Lara Croft wasn't supposed to be a woman. Originally, Toby Gard, the lead graphic artist at Core Design, had envisioned a male protagonist—a fedora-wearing, whip-cracking Indiana Jones clone. But legal fears regarding Lucasfilm changed everything. They swapped the hat for a braid and the whip for dual pistols. This pivot didn't just avoid a lawsuit; it birthed Tomb Raider the action adventure as we know it, a franchise that essentially saved the Sega Saturn before making the PlayStation an undisputed king.
Honestly, it’s hard to explain to younger players just how clunky those early games felt. You had "tank controls." If you wanted Lara to turn left, she didn't just pivot; she rotated like a slow-moving vehicle. You had to time jumps to the exact pixel. If you pressed the jump button a millisecond late, Lara would plummet into a pit of spikes. It was punishing. It was frustrating. Yet, it was addictive because the sense of isolation was real. Unlike modern games that clutter your screen with waypoints and "detective vision," the original 1996 experience left you alone in the dark.
The Evolution of Lara and the Survival Pivot
The series has lived three distinct lives. You’ve got the OG Core Design era (1996–2003), the Crystal Dynamics "Legend" era, and the gritty "Survivor" trilogy that started in 2013. That last reboot changed the DNA of Tomb Raider the action adventure significantly. It went from a game about a confident billionaire raiding tombs for sport to a desperate struggle for survival.
In the 2013 reboot, Lara starts out terrified. She’s not an expert. She’s a student. This shift was controversial for some purists who missed the "Teflon Lara" of the 90s, but it grounded the series in a way that resonated with a broader audience. The gameplay shifted toward "Metroidvania" style exploration. You’d find a climbing axe, which would then let you reach a ledge you saw three hours ago. It made the island of Yamatai feel like a character itself.
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Rhianna Pratchett, the lead writer for the 2013 reboot, focused heavily on the psychological toll of Lara’s first kills. While the "ludonarrative dissonance"—the gap between Lara crying over a deer and then headshotting fifty mercenaries—is a valid criticism, the emotional weight was a massive departure from the pixelated gymnastics of the past.
Solving the Mystery of the Tank Controls
Why did the early games play that way? It wasn't just bad design. The levels were built on a rigid grid. Every block was a specific size, and Lara’s jump distance was tuned exactly to that grid. Once you learned the rhythm—two steps back, run, jump—you became a master of the environment. It was more of a platforming puzzle game than a shooter.
By the time Tomb Raider: Legend arrived in 2006, the grid was gone. Movement became fluid. This was the moment the franchise truly embraced the "action" side of the genre. We saw motorcycle chases, high-altitude skydiving, and cinematic combat. It felt like a playable blockbuster movie, a trend that would eventually be perfected (and some would say stolen) by the Uncharted series.
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What Most People Get Wrong About the Lore
People think Lara Croft is just a female Indiana Jones. That’s a surface-level take. Indy is a professor who wants artifacts in a museum; Lara, especially in the early iterations, was an adrenaline junkie disowned by her aristocratic family. She didn't care about the history as much as the "sport" of the find.
There's also the "Dual Pistols" myth. Fans were outraged when the 2013 reboot swapped the iconic pistols for a bow. But if you look at the mechanics, the bow allowed for stealth and environmental puzzles that the pistols never could. It turned Tomb Raider the action adventure into a thinking person's shooter. The bow became the new icon. It represented a raw, primal version of the character that reflected the "Survival" theme.
The Impact of Shadow of the Tomb Raider
The 2018 entry, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, took a darker turn. It’s arguably the most "classic" feeling of the modern trilogy because it doubled down on actual tomb raiding. The Paititi hub area was massive. It tried to grapple with the ethics of colonialism—the idea of a wealthy British woman barging into sacred sites and "taking" things. It didn't always stick the landing, but it was a necessary evolution for a character born in the 90s.
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Why the Franchise Still Matters Today
In a world of open-world fatigue, the "hub-and-spoke" model of the recent Tomb Raider games is a breath of fresh air. You get dense, hand-crafted environments instead of miles of empty procedural grass. The puzzles require you to actually look at the physics of the world—water levels, counterweights, and wind.
The legacy of Tomb Raider the action adventure is visible in almost every modern third-person game. From the "climbable yellow ledges" to the cinematic camera angles during narrow squeezes, Lara’s fingerprints are everywhere.
Even the failed experiments, like The Angel of Darkness, provided lessons. That game was a buggy mess, but it tried to introduce RPG elements and urban exploration long before they were standard. It almost killed the franchise, but it paved the way for the total reconstruction of the character.
Actionable Insights for Players and Collectors
If you're looking to dive into the series now, don't just grab the newest one. There's a specific way to appreciate the evolution of the genre.
- Play the Remastered Trilogy First: The recently released Tomb Raider I-III Remastered allows you to toggle between classic and modern graphics. It’s the best way to understand the "grid" logic of 90s game design without needing a CRT television.
- Skip the Movies (Mostly): While the Angelina Jolie films are nostalgic, they don't capture the "adventure" feel. The 2018 Alicia Vikander film is a much better representation of the modern gameplay loop.
- Focus on the Challenge Tombs: In the Survivor trilogy, the main story is often combat-heavy. The "Challenge Tombs" are where the real level design brilliance lives. Don't skip them; they contain the best puzzles in the series.
- Check Out the Top-Down Spin-offs: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is a fantastic co-op experience that many people ignore. It’s basically a high-octane arcade version of the franchise.
The next step is simple. Pick a version of Lara that fits your playstyle. If you want a brutal survival simulator with high-end graphics, start with the 2013 reboot. If you want to see why your parents spent hours staring at a wall of brown pixels trying to find a hidden lever, grab the remasters. Understanding the history of this series helps you appreciate why modern action-adventure games work the way they do. Keep an eye on the upcoming Unreal Engine 5 project from Amazon and Crystal Dynamics; it’s rumored to unify the timelines, finally merging the "Survivor" Lara with the "Legendary" archaeologist.