Evolution Of Tomb Raider Series (1996.–2022.)

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Hello, dear gamers and welcome to another episode of "Evolution Of..." which will also be the last one produced in 2022. This episode, which has been on my back-burner since 2018, will concern the evolution of the games starring gaming's first true femme fatalle and one of the most recognizable gaming icons in general; Lara Croft, also known as Tomb Raider!

Roots of the Tomb Raider series go back to the early 1990s when developers from the small British game development studio called Core Design decided to try their hand at creating 3D game based around Indiana Jones-like archeologist and tomb raider. However, as the development progressed, a decision was made to change the protagonist's gender from male to female, resulting in creation of Lara Croft. The first Tomb Raider game released in 1996 was met with critical acclaim and was seen as an important step in evolution of gaming as a whole since it was one of the games from that period that effectively showcased the potential of 3D games which will go on to establish themselves as an industry standard by the end of the 1990s and also introduced the effective female lead at the time when popular video game protagonists were predominantly male, making an important step forward in introducing women into the gaming industry. Due to Tomb Raider's significant success, the game series was launched and Lara Croft entered the gaming stardom, becoming recognized as one of the first gaming "celebrities". Between 1997 and 1999, two more mainline Tomb Raider games were released. However, by the turn of millennium, Core Design was experiencing a series fatigue and decision was made to end Tomb Raider series with Tomb Raider: Last Revelation that was released in 1999. However, since the series' publisher, Eidos Interactive, refused to let Core Design end the series, it was continued in 2000 with Tomb Raider: Chronicles and three portable spin-offs released on GameBoy consoles between 2000 and 2002. In 2003, Tomb Raider made a leap into sixth generation with Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness. However, the game went through extremely problematic development cycle and was critically panned upon release due to its poor quality. Due to the game's failure, Eidos Interactive handed the Tomb Raider series' licence over to Crystal Dynamics while Core Design was acquired by Riot Games in 2006 and eventually ceased to exist in 2010. In 2006, Tomb Raider series made a grand comeback with Tomb Raider: Legend that was well-received, resulting in two more mainline games released in 2007 and 2008. After 2008, Tomb Raider series had no new mainline entries until 2013 when Crystal Dynamics launched the full-fledged reboot of the series whose positive reception resulted in inception of the so-called "Survivor Trilogy" consisting of 2013 reboot, 2015's Rise Of The Tomb Raider and 2018's Shadow Of The Tomb Raider. As of 2022, there are no plans for new mainline Tomb Raider game with only new release being a mobile game Tomb Raider: Reloaded, a stylized retelling of the original 1996 game released for smartphones.