The Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection comes with a warning that denounces some of the content from the original trilogy as «rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices.» The bundle comprising the remasters of the original Tomb Raider trilogy releases February 14 for PC and the last two console generations.
The first three entries in the iconic action-adventure franchise were developed by the now-defunct British company Core Design, with the series then going through several developer switches that started and ended with Crystal Dynamics. And while the Embracer Group-owned studio is still the lead on the series, the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection was primarily developed by Aspyr Media, its sister company.
Yet it is Crystal Dynamics and not Aspyr that is responsible for the newly emerged content warning, which was originally spotted by Tomb Raider Forums users on February 13. «The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people,» the notice reads, adding that these renditions were influenced by ethnic and racial stereotypes that run contrary to Crystal Dynamics' values. Even so, the U.S. studio said it decided to leave the offensive content in its original form in the hopes that its «harmful impact» could be acknowledged and used to inform modern sensibilities.
The warning doesn't actually contain any examples of the content that the studio deemed offensive. But the fact that it references depictions of «people» does help narrow down the list of contentious levels by quite a bit, because the original Tomb Raider trilogy doesn't have that many human enemies or friendly characters to begin with. Excluding ethnically white and completely obscured human enemies from the equation leaves just two levels that Crystal Dynamics' warning could ostensibly be referring to: Coastal Village and Temple of Puna in Tomb Raider 3, both of which are part of the game's South Pacific section.
The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable, and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics. Rather than removing this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form, unaltered, in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it.
Namely, this segment of the 1998 game features several types of Tribesmen—equipped with spears, axes, and poison darts—that are implied to be cannibals. There is a long string of evidence suggesting such depictions are rooted in cultural stereotypes that tribal people find highly offensive. E.g., in 2011, human rights organization Survival International submitted a formal complaint with UK authorities over «ludicrous» media
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The remaster of the original three Tomb Raider games was released not that long ago. For PC users, there was a choice between purchasing it on Steam or Epic Games Store. However, there seemed to be some notable differences between the two versions, which the developer has now acknowledged.
Developer Aspyr has explained why Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered's Epic Games Store version was different from its Steam version after fans noticed some key differences between the two. Aspyr has since updated Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered's Epic Games Store version to match the other.
Earlier this week, it was reported by Tomb Raider fans that the Epic Games Store version of the recent remaster had a lot more features than the Steam version, leaving many scratching their heads. Not only had issues such as missing water textures and poor lighting been fixed, but new features had been added, such as extra poses for photo mode and the All Hallows bonus level that unlocks after earning all secrets in Tomb Raider 3.
The creators of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered have apologised to players for releasing an unfinished version of the game on the Epic Games Store, following a series of unflattering comparisons between versions on ye olde social media.
A good part of the Internet has already sung high praise for the OG Tomb Raider trilogy remaster’s loving determination to rejuvenate the classic. I’m glad it has. Being alone in finding it quite a marvel would leave me feeling pretty sad and possibly stupid.
One of Lara Croft's darkest adventures is being teased in . Aspyr's recent remasters covered the first three games in the franchise, alongside their expansions, with the option to switch between new and classic graphics, and the original tank controls or a new «modern» control scheme. However, while the franchise has seen several reboots in recent years, there are still three games in this iteration of that have yet to be covered.
Remasters are ubiquitous in the gaming world. From upcoming Star Wars: Dark Forces to the recent The Last of Us Part 2, it doesn't matter how old a game is to receive the remaster treatment – a rerelease with its original aesthetic replaced with a modern look.
I’m highly skeptical of remasters and remakes. They tend to either feel underwhelming or, worse, to actually do a competent job that ends up replacing the beautiful memories we had of the original. I didn’t have either problem with the new Tomb Raider Remastered.
Over the weekend, OpenLara modder XProger revealed that they were the lead developer behind Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered. Since then, they've been incredibly active in replying to fans playing the games, even confirming that you can make Lara Croft wear sunglasses. But they didn't say how. So, people got to sleuthing.
A newly discovered Easter egg in Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered suggests that the next in line to be remastered could be Tomb Raider 4. Also known as Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the title was released back in 1999.