Early this year, Crystal Dynamics announced they were embarking on development of the next entry in the Tomb Raider series, but other than the fact that it’s being produced using Unreal Engine 5, not a lot of specific details were shared. Well, a bit more has now been revealed about the game along with a surprising publisher – Amazon Games.
According to the press release for the Amazon publishing announcement, the new Tomb Raider will be a “single-player, narrative-driven adventure.” That may cause some sighs of relief, as rumors about the game featuring a team of younger tomb raiders had some concerned a live service or multiplayer game might be in the works. Definitely take those rumors about the team of raiders with a big grain of salt – for now, the official word is that the new Tomb Raider will feature a “confident” and “multidimensional” Lara Croft who will be tackling “environments that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding, with mind-bending puzzles to solve, and a wide variety of enemies to face and overcome.” Sounds like we may be getting a bit of a return of the Tomb Raider of old!
As for the announcement that Amazon will publish the new Tomb Raider, it’s certainly unexpected as Embracer Group recently acquired Crystal Dynamics. You’d think Embracer would want to publish the game themselves through one of their labels, but I guess Amazon made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. Crystal Dynamics studio head Scot Amos tellingly makes mention of a “Lara Croft universe” in a statement about the publishing agreement…
“Crystal Dynamics has an extraordinary opportunity following our acquisition by Embracer to redefine what a publishing relationship is for Tomb Raider. Transformative is what we’re looking for, and with Amazon Games, we found a team that shares our creative vision, ambitions, and values for a Lara Croft universe across the spectrum of possibilities. They’re positioned to rewrite what publishing and development collaborations are, and we’re eager to forge this new path together, starting with building the biggest and best Tomb Raider game yet!”
Platforms and a release window have yet to be revealed for the next Tomb Raider. What do you think? Are the crumbs of info we’ve been provided sound promising?
