Tomb Raider reboot inspired by Bond and Batman

The Tomb Raider series had to change or risk disappearing altogether, the game’s developers have told MCV.

Head of Crystal Dymanics Darrell Gallagher believes Tomb Raider was facing a crisis as it was no-longer relevant for a modern audience.

So the studio went back to the beginning, using James Bond and Batman as inspiration, to tell a Lara Croft origin story.

We knew we were facing a problem with a franchise that, at the point of starting development, had been around for 13 years,” he said. We knew that to stay relevant we had to change.

We wanted to strip it down, give Lara a personality and watch her grow as a character and make her feel more human and believable. Not many game franchises have run as long as Tomb Raider and we were faced with a challenge that many more titles will eventually have to face.

We looked at Batman Begins and Casino Royale and we looked at other franchises in other mediums and said, well how have they remained relevant over the years?

We looked at Batman and Bond and said: ‘Wow, they’ve really done a great job,’ And as other franchises have yet to go through this change, we used them as inspiration.”

Tomb Raider launches on Xbox 360 and PS3 on March 5th, 2013.