There’s few women characters in video games that are strong, determined and charismatic like Lara Croft is. Skilled, creative and capable, Croft has become one of the signature characters in the new millennium thanks to these skills along with some excellent games as well.
They haven’t all been top hits, and her story hasn’t always been consistent, needing two reboots to go back on the decision to kill Croft off at the end of Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. She’s not the only video game icon to be mistreated, but it’s fair to say that she got the short end of the stick towards the end of original developer Core Design‘s reign.
However, hope came in the form of two reboots. The first wasn’t able to successfully wipe the slate clean, but the second saw a whole new image of Croft. She was younger, sure, but the key thing about her character change was the switch to a more identifiable and understandable character.
Rather than the confident mascot we saw initially, we got someone that would probably act in the same way the average person would if they were trapped and fighting for survival: desperately.
The game itself saw changes as well. Drawing from Naughty Dog’s incredibly successful Uncharted series, the game not only changed it’s face but it’s flesh as well. Modern gameplay and mechanics, for better or for worse, was now the way to control Croft as she took the fight to her captors and worked to rescue her friends.
It was a distinct change of pace, and, going off of Metacritic’s average score of 86, was certainly for the better. The second reboot needed to start off strong to revitalize the Tomb Raider series, and Square Enix certainly did that with the simple and aptly named Tomb Raider.
Now, it’s almost time for the next installment. Rise of the Tomb Raider will be released on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One on November 10 in the U.S. and November 13 in Europe. The PC and PS4 releases will come in early 2016 and late 2016 respectively.
It’s important that the series is now moving with momentum and has a strong foundation to build on. Instead of trying to completely revamp a series, Square Enix now has ground to stand on, and they’ll look to build an even stronger game to take Croft and the series to new heights.
There’s no guarantee that Rise of the Tomb Raider will match it’s predecessor and continue to put the past behind the series, but it’s certainly exciting to see what they try. Croft’s next journey awaits, and the anticipation to see what that entails is real.
