Rise of the Tomb Raider

Lore & Background

Development of Rise of the Tomb Raider closely followed the conclusion of development of the 2013 reboot. Player feedback was considered during development, with the team reducing the number of quick time events and introducing more puzzles and challenge tombs. The team traveled to several locations in Turkey, including Cappadocia, Istanbul and Ephesus, to design Kitezh. Rhianna Pratchett returned as the game's writer while Bobby Tahouri replaced Jason Graves as the game's composer. The story was designed to be more personal, and the team was inspired by a number of movies while creating the game. Camilla Luddington returned to provide voice and motion-capture work for Lara. The game was powered by the Foundation engine and also developed by Eidos-Montréal and Nixxes Software.

The game's story follows Lara Croft a year after the events of Tomb Raider, as she struggles with PTSD and turns to her late father's research on the lost city of Kitezh and the promise of immortality. After uncovering a symbol in a tomb in Syria, she learns of an artifact called the Divine Source, said to grant immortality. She travels to Siberia, where she is captured by Trinity and meets a man named Jacob, who leads the Remnants, descendants of the Prophet's followers. Lara discovers that Trinity's leader Konstantin and his sister Ana are seeking the Divine Source to cure Ana's terminal illness. Jacob warns Lara that the Divine Source is not what she expects.

Reader's Guide

Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure game in which players control Lara Croft. Combat is a major mechanic, with a variety of weapons including assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols, some with alternate firing modes. Players may use stealth, bows and arrows, distractions, and environmental hazards such as explosive barrels and rope-wrapped structures. Lara can also use her ice axe and combat knife for melee combat. Experience points are earned through objectives, side content, and eliminating enemies, leading to skill points in three trees: Brawler, Hunter, and Survivor. Lara learns new languages to discover relics that can be traded for equipment.

The game features semi-open hubs with crafting materials, survival caches, relics, and documents. Survival Instinct highlights items of interest. Players can craft ammunition, poisoned arrows, Molotov cocktails, and hand grenades. Wildlife can be hunted for resources. Challenge tombs offer new skills and outfits, and base camps allow outfit changes, weapon loadout changes, and fast travel. Side missions and challenges provide new equipment. Lara uses her ice axe to climb surfaces and rope arrows to create ziplines. Puzzles are physics-based and often interconnected. Unlike the 2013 reboot, the game lacks a multiplayer mode. It introduces Expeditions, with four modes: Chapter Replay, Chapter Replay Elite, Score Attack, and Remnant Resistance. Completing Expeditions earns credits for digital collectible cards, which can also be purchased via microtransactions.

Did You Know?

• The game was a timed exclusive for Xbox 360 and Xbox One, announced at Gamescom 2014, which sparked criticism from the gaming press and community.
• The development team traveled to Cappadocia, Istanbul, and Ephesus in Turkey to design the city of Kitezh.
• The game sold 11.8 million units worldwide by November 2021.

The Middle Chapter of a Reborn Saga

Rise of the Tomb Raider occupies the pivotal middle position in what the franchise calls the Survivor trilogy, the second full reboot of the Lara Croft series. It arrived in 2015 as the direct sequel to the 2013 Tomb Raider, which had reimagined the character for a new generation of players. The trilogy was ultimately completed three years later with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, released worldwide in 2018 across PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Together, these three entries form a self-contained narrative arc that distinguishes them from both the original Core Design era and the earlier Legend trilogy spanning 2006 to 2008. The Survivor incarnation also spawned an arcade experience developed by Bandai Namco Amusement, which opened in European locations in 2018, extending the character's presence beyond the living room into physical entertainment spaces.

A Staggered, Platform-Exclusive Launch

Rise of the Tomb Raider's release strategy reflected the competitive dynamics of the mid-2010s console market. The title debuted in 2015 exclusively on Microsoft's hardware, appearing simultaneously on both the Xbox 360 and the newer Xbox One. This launch was governed by a timed exclusivity arrangement with Microsoft, meaning the game was locked to that ecosystem for a defined period. Players on Sony's PlayStation 4 and those using personal computers had to wait until 2016 before they could access the same experience. This staggered approach contrasted with the 2013 predecessor, which had launched simultaneously across Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and also differed from the 2018 trilogy finale, which again shipped worldwide on all three major platforms at once. The exclusivity window gave Microsoft a period of dedicated visibility while ensuring the game eventually reached the broader audience the franchise had cultivated over nearly two decades.

A Franchise in Constant Hands

The development of Rise of the Tomb Raider sits within a long and sometimes turbulent chain of studio stewardship. The franchise was originally created by British studio Core Design, whose first game shipped in 1996. After the sixth entry, The Angel of Darkness, received a mixed reception in 2003, publisher Eidos Interactive handed the main series to American studio Crystal Dynamics, which has remained the primary developer ever since. Ownership of the intellectual property has shifted multiple times: Eidos was acquired by Square Enix in 2009, and in 2022 Embracer Group purchased the IP alongside Eidos, with the franchise now operated under CDE Entertainment. Despite these corporate transitions, the creative core has stayed relatively stable under Crystal Dynamics since the mid-2000s, allowing the Survivor trilogy to benefit from a consistent development philosophy while other studios contributed spin-off titles and platform ports throughout the series' history.

A Character Written into the Record Books

Lara Croft's cultural standing extends well beyond any single game, and Rise of the Tomb Raider benefits from that accumulated recognition. The character has earned a place on the Walk of Game and holds a spot in Guinness World Records, testaments to a career spanning nearly three decades of media. By 2024, the broader Tomb Raider series had surpassed 100 million units sold worldwide, and the franchise had generated close to $1.2 billion in revenue as early as 2002. Lara's presence has expanded into film adaptations, comic books, novels, and soundtrack releases, making her one of the most recognisable figures in interactive entertainment. For players picking up Rise of the Tomb Raider, they are stepping into a world where the protagonist already carries the weight of a global cultural icon, a status built across countless titles, platforms, and media formats since Core Design first introduced her to the world in 1996.