Simply when it appeared nothing might distract the world from GTA VI mania, Crystal Dynamics has come alongside to remind us that the following installment in one other iconic recreation franchise can also be coming quickly. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis might be launched in February, and within the meantime the developer has began celebrating the unique recreation’s thirtieth anniversary.
The unique Tomb Raider was launched for the Sega Saturn in Europe and Japan on 25 October, 1996. The North American launch got here a month later alongside the model for the unique PlayStation. To commemorate the start of an icon, Crystal Dynamics has launched a collection of Tomb Raider 30 wallpapers displaying the evolution of Lara Croft over the ages.
The main Tomb Raider anniversary artwork fits eight incarnations of the intrepid archaeologist Lara Croft, from her original dual-pistol-wielding low-poly appearance to the more grounded and vulnerable Lara of Survivor and the new Lara Croft from Legacy of Atlantis, which is being developed with Flying Wild Hog, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, which is coming additional forward in 2028.
Some followers might be upset by the obvious snub of Underworld Lara, however the items art work captures nicely how Lara has developed through the years, and the way she’s remained unmistakably Lara regardless of the modifications to her look and character as know-how has permitted builders to hone their imaginative and prescient.
The 1996 Lara design continues to offer the idea for the character at present regardless of the power to make her look extra life like. PlayStation 2-era Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld launched smoother geometry and extra expressive animation, whereas the Survivor trilogy pushed the element and realism, with every leap including extra polygons, texture, in addition to nuance to Lara’s character.
Crystal Dynamics has also released a new illustration commissioned from artist Inna Vjuzhanina as a part of the Tomb Raider anniversary celebrations. Accessible in a number of codecs. The piece brings collectively Toby Gard and Core Design’s Lara Croft from the 1996 debut, initially product of just some hundred polygons, alongside the character design from the upcoming video games developed in Unreal Engine 5.
She’s not THIS old, but there’s some cool Lara Croft pixel art too..
One of the aspects of Lara’s appearance that’s evolved most dramatically is her hair. In the first two games, it was made from big polygons, not we have precise strands made from overlapping semi-transparent texture that mimic real clumps of hair. Her skin too. Subsurface scattering makes skin look more real, in changing light while blend shapes can form thousands of natural-looking facial expressions.
3D printing a real model of Lara’s body allowed developers to get real-world clothes tailor made, which could then be scanned to bring into the games.
Celebrate 30 years of Lara Croft’s PlayStation adventures 🎒
Learn how she’s being reimagined in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis https://t.co/uTdn8rHoxn https://t.co/327gmYK6yGOctober 22, 2026
You’ll be able to obtain the anniversary art work and wallpapers from Crystal Dynamics by way of Flickr.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis might be launched on 12 February, 2027. Pre-orders are live now on the PlayStation Store and by way of Steam and Xbox.
Additionally take a look at the Tomb Raider gear store for anniversary merchandise, from glasses to swimwear.
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