Lara kicked off her plundering career looking for
three pieces of an artefact known as the Scion.
The original Tomb Raider doesn’t pull any punches.
The puzzles are tricksy, the combat is tough
and the fact that you can only save at dedicated
crystals means serious tension where death’s
concerned.TOMB RAIDER 1996
Just like a certain id Software title full
of hell spawn, the fact that we’re still
playing a game with exactly the same
name twenty years on shows the
influence of a certain Ms Croft.
First emerging onto the PlayStation,
PC and Sega Saturn in 1996, Tomb
Raider’s original blueprint was laid out
in 1993 at UK studio Core Design. The
story goes that Core artist Toby Gard
wanted an Indiana Jones clone to be the
star, but then switched to a female hero
to avoid too many similarities. After a
quick name change from Laura Cruz- which just didn’t sound stiff upper lip
enough – Lara Croft was born.
From the second game onwards, Sony
won exclusivity on Lara’s adventures,
which secured the PlayStation
stratospheric success as Lara’s globe-
trotting treasure hunts sold in their
millions. A worldwide phenomenon
from the first game onwards, there
had been nothing even vaguely like
this combo of puzzling and action-
adventuring in a 3D environment. Not
to speak of the confident heroine with
her pistols and brains. When it comes
to iconic game characters, there’s been
few others who can compete since.The rise and rise of the Tomb Raider who would go
on to become a PlayStation icon
To m b R a id e r
SPOTLIGHT
Creators Core Design
Publisher Edios
Series lifespan 1996-current
Latest release Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)