Lara Croft Returns Next Year On Mobile

I’ll say it now, I’m not a fan of this current run of so-called “Tomb Raider” games. The 2013 version (much like Angel of Darkness) took away everything that was great about the character, the games, and the entire ethos of Lara. I’m not talking about the fact she was the great melon smugger of the west, just that she’s the best character in gaming hands down. How do you characterize a billionaire heiress? The mindset of a gamer: “I can see a thing, I’m going to take it, I’m going to kill everyone and everything in my way.” There were just puzzles in the way. The new games don’t let Lara think that for too long, and there are not many puzzles, it is dull.

Why am I talking about the woman that would snap me in two and eat me? Because she’s getting a new game and for once, I am excited! Ok, it is a mobile game and I’m a bit standoff-ish with those. However, it is classic Lara, proper Lara, the woman I love! In the tweet announcing and teasing the game, we got the name, date, and the studios heading it. Tomb Raider Reloaded will be releasing on mobile in 2021, with Emerald City Games and Square Enix London. Though there was very little else given to the announcement yesterday morning.

Check out this brand-new teaser trailer for Tomb Raider Reloaded, developed by our friends at Emerald City Games & the Square Enix London mobile team – coming to your mobile device in 2021! pic.twitter.com/I7ZLjMtpaq

— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) November 23, 2020

The teaser trailer does give a glimpse at what one would assume will be your foes. It shows feral dogs, giant cartoon spiders, the earth/rock monster thing from Reus, the traps of the tomb, and a lovely T-rex. All of these things are between the treasure in the tomb and Lara in her classic blue-ish green tank-top, once again in a very cartoonish style. Other than that right now, Square Enix and everyone around the game seems to be tight-lipped, though the trailer on YouTube does provide a little more detail: “Tomb Raider Reloaded is a free-to-play action arcade game.”

Oddly enough, this is where the hatred creeps in, with derision from people expecting something else. As if a mobile title wouldn’t be free-to-play, and it wouldn’t possibly have this cartoon style. After Tomb Raider Go, which wasn’t bad but wasn’t great; I have slightly higher hopes than most seem to have. Which is strange, as it is a mobile game, and I’ve recently commented on the Game Awards having a “Best Mobile Game” award stating: “that’s a false equivalency since there are no good mobile games, just microtransaction hellscapes.” If it is bad, I’ll shout about it being hell for a hot minute then ignore it, like everything else on mobile.