found those dirt cheap in price), but still never finished a single one of them cause the main character is soooo damn annoying!, well at least for me. :D

[NerdBurglars]

You just sound like a teenager with too many hormones

[MadLad]

Half the comments section is acting like they made her this 0/10 looking character wearing seven layers of clothes.

The games were well reviewed. The new Lara would be a model in real world terms. If the biggest recurring issue is she wasn't just modelesque, but also abnormally large breasts and skin tight/virtually no clothing, that's just sad.

"She wasn't made to be the literal idea of a blowup doll. It's the PC police at it again."

[Fntastic]

That's probably most of the ppl on here tbh, many have atrocious grammar too so it makes sense. Guess their parents let them run loose on the internet.

[H9]

Honestly everyone here talking about her appearance is annoying, as if the game is perfect and just needs a fix in the character model and that's it, both people who are with and against her new design care more about how female character looks than her character

[dumahim]

and short attention span.

[moriarty1889]

That’s the whole problem….people like you calling out someone else for having an opinion about an original character design like Lara Croft’s. She was designed in a more sexy form and it was part of her look.It was also part of the attraction for many gamers who actually liked her for whatever way they may have. Nothing wrong with wanting her to resemble her original form at all. Unless you don’t like other people enjoying characters for what they are to them. That is the definition of close minded. This is video games after all. NOT reality.

[Elantregaless]

Why do you hate teenagers ?

[bloop]

I thought the reboot trilogy were good games, but I'd like to see the old, original Lara back too. I don't care what she looks like, but I'd like the character to go back to the assertive, confident and kick ass original character. All Lara seemed to do in the reboot games was complain, and the voice actor was painful to listen to.

[TricksterArrow]

I couldn't care less about Lara's boobs or lack of them. The game is just boring, and even the first, which is by far, the superior and most fun one of the bunch, is atrociously written. That campfire scene of Lara and her friend with a strange islander after she witnessed murder and was chased almost to death by another islander was so badly conceived it hurts my brain... Holy molly.

Get a better writter. It's that simple.

[moralsup]

lmao this is sad, what are you, 14?

[MrChow666]

Are you a prudish Goody two-shoes?

[Binarycode]

Totally Agree. I've played everyone ever made. Original 3 were by far the best.

The recent ones have too much whiney vocals, I don't need to hear everything she is doing every second.lol.

I'm surprised they never included her tummy rumbling in the audio. Or having a dump in the bushes.

[annoyedgamer]

Yea stop censoring women

[Christopher]

Modern trilogy based on a real-world woman for voice and design.

Older games based purely on imagination regarding design.

Yeah, censoring "women."

[gamer7804]

That is not really true or it’s misleading. All Lara Croft characters were based on imagination. None have been based off a real woman. Toby created Lara Croft to break stereotypes about females needing to be a damsel in distress. So he created her to and being tough and self reliant and can still be beautiful and attractive. There have been so many cosplays of all versions of Lara Croft so any could be a real world woman and is besides the point. But she has moved a bit further away from Tony’s original version and there are many who would like to see Lara return to form being all of those things.

At the very least give her her shorts, acrobatics and dual pistols back. That would be a start.

[Christopher]

*** All Lara Croft characters were based on imagination.***

Camilla Luddington was the base for both the voice and look of the new Lara. So, no.

@below: This is obviously about looks, not actions in-game. Your post is nonsensical as it relates nothing to the discussion. Let alone I said "for voice and design" and didn't say "for in-game combat and actions."

The back bending some of you are doing to try and have a point is ridiculous.

[bunt-custardly]

"based on a real world woman for voice and design".

You have got to be joking surely? Did you play any of the games? The feats this "based on a real world woman" accomplishes are fantastical from start to finish. I am glad you said "based" more like loosely based in a purely imaginative way.

[gamer7804]

Additionally, Sure they both had voice actresses, Kelley and Camilla, (personally preferred keeley) but they weren’t modeled specifically after an actual woman’s looks, just voice and mocap. ( ie your comment on design).

[bunt-custardly]

Obviously not Christopher. "Design" covers the entire spectrum as far as I am concerned, and in context of the article, quite relevant. You should have defined what you meant by "design" better. If you had said "looks" or "appearance" then there would be no confusion.

[Christopher]

Sure, bunt, sure. We're talking about a character, we obviously mean game design as well. Sounds logical to me.

[Bathory666]

I beat the trilogy, but the first reboot on ps3 was the best. Camilla luddington was amazing as lara. Rise and shadow were good, but something just felt off. They didn’t have the spirit of the reboot. Really hoping the next game is good and it moves forward.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

I thought Camilla luddington's performance wasn't great, tbh. In real life, she sounds like an American doing a REALLY bad English accent (rather than the other way around) because she moved to America when she was young.

That also translates to the accent in the game. haha. It just didn't sound right at all and is obviously fake. The over-emphasis on certain words makes her sound ... at best strange, and at worst a bit dumb. The pronunciations are often wrong as well.

Honestly though, I could accept all that if the characterization and story were compelling (that's not her fault). I had no investment in the character.

I didn't play Shadow, but I thought these games tortured her without any real purpose. The GCI trailer for Rise acted like the game would delve into her psychological state (therapy session scene) which would be interesting but it never does. She doesn't feel like a fully developed character, she feels more like a prop for the game to mess with and gruesomely put through Mortal Kombat-style fatalities if you make a mistake and die. Let her be a person and give her some good dialogue.

These are also the only games where ludonarrative dissonance is obvious to me when I'm actually playing because the games draw attention to it.

[Knightofelemia]

I didn't mind the trilogy except for Shadow of the Tomb Raider the ending was honestly probably going to ruin it but it was shit. I mean Uncharted Lost Legacy had a better ending and it was a shorter game. Too make Lara great again you have to rebuild her from the ground up listen to fan input learn what works and what doesn't work and take it from there with her.

[zsquaresoff]

Make it more like the 1st game of the trilogy and don't make the map unnecessarily big with tons of collectibles.
And make Lara sexy again.

[moriarty1889]

Yes make her sexy the way she originally was. Nothing evil or wrong with that at all. She is a video game character after all ……..ffs it’s not a real person. Video games are meant to be for fun and for the imagination. This new anti sexy anti feminine movement in games against female characters who originally were made that way is ridiculous. People need to stop taking everything so serious and looking for problems with everything in life. That’s why we are at this point in gaming with characters like Lara.

[bunt-custardly]

What they can learn is, Lara can still remain a badass character even if they adhere to the original design which might not appeal to the current PC brigade but the fans who supported the series from the beginning. They can also give people more options so that those who want tank tops and shorts or bikinis in the snowy climates can have that and those who want more realistic clothing can choose that too. Cover all bases basically.

I would like to see a more intelligent Lara though using better more varied tools to take out/avoid enemies when using stealth. SOTTR was too much like Arnie in Predator SIM. They have overplayed the mass murdering OTT character imo.

[isarai]

Forget they even happened, go back to roots.

[H9]

Focus more on the adventure than the story and game length because the studio can't do both of these things right

[Atomicjuicer]

Shadow of the resting bitch face (she'll have facial hair in the next game if we don't speak up).

[senorfartcushion]

Less irritating voice actors?

[Terry_B]

"What a New Tomb Raider Game Can Learn From the Tomb Raider Reboot Trilogy" - be a Tomb Raider game instead of an Uncharted Clone.

[leahcim]

I really enjoyed every second of the trilogy. I really hope for a new game next gen only soon!

[MadLad]

@TerryB

There's a bunch more mechanics in Tomb Raider than Uncharted, unless you feel Uncharted owns the rights to climbing and shooting.

- edit - Meant for above.

[DFresh]

I really liked the reboot trilogy.
Dope series.

[GhostofHorizon]

I've only played the first one so far and enjoyed it quite a bit. Didn't realize her being a grounded character got so many people upset.

[H9]

The hate on Lara Croft in the reboot can be split into 2 groups, first people who were simply not impressed with the writing (very fair imo), second people who don't like she wasn't sexualized as much as the past games!

[GhostofHorizon]

I would say writing was quite forgettable as I'm trying to recall of any actual story beats and not having a lot of success. I don't remember the older Tomb Raider games having amazing story either though, might be a case of unrealistic expectations. Story related complaints are fine but surely the second group can find a alot of material out there to pleasure themselves to.

[H9]

@Nakiro ikr suddenly there's a lot of story expectation for Lara, but I think it can be understood since the path they took in the reboot is pretty generic, but in all honesty does Tomb Raider need a deep story?

[MadLad]

"We don't like the way she looks"

She's still an amazing looking girl. Just less exaggerated.

"Well it's not really about the looks, it's that the writing is bad".

Uh.
Did you even play the original games and still want to talk about writing?

"No no. What it really comes down to was they changed the games too much".

Didn't they have to reboot the series because they were getting lower and lower reviews, and "diehard" fans like you stopped buying them?

" .... >:| "

[H9]

@therealtedcruz what you said is literally the conversation with someone of the second type, but one point to be fair the reboot was a chance to actually tell a story this time around the fact that it was bad became a disappointment so I can understand people who had hopes for the story

[MeatyUrologist]

I actually didn't mind the new Lara from the reboots, but I also thought the games peaked with Rise. Shadow seemed to get worse in every aspect. Areas were less diverse, and combat was horrid. Enemies didn't bleed or even react when shot it felt terrible.

I would love a reboot that went back to original games more exotic exploration and over the top adventure aspects with some truly next gen visuals.

[Hofstaderman]

Not to be curtailed into a year plus exclusive arrangement on a less popular console that will end up hurting its overall sales.

[Bigman4k]

I say make Lara Croft look like Kim Kardashian for the new tomb raider reboot game 😁😁😁

[MadLad]

*buys game just to purposely fail in the game in the worst ways possible*.

[Bigman4k]

It was a joke dont you see 3 smiley faces

[MocBistro]

Maybe make Lara more human-like and relatable, not superman level? Adding a stamina bar and make every parkour aerobatic moves count? Better gunplay? GORE!

[CrimsonWing69]

I’d say maybe try to include more from the original. It was cool when you got to dual-wield the pistols near the end of the first one, but why wasn’t that something you could ever do again? I think it’d be cooler if they added more noticeably super natural elements akin to Indiana Jones and less closer to Natural Treasure.

[Towers]

Less shooting humans, more atmospheric tombs and puzzles.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Female characters don't need to be designed overtly sexy to be sexy. These comments are disgusting.

[MadLad]

I'd use pathetic.

[Silly Mammo]

I really liked the 1st one, the 2nd one was okay but I was pretty bored with the 3rd one.

[mastershredder]

You though she was annoying now? Laura is gonna go full Aloy. Just watch….

[0hMyGandhi]

I liked the first two games, with Rise being one of my favorites. The first in the new trilogy felt a bit too "try-hard" for me. It was still super fun, but it came across as Tomb Raider: Warrior Within for me.

I thought the second one had absolutely gorgeous locales, some of the best art direction I've ever seen.

I'm making my way through the third one, and only about 5 hours in and something feels super off about it. It is a slog, and I hope it picks up.

I don't have any real crazy critiques for the games. The third one at least is acknowledging that she has become a selfish, entitled mass murderer who destroys ancient environments and steals their treasure, which I thought was a nice touch.

For those of you who felt that the games were slow: you've obviously never played the older games, they've always had a slower, more cerebral pace, and a lot of huge puzzles, which honestly made them almost relaxing to play. I don't mind the new model for Shadow, but I thought Rise had the best representation for what Lara should look like.

[MeatyUrologist]

Sadly it doesn't get any better. Some of the puzzles are great, but the locales get boring and the combat is some of the worst I have ever played with horrid AI and weak mechanics. Story is overly serious and boring as well and voice acting took a step back from Rise. Overall I agree with you that Rise was by far the best of the newer games and rivals the originals imo. Hope they either go back to the original style games or make the next similar to Rise.

Also, I don't get the hate for new Lara's look. I don't need my video game characters to be "hot", but I still think she is very attracting looking. It's not like they "Abbied" her or anything...

[Elantregaless]

Bring back sexy Laura

[DragonBuster]

Sexy outfits.

[Blackcanary]

I hated the trilogy. Go back to Tomb Raider Under World and give us a new adventure from that series. Looking forward to the TRAOD remake which looks amazing so far.

[X-23]

Some actual character development would be nice.
OG Lara actually had style and personality which are both things reboot Lara seem to lack, over all she was pretty one dimensional and uninteresting.

The first game from the trilogy at the time was really good and had potential, but the sequel was very mediocre and just gave us the same Lara in a different climate no new found mental fortitude from her previous experiences or anything, if your character isn't growing throughout the span of numerous stories then what's the point?