To celebrate the franchise's 25th anniversary, Lara Croft is about to star in the very first Tomb Raider tabletop role-playing game.
Announced via an official blog post, Lara Croft's Tomb Raiders will see players create their very own up-and-coming treasure hunters who will be sent around the world to... well, raid tombs. Working for titular character, these adventurers are expected to plunge into the darkest, most dangerous ancient locations, avoiding traps and killing enemies all in the pursuit of fame and fortune. The game has been in development since 2009, with Senior Technical Designer Matthew Gaston beginning playtesting on the project back in 2017.
"Players will explore ancient sites to discover information and artifacts – guided by the campaign’s Raid Master. Campaigns will focus on knowledge, language, and investigative skills in addition to action-oriented skills to keep it true to the franchise roots," reads the official description of Lara Croft's Tomb Raiders.
A passion project for Gaston, the game will also feature illustrations from professional concept artists Kameliya Minkova and Johann BLAIS, who have lent their own artistic visions to the game's characters, creatures and locales. Some of the highlighted pages reveal stat blocks and information for an assortment of enemies, including a shark, a bear and what appears to be a mummified zombie with fangs. Based on the information presented in the pages, it appears that Lara Croft's Tomb Raiders will be using an original role-playing system rather than adopting mechanics from an existing game like Powered by the Apocalypse.
The announcement of a Tomb Raider tabletop role-playing game ties in with the franchise's 25th anniversary. Alongside the new product, Square Enix also unveiled new details on the upcoming Netflix anime, a themed cookbook, and a brief update on Tomb Raider Reloaded. Beyond that, the critically acclaimed spinoff games Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris are being ported to the Nintendo Switch.
Square Enix has yet to open up on the specifics surrounding Lara Croft's Tomb Raiders. The publisher confirms that the sourcebook's cover will be revealed in the coming weeks and that the final product will launch before the end of 2021 "as a holiday gift" to the fans.
Source: Square Enix