I saw Tomb Raider on the last day of E3 in the two hours of free time I had to wander the show floor. I had already heard that this was a reboot with a more realistic portrayal of Lara Croft, but I didn't care much about it until I saw the trailer for Tomb Raider on the giant screen at the Square-Enix booth. Though I'm not exactly the kind of guy to care about Lara Croft, I was transfixed on her for a full three minutes.
However, even in Anthony's first impressions of the title, we didn't know how much of a reboot this was. Sure, it's a never-told origins story, but is this an homage to the history of Tomb Raider titles or a completely new timeline? Noah Hughes, Creative Director at Crystal Dynamics, reveals the answer on the Playstation blog:
It starts a whole different timeline. There’s not necessarily an assumption it will connect directly to past events. We are projecting our own Lara, taking this origins story, recreating and her launching her off into a new adventure. We love catering to some of the fan favourites, but we’re not beholden to all of the story points within the series. We like playing with the signature Tomb Raider themes from this new angle.
I'm glad that this refreshing take on Lara Croft will get a fair shot at reinvigorating the entire series. Because if any franchise needs it, it's Tomb Raider.
[Source]