Square Enix celebrates Tomb Raider's 25th Anniversary with new Switch ports
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Square Enix is celebrating Tomb Raider's 25th Anniversary this week with a bunch of announcements, including ports of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris for Nintendo Switch in 2022.
Speaking of portable gaming, three original English-language Lara Croft voice actors will join Keeley Hawes in Tomb Raider Reloaded when the mobile game launches next year. Players will be able to choose classic voices such as Shelley Blond (Tomb Raider), Judith Gibbins (Tomb Raider 2 and 3), Jonell Elliott (The Last Revelation, Chronicles, The Angel of Darkness), or Keeley Hawes (Legend, Anniversary and Tomb Raider: Underworld).
Developer Crystal Dynamics has released a special video celebrating the many women who brought Lara to life over the years.
Tomb Raider's entire franchise of games is on sale via almost every digital store you can name, both on PC and consoles, with discounts of up to 89 percent.
Amazon Prime users can bag Rise of the Tomb Raider on PC for free between 1st November and 14th November.
Outside of games, we knew Netflix is working on a new animated series for Tomb Raider, set after the events of the Tomb Raider Survivor trilogy (the latest three games). The series is being produced by Powerhouse Animation, the studio behind Castlevania, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and Blood of Zeus.
Last month it was announced that Hayley Atwell (Captain America, Mission: Impossible 7) will be the voice of Lara Croft. Today brought word that fan-favourite Jonah Maiava would also feature, played again by Earl Baylon.
In the real world, Crystal Dynamics is working with Little Lion Entertainment to create "Tomb Raider: The LIVE Experience" in London, which will let fans "work together while fully immersed in a genuine Tomb Raider adventure, forging their own destiny alongside recognizable characters from the blockbuster franchise". In other words, we're getting an official Tomb Raider escape room.
The Dutch will be getting a better experience, with the launch of The World of Lara Croft, an exhibition curated by the Storyworld museum in Groningen, the Netherlands in 2022.
The exhibit includes content from the game's origins in 1996 through the most recent Survivor trilogy, which began in 2013 with the rebooted Tomb Raider game. Visitors will learn about design details, developer insights, and elements of Tomb Raider in the real world, including samples of the franchise's merchandise over the years and appearances of Lara Croft in movies and comics.
Crystal Dynamics has also made several charitable donations in celebration of the many women, including writers, voice talent, actors, models, artists, and game developers, who have worked on the series over many years.
The company has donated $25,000 to the International Rescue Committee, and an additional donation of $20,000 to Women for Women International in the name of Camilla Luddington, whose voice acting and motion capture brought Lara to life in the latest trilogy.
In addition, over a dozen rare items from Tomb Raider history have been listed on the eBay for Charity platform for a range of charitable causes.
Finally, throughout 2021 Crystal Dynamics has been commissioning talented artists from around the world to reimagine Tomb Raider box art throughout time. At the end of the year, it will host a charity initiative through the Square Enix Store to purchase a full set of 15 physical prints of the reimagined box art with all proceeds going to Girls Make Games. The current set of prints can be seen here.
Now, if you don't mind me, I'll be booking a flight to the Netherlands.