Crystal Dynamics just dropped two Tomb Raider announcements at The Game Awards 2025, and the studio is feeling the heat. The team is remaking the original 1996 game as Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis while simultaneously developing Tomb Raider: Catalyst for 2027. But it’s the remake that has studio head Scott Amos and his team working overtime to get everything right.
The Weight of Expectations
Scott Amos doesn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead. In a recent Q&A session with TechRadar Gaming, he admitted that the biggest pressure doesn’t come from fans or critics. It comes from within the studio walls. The development team knows exactly what fans want because they are fans themselves, and that creates an intense internal standard that nobody else could match.
Crystal Dynamics is treating Legacy of Atlantis as a reimagining rather than a straight remake. The studio wants to honor the iconic 1996 PlayStation game that launched Lara Croft into gaming stardom while adapting it for players who expect modern conveniences. This balancing act requires constant questioning about whether changes honor the original or betray it.
Making It Easier Without Losing the Magic
Developer Will Kerslake addressed one of the trickier aspects of the remake during a press conference. The original Tomb Raider was brutal by today’s standards, filled with instant-kill death traps that players couldn’t avoid without dying first and learning from failure. Crystal Dynamics plans to adjust the difficulty to suit modern player tastes while keeping core elements like big rolling boulders, death-defying jumps, and complex puzzles intact.
The team is essentially walking a tightrope. Make it too easy and longtime fans will feel betrayed. Keep it too punishing and new players won’t stick around long enough to appreciate what made the original special. The solution involves evolving the experience for 2025 audiences while maintaining that Tomb Raider DNA that defined action-adventure gaming for nearly three decades.
Two Games at Once
Crystal Dynamics isn’t just remaking the past. They’re building the future simultaneously with Tomb Raider: Catalyst, scheduled for 2027. This new entry promises to be the most ambitious Tomb Raider game ever made, featuring an expansive open world built in Unreal Engine 5. The game will merge timelines from both classic and modern Tomb Raider games, giving Lara an appearance that blends her latest look with her classic design.
Catalyst represents a massive undertaking with a development budget reportedly between 75 million and 100 million dollars before marketing costs. The scope includes elaborate tomb puzzles, ancient mysteries, and a story focused on trust and betrayal. Crystal Dynamics is partnering with Flying Wild Hog on Legacy of Atlantis while handling Catalyst internally, allowing them to push forward on both fronts.
Learning From Past Mistakes
The original Tomb Raider development cycle was chaos. The team had roughly eight months to build a groundbreaking 3D action game, working brutal hours to meet publisher deadlines. That pressure led to even worse conditions on sequels, with Tomb Raider 2 developed in under a year. By the time Angel of Darkness arrived in 2003, the franchise had hit rock bottom with a buggy, poorly reviewed game that nearly destroyed the series.
Crystal Dynamics took over the franchise after that disaster and eventually rebooted it in 2013 with a grittier, Uncharted-inspired approach. That trilogy sold well but divided fans who wanted more puzzle-solving and less gunfights. Now the studio has a chance to course-correct again, bringing back the exploration and brain-teasing challenges that made Lara Croft a phenomenon while learning from decades of development mistakes.
Respecting the Icon
Amos emphasized that Crystal Dynamics listens intently to fans, audiences, and players. The studio understands there’s tremendous pressure to be respectful of the source material while keeping the iconic core that has made Lara Croft endure for almost 30 years. Every decision gets scrutinized through the lens of maintaining that legacy.
This isn’t Crystal Dynamics’ first rodeo with remaking classic Tomb Raider. Earlier efforts included remasters of the original trilogy, though some reports suggested the studio wasn’t entirely enthusiastic about that project. Legacy of Atlantis represents a fresh start with modern technology, giving the team tools to realize a vision that the PlayStation 1 hardware couldn’t handle back in 1996.
FAQs
When is Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis coming out?
Legacy of Atlantis is scheduled to release in 2026, marking the 30th anniversary of the original 1996 Tomb Raider game. It will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC.
What is the difference between Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst?
Legacy of Atlantis is a reimagining of the original 1996 Tomb Raider game coming in 2026. Catalyst is an entirely new Tomb Raider adventure set for 2027 that merges classic and modern timelines with open-world gameplay built in Unreal Engine 5.
Will the remake be easier than the original game?
Yes. Crystal Dynamics confirmed they’re adjusting the difficulty to suit modern player tastes. The brutal instant-kill death traps of the original will be toned down while keeping core Tomb Raider elements like puzzles, traversal challenges, and iconic moments like rolling boulders.
Who is developing the Tomb Raider remake?
Crystal Dynamics is leading development with support from Flying Wild Hog. Studio head Scott Amos leads the team, which includes developers like Will Kerslake who are working to balance faithfulness to the original with modern gaming expectations.
What happened to the original Tomb Raider development team?
Core Design, the original developer, faced brutal crunch conditions making the first several Tomb Raider games. The team was given impossibly short deadlines, leading to burnout and declining quality. After the disastrous Angel of Darkness in 2003, publisher Eidos handed the franchise to Crystal Dynamics.
Why did Crystal Dynamics decide to remake the first game now?
The studio wants to return Tomb Raider to its roots after the survivor trilogy took a grittier, combat-focused direction. Many fans prefer the puzzle-solving and exploration of classic entries, so Legacy of Atlantis aims to recapture that formula with modern technology.
What is the budget for the new Tomb Raider games?
While the remake’s budget hasn’t been disclosed, previous reports indicated Shadow of the Tomb Raider had a development budget between 75 million and 100 million dollars before marketing. Catalyst, being described as the most ambitious entry yet, likely has a comparable or larger budget.
Conclusion
Crystal Dynamics faces a massive challenge remaking one of gaming’s most iconic titles. The studio’s self-imposed pressure shows they understand what’s at stake. Getting Legacy of Atlantis right could set the stage for a Tomb Raider renaissance, while stumbling could damage the franchise’s credibility yet again. With nearly 30 years of franchise history to honor and modern expectations to meet, 2026 can’t come soon enough for fans eager to see if Crystal Dynamics can pull off this high-wire act.