Tomb Raider Dev: Lara Croft Was Losing Relevance

The upcoming Tomb Raider game reboots the story of international treasure hunter Lara Croft. Brand director Karl Stewart says that a reboot was necessary in order to make the character relevant again.

"We felt she was losing some relevance in the gaming world, that she was a little too hard and removed. We wanted to make her more approachable and relatable," Stewart told Rock Paper Shotgun. "I think she became an icon. When you do, you remove yourself from relatability."

"We wanted to bring her to a place where she didn’t have all those skills, she wasn’t perfect. The modern gamer can relate to that, they want a complex hero."

She definitely seemed a little too perfect. Pre-reboot Lara was basically this rich-as-hell heiress with the a military grade arsenal and the ability to do backflips without knocking herself unconscious with her triple-F boobs. It's a nice character to watch for 10+ hours but she didn't add a whole lot to the story.

The rebooted Lara Croft is fresh out of school. In search of adventure, she joins a salvage ship's crew. After a storm wrecks the ship, she finds herself stranded on an island in the South Pacific without any equipment. She'll have to forage for food and water and create her own tools and weapons. The game's more of a struggle for a survival rather than a breezy international treasure hunt.

Will it translate into a fun game? We'll see. I'm glad to see the developers at least trying something new. The Tomb Raider series has been in a creative rut for years. This was a series definitely in need of a do-over.