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It’s been nearly 30 years since Lara Croft took her first snowy steps within the mountains of Peru. In about 30 days, PlayStation gamers will get to re-experience Lara’s first three globe-trotting adventures, with a recent appear and feel in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
How did we get right here? That story takes us to Austin, TX in 1998.
Aspyr & Lara go method again
A burgeoning online game firm, Aspyr, launches Tomb Raider II on Macintosh computer systems. Aspyr continued with the Tomb Raider franchise till 2003, launching Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider: The Final Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.
We’ve at all times wished to revisit these titles, however we at all times debated the fitting strategy. For years, we labored via the fitting stability of preservation and modernization. And as soon as we felt we nailed it, we obtained in contact with our mates at Crystal Dynamics.
Crystal Dynamics imaginative and prescient
As Crystal Dynamics continues to increase the Tomb Raider Franchise, the timing appeared excellent to reintroduce audiences to the video games that began all of it. We wished to each honor the foundations of the franchise and make accessible to fashionable audiences the unique video games in all their glory.
What would the stability of preservation and modernization seem like? We name it Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft.
Remaster outlined
Inside pre-production, we divided the dialog into three buckets: engineering, gameplay, and artwork. With these classes in thoughts, we led our conversations in the identical order.
Engineering aim – efficiency with pixel-perfect preservation
On the outset, we knew we might use the unique supply code and engine. Magic can’t merely be rebuilt. A essential characteristic for any updates we made was to permit the customers to toggle again to the unique appear and feel for Tomb Raider I, II, and III.
It’s a love letter to all of our reminiscences of those video games, nevertheless it’s additionally really fascinating to see how far {hardware} pushed within the ‘90s to make Tomb Raider work. Preserving that have will proceed to encourage engineers of at the moment and tomorrow to push video games to be extra immersive and memorable.
Gameplay aim – shock and delight lifelong hardcore followers
We had a agency perception that the gameplay of Tomb Raider I, II, and III is timeless, and with our use of the prevailing supply code, we had each bounce, secret, enemy, and puzzle precisely as the unique improvement staff designed and meant.
So the dialog developed into: how will we shock and delight these followers? And that’s the place we began brainstorming additions as an alternative of revisions.
Basic and fashionable management choices
For our fashionable controller settings, we take inspiration from the Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld period of Tomb Raider. These adjustments are felt principally in the best way Lara strikes – the fitting stick has full digital camera management and Lara strikes directionally primarily based on digital camera place.
Identical to our strategy to the graphical presentation, the unique tank-style controls are nonetheless out there to gamers by way of a menu toggle.
Boss well being bars
Certainly one of Tomb Raider’s strengths was the minimal UI. Nevertheless, this may be irritating for harder bosses with large quantities of well being. We added a well being bar to let you realize if you happen to ought to swap to the grenade launcher or if you happen to ought to hold soaking pistol injury.
3D merchandise sprites replacements
Whereas the menus in Tomb Raider used 3D fashions for the well being package and ammo, the in-Sport property had been flat 2D sprites. This was a legacy compromise that we’ve adjusted to provide just a little extra umph to merchandise pick-ups.
Over 200 trophies
It is a huge second for the Tomb Raider group, so we made certain to pack in as a lot content material as doable. We’re excited to say there are over 200 trophies to earn together with (my private favourite) locking the Butler within the freezer. Sorry, Winston! See under for a sneak peak of some you’ll be able to sit up for discovering!
Picture mode
Exploring environments in Tomb Raider is magical. We wish you to have the ability to share these environments and iconic moments, so we’ve added a strong photograph mode to pose Lara, freeze gameplay, toggle between traditional and fashionable graphics, and showcase these environments. We’re tremendous excited to see what the group places along with these modes.
And some extra surprises
A lot of what we love about Tomb Raider is discovery, and we don’t need to spoil that.
Artwork aim – visuals as in your reminiscence
As soon as we finalized the engineering and gameplay intent, it was time to maneuver on to our largest problem and adjustments for the challenge—the artwork.
Our philosophy right here was reasonably easy; we wish the video games to look the best way they did in your thoughts. We knew we had been heading in the right direction in our early playtests as a result of some play testers didn’t even know they had been taking part in with the trendy artwork toggled on.
We’ve labored hand-in-hand with Crystal Dynamics on the next fashionable artwork updates:
- Baked and real-time lighting results – These adjustments add to the immersion and temper of the atmosphere.
- Graphics toggle – At any level throughout gameplay, together with in Picture mode, you’ll be able to swap between the unique and fashionable graphics.
- New fashions, environments, and enemies – As proven in our preliminary reveal, we’ve added new fashions for a constant fashionable appear and feel. We’re excited to showcase how these PS1 environments would look with fashionable applied sciences and instruments.
- New mannequin for Lara Croft – Her authentic outfits are beautiful. Her silhouette—iconic. Want I say extra?
- Further updates – We love the traditional look of the animations, textures, and VFX. We’ve made changes within the fashionable scheme to look according to the up to date fashions for a sophisticated ultimate look.
We ship our admiration and due to the Tomb Raider group for uplifting us to work on this lovingly restored version of Tomb Raider I-III. We’ll see you on February 14.
Pre-orders can be found now on PlayStation Retailer.
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