Lara Croft is coming to Call of Duty, but many fans are theorising that the new look for the Tomb Raider protagonist might be a sneak peek into what to expect in the upcoming mainline title being developed by Amazon Games.
The Tomb Raider franchise underwent a major reboot in 2013 as the first game in the Survivor trilogy, which was aimed at recreating the origins of Lara Croft. Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider also followed on from this — all three shrugged off a lot of the typical action comic book leanings from the original and follow-up games and went for a much more gritty, realistic tone that saw Lara in her early days as a struggling survivor, as opposed to a confident, seasoned explorer. Her design also changed with these installments, trading her much more iconic (and in some cases hypersexualised) look for a more toned-down character design.
Call of Duty’s introduction of the new iteration of Lara Croft seems to blend the two together, which has fans looking back to the Tomb Raider 25th Anniversary celebration that saw Crystal Dynamics discuss “unifying” the timelines between the reboot and the original games. This new version of Lara sports that iconic tank top and long braid, trading out the bow and arrows for her classic dual pistols.
Discussions on Reddit about the new design saw fans excited at the prospect of the new, “unified” Lara Croft and the implications it could have on her appearance in the upcoming (but not yet fully announced) Tomb Raider game. “The unified look is all but 100% confirmed at this point! This is all I’ve wanted in a Unified look!!” one user wrote. Another keen-eyed fan spotted the necklace in the Call of Duty skin and noted that this was a nod to the Survivor trilogy, as well to tie back into the older games.
“If this is what Lara will look like in the next game (and I think it is, it does look like an older survivor Lara), then we absolutely won!” Reddit user pokeze added, although noted they wished the level of muscle definition seen in Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft was a part of the design.
Given this skin is only a part of Call of Duty for now, it’s highly likely that the next Lara Croft design could be very different — many Reddit users noted that given the design was by a different developer and part of a crossover, we’d be likely to see many changes yet before a finalised version for the next Tomb Raider game is shown.
While there’s no clear word on whether this iteration of Lara Croft comes anywhere close to what we might see in a future Tomb Raider title, given that all eyes have been on the franchise recently due to a website update and drip-fed details and rumours, it seems like a full announcement (and potentially trailer) for the next mainline game could be coming soon – and maybe we’re a step closer to meeting the next version of Lara.
Lara Croft comes to Call of Duty some time during Season 05 Reloaded – although no specific details on a date for the skin to drop or how to get it have been confirmed as of yet. As for the next Tomb Raider game, it was confirmed in 2022 as a “single-player, narrative-driven adventure” by Amazon Games. We’ll be keeping our eye out for more updates and news about the franchise – but it looks like Survivor Lara Croft is growing up and moving on.
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