Square Enix Teases Tomb Raider Reboot

Eidos parent Square Enix is teasing the next major Tomb Raider release, one that aims to reinvent its famous protagonist Lara Croft with a new origin story explaining her upbringing. Simply titled Tomb Raider, the new game features a younger Croft who sports a gritty, muddied and bloodied look on the cover of the next issue of consumer magazine Game Informer. The new Tomb Raider, in development by Redwood City-based Crystal Dynamics, will be the first large-scale franchise installment since the completion of Square Enix's buyout of UK-based Eidos Interactive in 2009 for $117 million. Tokyo-based Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest publisher Square Enix bought Eidos in hopes of appealing to more Western audiences. "Forget everything you knew about Tomb Raider, we are exploring things that have never been done before in this game," said Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher. A press release for the game explained that the young Croft is "washed ashore on an unknown beach" after a storm leaves her shipwrecked. Square Enix did not reveal a release date for the new title. The first Tomb Raider launched in 1996, and the franchise was developed by Eidos studio Core Design until 2003, when Eidos moved development of the series to Crystal Dynamics, which has developed Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary, Underworld and most recently, the downloadable Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. According to Square Enix, the Tomb Raider video game franchise, which spawned two feature films starring actress Angelina Jolie, has sold over 35 million units. [Image via Game Informer.]