Heartipedia

Tomb Raider

Tomb Raider is the action-adventure video game series starring the archaeologist Lara Croft, begun by the British studio Core Design in 1996 and developed by Crystal Dynamics since 2003.[^9][^11] The series had sold more than 100 million games by October 2024 and has been adapted into three films and two television series.[^7][^29][^31][^32][^34] Its next game, Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, a remake of the 1996 original published by Amazon Game Studios, is due on Feb 12, 2027, with Tomb Raider: Catalyst to follow.[^1][^2][^5]

Lara fights raptors in Legacy of Atlantis From IGN's first preview of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, shot on a pre-release build in June 2026: Lara fights feathered raptors in the jungle of Peru, the first region of the 1996 route the remake follows.

Tomb Raider is a series of action-adventure games in which Lara Croft, an English archaeologist and adventurer, explores ancient ruins, solves environmental puzzles and fights the people and creatures guarding them. The first game came out in 1996, and its PlayStation version holds a Metacritic score of 91.[10] Core Design, a studio in Derby, England, made the early games for the publisher Eidos Interactive, until Eidos moved the series to the American studio Crystal Dynamics in July 2003.[11][13] Crystal Dynamics has made the main games since, from Legend in 2006 through the 2013 reboot to the remake due in 2027.[14][17][1] By Oct 11, 2024, Crystal Dynamics counted more than 100 million games sold across the series, a total that earned Lara the Guinness World Record for the best-selling videogame heroine.[7][8] The series marked its 30th anniversary on Oct 24, 2026 with an event in Derby.[38] As of Nov 7, 2026, the most recent release is Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered from February 2025, and Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is due on Feb 12, 2027.[27][1]

Lara fights raptors in Legacy of Atlantis From IGN's first preview of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, shot on a pre-release build in June 2026: Lara fights feathered raptors in the jungle of Peru, the first region of the 1996 route the remake follows.

Created by
Toby Gard and Core Design, Derby, England[12][13]
Developer since 2003
Crystal Dynamics[11]
First game
Tomb Raider (1996)[10]
Owner
Embracer Group, since 2022; Fellowship Entertainment spin-off planned for 2027[21][23]
Games sold
More than 100 million[7][8]
Latest release
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, Feb 14, 2025[27]
Next game
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Feb 12, 2027[1][2]
Publisher of new games
Amazon Game Studios[1][4]
Screen adaptations
3 films (2001, 2003, 2018); Netflix animated series; Amazon live-action series in production[29][30][31][32][34]

Origins at Core Design

Toby Gard, a designer at Core Design, is credited with creating Lara Croft and the series, together with Paul Douglas in some accounts.[12] The character went through several identities before release: she was first imagined as Laura Cruz from South America, became a British archaeologist named Lara Cruz, and only then took the name Lara Croft.[9] The finished game sends her after the pieces of an ancient artifact through Peru, Greece, Egypt and the lost Atlantis, a route the 2027 remake keeps.[1] Released for the PlayStation on Nov 15, 1996, by Metacritic's date, it sold about seven million copies.[10][9] The Strong National Museum of Play inducted it into the World Video Game Hall of Fame in 2018.[9] Gard did not stay for the sequels: he went on to found Confounding Factor, whose game Galleon failed commercially, and he did not work on Tomb Raider again until 2004.[12]

How the first game was built A fan-made history of the series recounts the small Core Design team behind the 1996 game and its decision to build every level on a grid, which shaped Lara's moves and controls.

Core Design's sequels and the handover

Core Design went on to make the sequels through The Angel of Darkness; the last three of its games, The Last Revelation, Chronicles and The Angel of Darkness, are collected today as Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered.[11][27] Each of the first three games also got an expansion, Unfinished Business, Golden Mask and The Lost Artifact.[26] The Angel of Darkness, released for the PlayStation 2 on Jun 20, 2003, scored 52 on Metacritic for that console and 49 for PC, with reviewers faulting its controls and bugs while some praised its ambition.[37] Its weak reception and reported quality problems preceded the departure of Jeremy Heath-Smith, Core's managing director, and two weeks later, on Jul 31, 2003, Eidos announced that future Tomb Raider games would be developed by Crystal Dynamics in the United States.[11] In June 2006, Rebellion bought Core Design's staff and its Derby studio from SCi, Eidos's owner at the time, while Eidos kept the Core Design name and its intellectual property, Tomb Raider included.[13]

The 1996 story begins A retrospective on the original PlayStation game shows how its story starts: Jacqueline Natla hires Lara to recover the Scion from the lost city of Vilcabamba in Peru.

The Crystal Dynamics era

Crystal Dynamics' first Tomb Raider was Legend, which Eidos presented in February 2006 as the seventh game in the series, with the British actress Keeley Hawes as Lara's new voice; at that point the series had sold more than 28 million copies.[14] Toby Gard returned for it in August 2004 as a senior designer, his first Tomb Raider work since the original game, and he and the character artist Kam Yu redesigned Lara for the new era.[12][15] The studio then remade the first game as Tomb Raider: Anniversary, released on Jun 5, 2007 on an upgraded version of Legend's engine, with Lara again hunting the Scion through Egyptian pyramids and Atlantis.[16] Ownership changed above the studio in the meantime: a court approved Square Enix's purchase of Eidos on Apr 22, 2009, which brought Tomb Raider under the Japanese publisher.[20] Crystal Dynamics marked twenty years since Legend on Apr 7, 2026.[15]

The series moves to Crystal Dynamics The same fan-made history covers the poor reception of The Angel of Darkness and Eidos's decision to hand the series from Core Design to Crystal Dynamics.

The reboot and the Survivor trilogy

In 2013, Crystal Dynamics restarted the series with Tomb Raider, an origin story about a young Lara shipwrecked on her first expedition, published by Square Enix on Mar 5, 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.[17] Critics rated it highly, at 87 on Metacritic for PlayStation 3 and 86 for the other two versions, though some reviewers questioned how believably Lara turns from novice into hardened survivor.[17] Its early sales disappointed its publisher: in March 2013, Square Enix said its big console releases had missed their targets despite strong reviews, with Tomb Raider expected to reach 3.4 million units by the end of the fiscal year, excluding digital sales.[18] It kept selling, and Square Enix put it at 11 million in 2018, the highest published figure for any game in the series.[19] Its sequels, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, completed what is called the Survivor trilogy. Rise passed 7 million units by 2018, and Shadow shipped slightly more than 4 million in its first four months.[19] Together the three games had sold more than 38 million copies by 2022, about 43 percent of the series total of over 88 million at the time.[19]

The 2013 reboot The fan-made history reaches Tomb Raider (2013), the reboot that recast Lara as a young survivor on her first expedition.

Owners, publishers and the studio today

Square Enix sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, Square Enix Montreal and franchises including Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief to Embracer Group for $300 million, a deal reported complete on Aug 26, 2022.[21] In December 2022, Amazon Games agreed to publish Crystal Dynamics' next Tomb Raider worldwide, a single-player, story-driven adventure built in Unreal Engine 5 that the studio had first shown in April 2022.[22] Embracer plans to spin off a separate company, Fellowship Entertainment, sometime in 2027, and Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider rights are among what it will hold.[23] The studio has also shrunk: it laid off 17 people in March 2025, an undisclosed number in August 2025, 30 in November 2025 and 20 on Mar 18, 2026, its fourth round in about a year.[24] After the last of these, Crystal Dynamics said it remained fully committed to its two announced Tomb Raider games.[25]

The Remastered collections

While the new games were in development, the studio Aspyr brought the classic games to modern platforms. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, released on Feb 14, 2024, collects the first three games with all three expansions and their secret levels, and lets players switch between the original polygon graphics and updated visuals at any moment.[26] It came to PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PC.[26] Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered followed on Feb 14, 2025 with The Last Revelation, Chronicles and The Angel of Darkness, completing the Core Design catalog in modern form.[27] Kotaku's review judged the first collection a success as preservation but a poor remaster, criticizing its art and its new control scheme and calling the package a colossal mess.[28] The 100 million sales milestone was announced in October 2024, between the two collections.[7][8]

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis

Legacy of Atlantis is a reimagining of the 1996 game, built in Unreal Engine 5 by Crystal Dynamics with the Polish studio Flying Wild Hog as co-developer and published by Amazon Game Studios.[3][1] Lara again hunts the scattered pieces of the Scion through the jungles of Peru, the ruins of Greece, the deserts of Egypt and a mysterious Mediterranean island, in a story its makers say has been expanded to connect with her future.[1] The PlayStation Blog says the original's self-contained rooms have been opened into semi-connected spaces that can be approached from new angles.[3] It was revealed at The Game Awards on Dec 11, 2025 with a 2026 target, alongside the news that Alix Wilton Regan would voice Lara.[4] On Jun 2, 2026 it was dated Feb 12, 2027 for PlayStation 5, a day later in Japan, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.[3] It is also coming to Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC through Steam; Nintendo's US store sells the Switch 2 version for $59.99.[1][2][39] Buyers of the Deluxe and Collector's Editions can play from Feb 10, 2027, except in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.[2]

The release date trailer The end of the official release date trailer, published on Jun 2, 2026, which sets Legacy of Atlantis for Feb 12, 2027 on every platform at once.

Tomb Raider: Catalyst

Tomb Raider: Catalyst is a new adventure developed by Crystal Dynamics alone, revealed on the same night as Legacy of Atlantis.[4] It takes Lara to Northern India after a mythical cataclysm has unleashed ancient secrets, and the studio bills it as the largest Tomb Raider world yet, also built in Unreal Engine 5.[5] Crystal Dynamics' page still lists it for 2027 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Steam as of Nov 7, 2026.[5] Its timing is less certain than that page suggests: in July 2026, the head of Amazon Games said on a podcast that, after Legacy of Atlantis on Feb 12, the company would follow with the next game in 2028.[6] Asked to confirm a delay, an Amazon representative said only that there was nothing new to share about Catalyst's timing and that the game was progressing well.[6]

What is known of Catalyst A gaming channel's roundup from June 2026 turns to Tomb Raider: Catalyst, Crystal Dynamics' new adventure set in Northern India.

Films and television

Three films have been made. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, starring Angelina Jolie, opened on Jun 15, 2001 and grossed $274.7 million worldwide on a $115 million budget.[29] Its sequel, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, opened in the United States on Jul 25, 2003 and took $160.1 million on a $95 million budget.[30] A reboot, Tomb Raider, with Alicia Vikander as a younger Lara, opened in the United States on Mar 16, 2018; it grossed only $58.3 million there but $275.0 million worldwide, narrowly the most of the three.[31] Netflix's animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, with Hayley Atwell as Lara, premiered on Oct 10, 2024 and is set after the Survivor trilogy.[32] Its second season, announced as the final one, began on Dec 11, 2025.[33] Prime Video ordered a live-action series in May 2024, created and written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with Sophie Turner as Lara; it was in production when the first look appeared in January 2026, and no premiere date was given then.[34]

The Legend of Lara Croft trailer The official trailer for Netflix's animated series, in which Hayley Atwell voices a Lara who has left her friends behind for riskier solo adventures.

Controversies

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered opens with a notice that the original games contain depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudice, presented unaltered.[28] Kotaku's reviewer called the notice disingenuous, arguing that the publisher kept the material while condemning it and that nothing in the marketing mentioned it before purchase.[28] Legacy of Atlantis drew two disputes before release. After its June 2026 dating, its Steam page added a disclosure that AI-assisted tools supported some early exploration and temporary development content, and that any such assets were replaced or refined by people.[1] Crystal Dynamics told Eurogamer that it uses these tools to help its teams iterate faster and that all finished content is human-crafted.[35] Its use of crafting and skill trees borrowed from the Survivor trilogy also met a hostile reaction from many fans when it was detailed in August 2026, while the developers pointed to options that address those concerns.[36]

  1. Tomb Raider is released for the PlayStation, by Metacritic's date.[10]
  2. The Angel of Darkness, Core Design's last Tomb Raider, is released.[37]
  3. Eidos moves the series to Crystal Dynamics.[11]
  4. Keeley Hawes is named Lara's voice for Legend; the series has sold over 28 million.[14]
  5. Rebellion buys Core Design's staff and studio.[13]
  6. Tomb Raider: Anniversary remakes the first game.[16]
  7. Square Enix's purchase of Eidos is approved.[20]
  8. The reboot, Tomb Raider, is released.[17]
  9. The film Tomb Raider, with Alicia Vikander, opens in the US.[31]
  10. Embracer completes its purchase of Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider.[21]
  11. Amazon Games agrees to publish the next Tomb Raider.[22]
  12. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered is released.[26]
  13. Netflix's Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft premieres.[32]
  14. Series sales pass 100 million.[7]
  15. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is released.[27]
  16. Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst are revealed at The Game Awards.[4]
  17. Legacy of Atlantis is dated Feb 12, 2027.[3]
  18. The series turns 30, celebrated in Derby.[38]
  19. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is due.[1]

What we think

This section is Heartipedia’s own opinion, not sourced fact. Each view is reasoned from the facts cited above and from trends we see; it may turn out wrong. A prediction’s words are never changed once made: when the facts are known we add the result under it, right or wrong. Every prediction we have made.

Catalyst slips to 2028

We expect Amazon Game Studios or Crystal Dynamics to officially move Tomb Raider: Catalyst to 2028 before the end of 2027.

Why: Crystal Dynamics' own page still says 2027, but the head of Amazon Games said in July 2026 that the next game follows Legacy of Atlantis in 2028, and Amazon's answer when asked was only that it had nothing new to share, which is not a denial. The studio has been through four rounds of layoffs in about a year, and a publisher rarely puts two full-price games from one small series in the same year, least of all a remake and a new adventure that share a voice cast and an engine.

Prediction Confidence: Likely Check by: Dec 2027 Made

The Legend trilogy gets its Remastered collection

We expect a remastered collection of Tomb Raider: Legend, Anniversary and Underworld to be announced before the end of 2027, in the format of Aspyr's two earlier collections.

Why: Aspyr released Tomb Raider I-III Remastered on Feb 14, 2024 and IV-VI Remastered on Feb 14, 2025, which completed Core Design's catalog. Crystal Dynamics' own first three games are the next era not sold in modern form, Legend turned 20 in April 2026, and a remake of the 1996 game in February 2027 will send new players looking for the older Lara that its makers say this remake draws on most.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

125 million games sold

We expect Crystal Dynamics or Amazon to announce that the series has passed 125 million games sold by the end of 2027.

Why: The total grew from more than 88 million in 2022 to more than 100 million in October 2024, about 6 million a year, carried by catalog sales and the first Remastered collection. Two remasters, a Switch 2 audience and a full-price remake in February 2027 should add to that pace, and a milestone is the kind of number a publisher announces around a launch.

Prediction Confidence: Possible Check by: Dec 2027 Made

Tomb Raider II is remade next

Our prediction is that a remake of Tomb Raider II, built on Legacy of Atlantis's technology, is announced before the end of 2028.

Why: Legacy of Atlantis follows the 1996 route level by level in Unreal Engine 5 and shares its technology with Catalyst, so the expensive part of a second remake already exists. Tomb Raider II is the next adventure in the same classic era, and remaking the first game twice, in 2007 and 2027, shows the owners treat the classic era as a source of new games, not only of re-releases.

Prediction Confidence: Long shot Check by: Dec 2028 Made

The remake borrows from the wrong era

We think Legacy of Atlantis is wrong to bring the Survivor trilogy's crafting and skill tree into a remake of the 1996 game. We think the original's long, silent levels and their geometry were the whole game, and that systems built to pace a story about a young survivor dilute them.

Why: The 1996 game scored 91 and sold about seven million copies with almost no systems beyond Lara's moves, her pistols and a few medipacks, while the Survivor trilogy's mechanics were made for an origin story in which Lara grows from novice to survivor. Fans reacted against the crafting and skill tree as soon as they were detailed in August 2026. The 2007 remake, Anniversary, rebuilt the same levels on Legend's engine without them.

Opinion Made

Moments

  1. Lara fights raptors in Legacy of Atlantis From IGN's first preview of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, shot on a pre-release build in June 2026: Lara fights feathered raptors in the jungle of Peru, the first region of the 1996 route the remake follows.
  2. How the first game was built A fan-made history of the series recounts the small Core Design team behind the 1996 game and its decision to build every level on a grid, which shaped Lara's moves and controls.
  3. The 1996 story begins A retrospective on the original PlayStation game shows how its story starts: Jacqueline Natla hires Lara to recover the Scion from the lost city of Vilcabamba in Peru.
  4. The series moves to Crystal Dynamics The same fan-made history covers the poor reception of The Angel of Darkness and Eidos's decision to hand the series from Core Design to Crystal Dynamics.
  5. The 2013 reboot The fan-made history reaches Tomb Raider (2013), the reboot that recast Lara as a young survivor on her first expedition.
  6. The release date trailer The end of the official release date trailer, published on Jun 2, 2026, which sets Legacy of Atlantis for Feb 12, 2027 on every platform at once.
  7. What is known of Catalyst A gaming channel's roundup from June 2026 turns to Tomb Raider: Catalyst, Crystal Dynamics' new adventure set in Northern India.
  8. The Legend of Lara Croft trailer The official trailer for Netflix's animated series, in which Hayley Atwell voices a Lara who has left her friends behind for riskier solo adventures.

References

  1. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Steam, 2026-11-07primary
  2. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Pre-Orders Are Live on Nintendo Switch 2, Amazon Game Studios, 2026-09-09primary
  3. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches Feb 12, 2027 on PS5, PlayStation Blog, 2026-06-02primary
  4. Tomb Raider at The Game Awards, Amazon Game Studios, 2025-12-11primary
  5. Tomb Raider: Catalyst, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-11-07primary
  6. Tomb Raider Catalyst Reportedly Delayed To 2028, But Amazon Rep Says 'We Don't Have Anything New To Share', PSU, 2026-07-27press
  7. Best-selling videogame heroine, Guinness World Records, 2024-10-11press
  8. Tomb Raider Series Sells 100 Million Copies, OpenCritic, 2024-10-11press
  9. Tomb Raider, The Strong National Museum of Play, 2026-11-07press
  10. Tomb Raider (1996), Metacritic, 2026-11-07press
  11. Eidos Transfers Lara Croft To Crystal Dynamics, Game Developer, 2003-07-31press
  12. Toby Gard Returns To Tomb Raider, Game Developer, 2004-08-06press
  13. Rebellion Acquires Core Design Assets From SCi, Game Developer, 2006-06-16press
  14. New Voice Of Lara Croft Revealed, Game Developer, 2006-02-23primary
  15. Tomb Raider: Legend Turns 20, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-04-07primary
  16. Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Steam, 2026-11-07primary
  17. Tomb Raider, Metacritic, 2026-11-07press
  18. Square Enix notes 'weak sales of big console titles' Tomb Raider, Hitman: Absolution, Engadget, 2013-03-26press
  19. Report reveals most Tomb Raider sales from reboots, TheGamer, 2022-05-03press
  20. Court approves Square Enix buyout of Eidos, Engadget, 2009-04-22press
  21. Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, and more are now officially Embracer franchises, Game Developer, 2022-08-26press
  22. Amazon Games Will Publish Crystal Dynamics' Next Tomb Raider Game, Game Informer, 2022-12-15press
  23. Fellowship Entertainment will separate from Embracer Group in 2027, Game World Observer, 2026-05-20press
  24. Tomb Raider Studio Faces Fourth Round Of Layoffs In Just 12 Months, Kotaku, 2026-03-18press
  25. Crystal Dynamics Announces More Layoffs, Remains Fully Committed To Its New Tomb Raider, Game Informer, 2026-03-20press
  26. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-11-07primary
  27. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-11-07primary
  28. Tomb Raider Remastered review, Kotaku, 2024-02-14press
  29. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Box Office Mojo, 2026-11-07press
  30. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Box Office Mojo, 2026-11-07press
  31. Tomb Raider (2018), Box Office Mojo, 2026-11-07press
  32. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-11-07primary
  33. Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Season 2 Premiere Date, Crystal Dynamics, 2025-09-04primary
  34. Tomb Raider First Look: Sophie Turner Becomes Lara Croft, Variety Australia, 2026-01-16press
  35. Crystal Dynamics addresses AI content disclosure on Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Shacknews, 2026-06-03press
  36. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis includes crafting and skill trees from the Survivor trilogy, and fans already hate it, GamesRadar+, 2026-08-18press
  37. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Metacritic, 2026-11-07press
  38. Tomb Raider Turns 30! Celebrate with Lo-fi Album & Exclusive Art, Crystal Dynamics, 2026-10-24primary
  39. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis (Nintendo Switch 2), Nintendo, 2026-11-07primary

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About this page

Drafted by
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Status
Published and revised continuously; this version is the one described here.
Published
7 November 2026
Last updated
7 November 2026, see what changed
Sources
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Text CC BY-SA 4.0; embedded videos and thumbnails remain their uploaders’ property, shown under YouTube’s Terms of Service; quotations excluded. Details

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