Rise of the Tomb Raider Writer Wasn’t Sure How Lara Would Be Received; Explains Why She’s Different from the Old Games

Jan 17, 2017

Lara Croft came back stronger than ever with Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. The game, just like its sequel, featured Rhianna Pratchett as Lead Writer.

The renowned game writer recently parted ways with Crystal Dynamics, but before that happened Eurogamer was able to score a long exclusive interview that has just been published.

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One of the highlights was certainly when Pratchett admitted that the whole team, including herself, wasn’t quite sure how people would receive the evolution of Lara Croft in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

With the second game, we didn’t have that element of surprise. People had already been on one adventure with Lara. We weren’t sure how well the evolution of her character would come across, how people would feel about it. How would they respond to a tougher Lara? The Lara who is more vulnerable and human in the first game, she’s moved on from that.

But we found players had moved on with her. They had been through the adventures. They knew what she’d been through. They’d walked through the fire with her. So they felt toughened by what they had been through in the past with her. That aligned player and player character rather nicely.

Rise of the Tomb Raider had a great overall reception and positive sales, so it’s safe to say that the team did well.

Pratchett also explained the difference between the new Lara Croft and the old one everyone was accustomed to before the reboot.

There is a tonal difference. Crystal is very keen not to do the quippy one-liner Lara that characterised classic Lara. There’s a part of me that misses that. I know there are players who miss that. From a writer’s point of view, it’s fun to write that kind of character.

But quippyness and the devil-may-care attitude suggests confidence and resilience Lara doesn’t have yet, so it didn’t feel in-line with her character to be that confident and that quippy. Crystal just didn’t want the same tone to the character. That wasn’t my decision, but I had to write to their vision, and I completely understand that. It’s a darker game.

It will be interesting to see where both Lara Croft and her writer for these two installments, Rhianna Pratchett, are headed next. Stay tuned on Wccftech to find out.