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Would you prefer if a new Tomb Raider game went back to its roots or should the series continue to go in a more serious direction?

Which Tomb Raider style floats your boat?

  • Yeah fam, give me that sexy ass kicking Lara!

    Votes: 152 80.9%
  • No, I'd rather continue playing as the joyless punching bag

    Votes: 36 19.1%

  • Total voters
    188

Drizzlehell

Banned
In my opinion, this is the perfect time for a swashbuckling and charismatic treasure hunter like Lara to make a comeback. Uncharted has had its day in the sun and left a gaping void in the market for that type of game, and the Tomb Raider franchise would be the ideal candidate to fill that void with its return to a more light-hearted tone of treasure hunting adventures.

The older Lara was not only an ass-kicking sex symbol but also a classy lady with sharp wit. She embodied intelligence, resourcefulness, and the ability to think on her feet in high-stress situations. She was the original Nathan Drake before Drake was even a thing. She was the ultimate female power fantasy, a character that existed way before companies started using that as a politicized slogan for boosting sales and pushing phony agendas.

I recently revisited Tomb Raider Legend and was reminded of how much fun these games used to be. Not only was Lara a relatable character, but the gameplay itself reflected the game's overall tone with its over-the-top action, sense of adventure, and simple but effective story that didn't try to be a pretentious deconstruction of the character. It brought to mind the early days of the Uncharted series, and I would be over the moon to play another Tomb Raider game in that style again.

The recent reboot trilogy wasn't terrible, but I wasn't a fan of the direction the series took by attempting to ground it in a more serious tone while making it more violent and gritty. The decision to turn Lara into a bland and sometimes unlikable character didn't help either. And judging by some of the concepts for the supposed upcoming TR game, they seem to be going even further in that direction, which is disappointing.
 

ssringo

Member
I didn't mind reboot Lara and seeing her origins. TR2013 was fantastic and a lot of fun. Problem was she never really progressed to become anything like the proper Tomb Raider.

The 2nd game retreaded similar ground and the third was more. Bleh.
 
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Fbh

Member
Modern Lara is the biggest issue with the new trilogy.
She is dull and boring in the first game and by the third one she becomes straight up unlikable..

I guess expecting old Lara to come back is unrealistic in "current year", but they could definitely make the entire tone a bit more lighthearted and make her at least a bit more fun and sexy.
 

Zannegan

Member
Modern Lara is the biggest issue with the new trilogy.
She is dull and boring in the first game and by the third one she becomes straight up unlikable..

I guess expecting old Lara to come back is unrealistic in "current year", but they could definitely make the entire tone a bit more lighthearted and make her at least a bit more fun and sexy.
Who's got the IP these days? Japan would have no issue with bringing back a less "timely" Lara. I'd love to see Kamiya amd Platinum Games take a crack at the franchise just to see the madness that would ensue.
 

Markio128

Member
I didn‘t enjoy the last few Tomb Raiders at all, if that answers your question. I found them po-faced and dull. I just want Lara wearing the iconic shorts and t-shirt, with a couple of pistols, in a tomb.
 

poodaddy

Member
Who's got the IP these days? Japan would have no issue with bringing back a less "timely" Lara. I'd love to see Kamiya amd Platinum Games take a crack at the franchise just to see the madness that would ensue.
They'd just fuck it up too man, Platinum has been subpar for a while now.
 
Who even owns Tomb Raider now? Last I heard, it was Amazon that holds the rights after buying them from Embracer. If that's the case, it's going to be shit tier TV series for Tomb Raider from here on out. I don't think we'll see any new games.
 

Fbh

Member
Who's got the IP these days? Japan would have no issue with bringing back a less "timely" Lara. I'd love to see Kamiya amd Platinum Games take a crack at the franchise just to see the madness that would ensue.

I'm not really sure if it's Amazon or Embracer (seeing some conflicting reports online)
But either way the new games are supposedly still being made by Crystal Dynamics and neither Amazon nor Embracer seem like a company that'd be interested in pushing them to bring back old Lara
 
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Kadve

Member
Who even owns Tomb Raider now? Last I heard, it was Amazon that holds the rights after buying them from Embracer. If that's the case, it's going to be shit tier TV series for Tomb Raider from here on out. I don't think we'll see any new games.
Think CD themselves do. Amazon is just publishing the next game.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/amazon-will-publish-the-tomb-raider-game/


(edit) Embracer might have "leased" the ip to Amazon like they did with LOTR. Its just a rumor though and might just be the movie/tv rights.

https://gamerant.com/rumor-embracer-tomb-raider-rights-amazon-600-million/
 
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jonnyp

Member
The new games would've been good if they had a lot better writing, plots and voice acting. Luddington especially was horrible to have to listen to. Some actual tombs would be nice too.
 
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Original would be cool but could they honestly pull something like that off today? They'd never greenlight those tank mechanics, even if they somehow improved it. Look at how many gamers consider Re4's stop and shoot gameplay as "archaic".

Without the classic movement how can it be classic TR?
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
Original would be cool but could they honestly pull something like that off today? They'd never greenlight those tank mechanics, even if they somehow improved it. Look at how many gamers consider Re4's stop and shoot gameplay as "archaic".

Without the classic movement how can it be classic TR?
Well, yeah. Obviously they should keep the modernized gameplay. I just want the game's tone and story to be more pulpy and adventurous like they used to be. Although when it comes to combat I'd prefer if they ditched the cover shooting as well and made it more about staying on the move and having more abilities and forcing you to use the environment. Perhaps a modern take on TR Legend combat, where you were basically doing slow motion Matrix flips through the air while shooting dual pistols and having some contextual prompts to shoot pieces of environment for environmental takedowns. Maybe without copying that stuff exactly but essentially using it for inspiration in designing a new combat system.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
What do you mean more serious?
Tomb Raider was always serious and a bit dark.
The new Tomb Raiders are just melodramatic
I already elaborated in the OP. They went with a more gritty tone, ramped up the violence, and made Lara a drag. Old Lara was more fun. She had a sarcastic sense of humor, had more charisma and chemistry with other characters, she often made light of dangerous situations, etc.
 
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Unknown?

Member
I'd prefer if it stopped trying to be Uncharted. Tomb Raider was obviously mimicked by Uncharted but when it got super popular, they mimicked Uncharted when they had a good formula before.
 

drotahorror

Member
I really enjoyed pretty much all of them. Especially the more modern ones (the ones starting at ps2).

For the modern trilogy, I'd say the first 2 are the best.
 
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radewagon

Member
Tomb Raider Legend is peak Lara for me. She is confident, funny, and dangerous. I also loved that it centered around a well known (mythical?) artifact. It was a neat idea. I would love a return to that version of the character. I also really liked the gameplay of the reboot titles. So, a mix of the two would be great since the reboot never really delivered on the promise of Lara becoming Lara.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
Woke agenda and ESG would not allow for an interesting Lara Croft game.

Same applies to Duke Nukem.
Well, if Duke was done right it could be just a simple 80s throwback like it used to be. What they shouldn't be doing is another DNF, which obviously was a bad game but it was also slandered for being completely tone deaf, cringeworthy, and tasteless with all those tonal whiplashes and sleaze that Randy P. probably thought was hilarious.
 

Drizzlehell

Banned
Anyway, I just finished playing through Tomb Raider Legend and it's still such a fun game. It's surprising that it aged rather gracefully and the only thing that feels dated about it are the graphics. But otherwise, when it comes to gameplay, it still feels pretty modern and fun.
 

kyussman

Member
Get rid of the guns and bring back the boobs!.........adventuring through tombs with enviromental puzzles galore is all I want from Tomb Raider.
 

CGNoire

Member
Original would be cool but could they honestly pull something like that off today? They'd never greenlight those tank mechanics, even if they somehow improved it. Look at how many gamers consider Re4's stop and shoot gameplay as "archaic".

Without the classic movement how can it be classic TR?
Bye focusing far more on being exploration and puzzles driven instead of a story/cutscenes and mass murder focus .

Also bring back manual grab it makes a difference....imagine how much SOTC without it would suck. POP (2003) popularised an automated climbing design that still plagues climbing in games today get that lame a/x=up b/circle=down agencyless nonsense out of here already devs.
 

kondorBonk

Member
Shes a product of her time. The last reboot was a fun idea but she doesn't seem like a character that is required to keep returning to or reinventing every few generations.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
The problem with the trilogy is it wasn't all that bad (ok maybe except for Shadow...) but there were other games last gen that did all it wanted to accomplish but better. So yeah why not, maybe tits to the wall is the right way forward
 

Quantum253

Member
Platted Rise of the Tomb Raider and working on 100% on Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I've quite enjoyed both so far. It would be cool to have a time travel type installment that let you jump between those differen play styles
 

Beechos

Member
I thoroughly enjoyed the new trilogy. I feel like it has more room to grow and things it can do by incorporating the mystical/supernatural as opposed to uncharted where its limited to only fighting humans.
 

PillsOff

Banned
If you count Lara doing porn sounds while going thru the pages of the shittiest script seem to be written by actual retards as more "serious direction"
 
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ZoukGalaxy

Member
Gimme the strong confident Lara and big empty places to explore damn it like the old good time.

Let's die the weak Lara.

tomb raider badass ladies GIF
 
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