2021 is the year where we celebrate the 25 Anniversary for Tomb Raider, in this section you’ll be able to find all the news from the Crystal Dynamics members.
First, we must clarify something about Tomb Raider Ultimate Experience (known as T.R.U.E), the only thing we know about this is the registered trademark more than 1 year ago, this could be the next game, but we’re not going to go any deeper into this, since it’s just speculation and nothing is officially announced yet.
Crystal Dynamics says not to expect any news about a new game in a short period of time, however, if you want to talk more about it, remember to join our Croft Generation Discord server to chat with all the fans. Access to the next invitation link: https://discord.gg/tkzzj9X.
On this 25 Anniversary, Crystal Dynamics is going to release some surprises and feature each month a game from the Tomb Raider saga, by starting on February 1st with Tomb Raider (1996).
Future of the saga
Highlights announced from Crystal Dynamics is the new horizon for the Tomb Raider saga, which it consists in unifying all the time lines from the CORE Design classics games and the Crystal Dynamics trilogies, so this will all converge into the classics games and make it cannon.
The next video presents the Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary, introducing the Crystal Dynamics members: Meagan Marie – Senior Community & Social Manager, Neha Nair – Community & Social media Manager, Dallas Dickinson – Executive Producer, and Will Kerslake – Game Director. You can watch the video bellow and turn on subtitles.
Monthly Featured Game
Next, this section is going to be updated regularly with the new content to celebrate each feature game, starting on February 1st with the original Tomb Raider (1996). You can access directly to the official site clicking on this link: https://tombraider25.square-enix-games.com
Animated series on Netflix
The website Deadline officially announced an exclusive about the 25th Tomb Raider anniversary, a new Tomb Raider anime series will be release on the streaming platform, Netflix, with the collaboration of Legendary Television. The series will follow the video game reboot trilogy and follow Lara as she explores new territory.
The anime writter will be Tasha Huo (The Witcher: Blood Origin, Red Sonja), who will executive produce with dj2 Entertainment Founder and CEO Dmitri M. Johnson (Sonic the Hedgehog) as well as Stephan Bugaj and Howard Bliss. Jacob Robinson will also serve as EP on this series under his company Tractor Pants).
The voice of Lara Croft will be played by actress Hayley Atwell (known in the UCM universe as Agent Carter).
In addition, the actors who will dub Zip (Allen Maldonado) and Jonah Maiava (Earl Baylon, who is also the voice in the Survivor trilogy) were also revealed.
Valentine Cards
The artist Irene Aimee made the next GIFs for each game, celebrating Lara’s birthday and Valentine’s Day.
Lara Croft in Fortnite
With the arrival of Fortnite Season 6, Chapter 2, Lara Croft arrives as a playable character through the Battle Pass, which costs 950 bucks (in-game coin), the value is approximately 8€ for the 1000 bucks pack necessary to enjoy it. Remember that if you want to get Lara forever, you’ll need to redeem your Battle Pass before the end of the season (June 7, 20221).
Next some promotional pictures with Lara ingame.
Cookbook and travel guide
A new Tomb Raider collaboration, the cookbook and travel guide by the editorial Insight Editions. The book is release on October 26, 2021 and it’s now available to preorder in Amazon on this link.
It contains around 40 recipes that include some snacks, drinks, meals, desserts, etc, traditional recipes from each country that Lara visits.
These are some of the features of the cookbook:
- More than 40 recipes: Delicious dishes for every meal with recipes inspired by Lara Croft’s journeys across the globe.
- Global flavors: Carefully-researched recipes to bring you a taste of the cuisines from Lara Croft’s global travels.
- Travel Guide: Learn the cultural history of the sights from key Tomb Raider locations in a one-of-a-kind blend of cookbook and travel guide.
- Inspiring images: Beautiful full-color photography of completed dishes and stunning art from within the game.
- Perfect gift: Ultimate gift for fans of Tomb Raider, gamers, travelers and foodies.
The book written by author Tara Theoharis and published by Insight Editions. It was officially licensed and created in collaboration with Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics.
Finally, below you can see some preview pages for the cookbook. Thanks a lot to Crystal Dynamics for giving us the exclusivity to the Official Tomb Raider Fansite Program.
Estatua de Weta Workshop – El Valle Perdido
A new statue celebrating the 25 anniversary of Tomb Raider by Weta Workshop, it’s based on the mythical Lost Valley, sculped by Gary Hunt and it will be two different versions, one limited on 1:4 scale, and the other for the rest of the public, the size will be decided thanks to the preorders between April 19th and May 3rd, 2021.
Next you can check some concept arts and the Making of video.
Evento for Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius – War of the Visions
The mobile game Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius – War of the Visions, has a new collaboration with Tomb Raider, the event takes place from September 22 to October 19, 2021.
Below you can see a promotional artwork of Lara and some promotional trailers.
Pixel Art
Crystal Dynamics release the next Pixel Arts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider.
Movements conceptual art
The next concept arts are created by Tibbles to show Lara moves across the different games. They were published by this artist on the 20 Years Celebration of Tomb Raider.
National Coloring Book Day
Virginia Berrocal shared some drawings for coloring in order to celebrate the national coloring book day, that it’s on August 2nd. Print your favourite and share your results on our social media.
25 Anniversary greetings video
Next, models who starred Lara during these 25 years, writers of the games, comics, movies and series, congratulate the whole community for the 25th Anniversary of this saga.
In addition, there are extended versions of each of these excerpts, which you can access through the following links:
- Nathalie Cook (TR1 model): link.
- Rhona Mitra (TR2 model): link.
- Nell McAndrew (TR3 model): link.
- Jill de Jong (TR AOD model): link.
- Alison Carroll (TR Underworld model): link.
- Camilla Luddington (voice and motion capture in the Survivor trilogy): link.
- Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins and Jonell Elliot (Lara’s voices in the classic CORE Design games): link.
- Rhianna Pratchett (writter from Tomb Raider 2013 and Rise of the Tomb Raider): link.
- Gail Simone (Writter for the comics and animated series in Revisioned – Pre-teen Raider): link.
- Ashley A. Woods (Crystal Dynamics artist for the Survivor trilogy): link.
- Misha Green (writter and producer for the second Tomb Raider reboot movie): link.
- Tasha Huo (writter and executive producer for the Netflix animated series): link.
Storyboard Prototype: Laura Cruz
Below, you can download in PDF format the prototype storyboards that were used for the creation of the first Tomb Raider, where the protagonist’s name was still Laura Cruz. The document was restored by Crystal Dynamics with the help of Kameliya Minkova, professional concept art artist.
Lara Croft games in Nintendo Switch
The two cooperative games of Lara Croft: Guardian of Light and The Temple of Osiris, will arrive on the Nintendo Switch console in 2022. The port for this console is developed by Feral Games, responsible for the ports of the Tomb Raider games for Macintosh and Linux.
Tomb Raider: Reloaded in 2022
The mobile game, Tomb Raider Reloaded, which is currently in beta stage in countries like Thailand and the Philippines, will be released worldwide in its final version in 2022, and also, for a limited time, you can choose which voice of Lara Croft (from the classic CORE Design era) you want to hear for the scenes:
- Shelley Blond: Tomb Raider (1996).
- Judith Gibbins: Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft.
- Jonell Elliott: Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
Tomb Raider: The LIVE Experience
Crystal Dynamics partnering with Little Lion Entertainment to create Tomb Raider: The LIVE Experience in London. This experience will give fans the opportunity to dive into the world of Tomb Raider as visitors work together in an immersive adventure, forging their own paths alongside recognizable characters from the franchise. Race against time as you help Lara Croft solve a mystery that will save the world! It will open its gates on early 2022, and it will open in early 2022 at the English city’s Stables Market in the heart of Camden Town.
You can enter the official website and book the tickets on this link.
The World of Lara Croft
Making its debut in 2022, The World of Lara Croft – 25 Years of Tomb Raider exhibition curated by the Storyworld museum launches in Groningen, the Netherlands. The World of Lara Croft details the history of Tomb Raider games, showcases art and design from the franchise, and explores the pop culture appeal of Lara Croft.
Within the exhibit, attendees will find content from the original 1996 game through the most recent Survivor Trilogy. Fans can expect to learn more about design details, developer insights, merchandise over the years, and appearances of Lara Croft in movies and comics.
Get more information on the Storyworld’s website.
Tabletop RPG game: Lara Croft’s Tomb Raiders
The senior designer, Matthew Gaston, started to develop the next rol-playing board game about Tomb Raider since 2007, and started to test it internally since 2009. The game is called Lara Croft’s Tomb Raiders, in this game, players will assume the roles of fictional characters from the world of Tomb Raider. These characters will work for Lara Croft, following a lot of clues, exploring ancient sites to discover information and artifacts.
The following sketches were made by Kameliya Minkova and Johann Blais. The rulebook will be released at the end of the year as a gift to all fans of the saga. Below is a sample of some of the pages:
25 Anniversary Stickers Pack
Bellow you can download the images of the Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary stickers, designed by Jeff Victor, a total of more than 40 stickers representing each game of the saga. In addition, these stickers are also available on iOS through the App Store in this link.
You can also add these stickers through Telegram thanks to Croft Generation, you can add it in this link.
