One of the surprises of The Game Awards 2025 (well, I should say up to a few hours before the event, since the announcement leaked beforehand) was Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Fans of the most famous gaming heroine knew that Crystal Dynamics was working on a new game, which was indeed unveiled at the show, but the remake of the beloved first entry in the action/adventure series was a pleasant surprise.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will offer Lara Croft fans a chance to experience some of the old-school magic in 2026, on the 30th anniversary of the franchise, leaving Crystal Dynamics a bit more time to release the new entry in 2027. The game is being co-developed with Flying Wild Hog, the Polish studio behind Hard Reset, Shadow Warrior, Trek to Yomi, and Evil West.
The Italian website Multiplayer had the chance to interview two key developers from Crystal Dynamics, Game Director Will Kerslake and Studio Head Scot Amos, following the TGA 2025 announcement. Speaking about Legacy of Atlantis, they said:
Scot Amos: We want to honor the original DNA of Core Design, but through the lens of the modern gamer.
Will Kerslake: The realities of 1996 and 2026 are different. We want Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis to evoke the same feelings as the first time you played it, but it must be a modern game experience when you play it. We kept the confident Lara and most of the puzzles, but had to completely rebuild the combat and exploration systems.
Granted, we wouldn't have expected anything different. This isn't a remaster, and the game would feel very old as a reimagining if those key systems were kept unchanged. Still, Kerslake also said that the brutal traps of the original Tomb Raider, such as the big, deadly rolling boulders, have been maintained.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Crystal Dynamics developers confirmed that the Lara Croft seen in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis and in the upcoming Tomb Raider: Catalyst is the same character, just in different stages of her life and career. The former game revisits her origins, while Catalyst, which will indeed be set in India as per earlier rumors, will show Lara at her pinnacle.
In both games, Lara will be voiced by British actress Alix Wilton Regan, whose credits include Calista in The Last Story, Samantha Traynor in Mass Effect 3, the female Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition (and Veilguard), Aya in Assassin's Creed Origins, Selemene on Dota: Dragon's Blood, Alt Cunnigham in Cyberpunk 2077, the Daedric Prince Ithelia in The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road, Lea in Lies of P: Overture, and the female player character in the upcoming Squadron 42.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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