Every gamer, at some point, has had a secret in-game crush.
Don’t be shy — you know exactly what I’m talking about.
For some, it was Claire Redfield or Jill Valentine from Resident Evil.
Others fell for Tifa from Final Fantasy, or Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat.
But if we’re talking about the most iconic gaming crush of all time, the crown very often goes to one woman:
Lara Croft.
More than just a crush, she became a symbol — of adventure, style, independence, and sometimes controversy. Her franchise, Tomb Raider, has sold over 95 million copies, spawned multiple movies, comics, merchandise lines, and helped define an era of action-adventure gaming.
In this article, let’s travel back through time and see how Lara Croft was created, how she evolved, where things went wrong, and how she rose again as a modern heroine — all the way up to the present day.
🧭 How Lara Croft Was Born: From Indiana Jones Clone to Icon
Before we jump into specific games and timelines, it’s important to understand why Lara Croft even exists. Her creation was not an accident — it came from a gap in gaming culture.
Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there were very few strong female protagonists in video games. At the same time, Indiana Jones–style adventure stories were incredibly popular in movies, with Harrison Ford as the charismatic, rough-edged hero.
So when 3D action games began to take shape in the early 90s, most studios thought in one direction:
“If we want adventure, we copy Indiana Jones.”
🎮 The original idea: Male hero, Indiana-style
During early development of what would become Tomb Raider, lead graphic artist Toby Gard initially started designing a male protagonist — essentially an Indiana Jones knockoff. That felt familiar and “safe.”
But there was a problem.
- The Indiana Jones IP belonged to Universal Pictures.
- Legal pressure meant they couldn’t just make a lookalike.
- Core Design’s co-founder Jeremy Smith pushed the team to do something more unique.
That’s when the big creative pivot happened.
🌟 The big twist: “What if we make her a woman?”
Toby Gard decided to create something that gaming hadn’t really seen in 3D before:
A female adventurer as the lead.
The idea was that players would get:
- A unique, visually memorable character
- A design that might also attract more women towards gaming
- A fresh alternative to endless male action heroes
🧩 Inspiration behind Lara’s look and attitude
To shape Lara Croft, the creators blended multiple influences:
- Physical inspiration: Swedish pop star Neneh Cherry
- Attitude inspiration: The rebellious comic character Tank Girl from the British magazine Deadline
Originally, her name was planned as “Laura Cruz”, and she was supposed to be South American, with braided hair and explorer gear. But the publisher Eidos Interactive, being a British company, wanted the game to feel more “British” overall.
So “Laura Cruz” became Lara Croft, a very British-sounding name — and a new legend was born.
🤭 The “accidental” design tweak
There’s a famous internal story from development:
While adjusting character proportions, Toby Gard accidentally increased one of Lara’s body parameters by 50% instead of 5%. It exaggerated a certain part of her anatomy.
Toby reportedly wanted to fix it.
The creative team, seeing how “striking” it looked, said:
“Leave it like that.”
And just like that, Lara’s early design ended up leaning into a highly stylized, exaggerated look — which later became both a marketing weapon and a source of criticism.
🏛️ The First Tomb Raider (1996): A Risk That Changed Everything
Let’s move forward into 1996. Eidos and Core Design were under financial pressure. 3D gaming was still new, risky, and expensive to build.
Tomb Raider was divided into four main locations:
- Peru
- Greece
- Egypt
- A fictional area: The Lost World of Atlantis
You played in third person, guiding Lara across ruins, forests, underwater areas, tombs, traps, and puzzles. Her dual pistols, teal top, shorts, backpack, and braid quickly became iconic.
The game did something special:
- Cinematic exploration
- 3D platforming
- Environmental puzzles
- Strong character presence
Despite the risks, Tomb Raider exploded:
- ~2.5 million copies sold
- Around $14.5 million profit
- Multiple awards and massive fan love
It not only saved Eidos financially, it also planted Lara Croft as a global symbol — and sequels were guaranteed.
But there was already tension behind the scenes.
😶 Why Toby Gard Left: When a Character Becomes an Object
Toby Gard, Lara’s original creator, had a very clear intention:
He wanted to create a strong female character who wasn’t just a sexualized object.
But as Tomb Raider exploded, the marketing strongly focused on:
- Posters
- Magazine covers
- 3D renders emphasizing her exaggerated body
- Lara as a “pin-up” mascot for the franchise
When Toby requested changes and wanted to steer Lara away from over-objectification, he found he had no real control. The way she was being marketed clashed with his values.
Eventually, he left Core Design, even though his character was at the center of a multi-million-dollar franchise.
⚔️ The Rapid-Fire Sequels: Tomb Raider II, III & The Last Revelation
Now let’s look at the late 90s, where success became a double-edged sword.
After the first game’s huge success, pressure was high to keep releasing new Tomb Raider games quickly.
🧨 Tomb Raider II (1997): Bigger, Louder, Sharper
Within just six months of planning, development moved to Tomb Raider II.
Improvements included:
- New moves and animations
- New weapons
- Vehicles like speedboats and snowmobiles
- Larger levels
- That iconic braid finally added to Lara
The game featured more action, more enemies, and more cinematic sequences — including the famous shower scene and evening outfits that leaned heavily into her image as a sex symbol.
Sales were incredible:
- Around 8 million copies sold
- PlayStation Platinum status
- Massive brand growth
🧩 Tomb Raider III (1998): New Engine, Tougher Gameplay
For the third game, the dev team asked for two years.
They got one.
Tomb Raider III introduced:
- Updated engine with better lighting
- More complex geometry
- Non-linear missions with multiple paths
- Increased emphasis on puzzles and difficulty
The problem? The difficulty was so high that many reviewers said completing it without a strategy guide felt almost impossible.
Some stealth sections were compared negatively to Metal Gear Solid.
The game still sold very well (~6 million copies), but cracks were starting to show.
🐍 Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999)
Set mainly in Cambodia and Egypt, this game tried to refresh the formula with:
- Binoculars and first-person camera mode
- Crowbar interactions
- New acrobatics like mid-air turnarounds, handstands, and swing moves
- Revised puzzle and story structure
It sold around 5 million copies and again achieved Platinum status.
But critics and fans started asking:
“Is Eidos just milking this series every year?”
The yearly release schedule was burning out both developers and players.
So Core Design pulled a drastic narrative move:
They killed Lara Croft.
In the final scenes, Lara fails to escape collapsing pyramids in Egypt and is presumed dead.
For many players, it was genuinely emotional — they had grown up with her.
💀 Chronicles & Angel of Darkness: When the Franchise Hit Rock Bottom
You would think Lara’s “death” might give the franchise rest.
But schedules and contracts don’t care about feelings.
📘 Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000)
Instead of moving forward, Eidos released Tomb Raider: Chronicles, a collection of “memory stories” told by friends remembering Lara.
Behind the scenes:
- Core Design had been split into two teams
- One team handled Chronicles
- The other worked on a new, darker title: The Angel of Darkness
Chronicles felt disjointed and experimental. The series was clearly tired, and developer fatigue was obvious.
🌑 Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (2003)
Angel of Darkness was meant to be a bold fresh start, mixing:
- Gothic tone
- RPG elements
- Stealth mechanics
- Urban environments like Paris and Prague
However:
- The game was rushed
- Technical bugs were everywhere
- Level loading screens destroyed pacing
- Lara felt more like a spy than a tomb raider
- Core story logic—like how Lara survived Egypt—was poorly explained
Reviews were mixed to negative.
Sales were poor (around 1.5 million — the worst in the mainline series at that time).
This was the lowest point for Lara as a game character.
🎬 The Hollywood Era: Angelina Jolie & Box Office Wins
While the games were wobbling, Lara Croft’s pop culture image was still strong.
In 2001, Angelina Jolie starred as Lara Croft in the first live-action Tomb Raider movie. Fans criticized:
- The American accent instead of a British one
- Costume padding and exaggerated design
Some critics gave extremely harsh scores.
But in the box office? It delivered:
- ~$274 million gross worldwide
That made it one of the highest-grossing game adaptations of its time.
A sequel followed in 2003 with a smaller budget and a shorter shoot. It made a profit but underperformed expectations — and again, the games’ declining reputation (especially Angel of Darkness) didn’t help.
🔁 The First Reboot Wave: Crystal Dynamics Takes Over
Eidos realized something crucial:
“We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”
So they made a big change.
- Development moved from Core Design to Crystal Dynamics
- Original creator Toby Gard was brought back as a consultant
- The goal: soft reboot the series
Three games followed:
- Tomb Raider: Legend (2006)
- Tomb Raider: Anniversary (2007)
- Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008)
🏺 Tomb Raider: Legend (2006)
Legend returned Lara to her adventuring roots:
- Modernized controls
- Cinematic storytelling
- Emotional background for Lara
- Better platforming and pacing
It was a big hit:
- ~6.4 million copies sold
- Strong reviews
- Frequently compared positively to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
🎂 Tomb Raider: Anniversary (2007)
This was a remake of the 1996 original Tomb Raider using Legend’s engine and mechanics.
- Faithful to the original
- Modernized gameplay and visuals
- Well-received critically
But it launched just one year after Legend and sold only about 1.3 million copies, showing some franchise fatigue again.
🌊 Tomb Raider: Underworld (2008)
Underworld tried to push deeper into next-gen territory:
- Better environmental detail
- More acrobatics
- Darker tone
However, it sold only ~2.6 million copies.
The series needed more than just “better graphics.” It needed a fresh identity.
So Eidos and Crystal Dynamics did something rare in the AAA world:
They stopped, took a step back, and planned a big, bold reboot.
🔥 The Survival Reboot Trilogy: A New Lara for a New Generation
After almost five years of silence, Lara came back transformed.
🏹 Tomb Raider (2013)
In 2013, Tomb Raider was reborn as a survival-action game:
- Young, inexperienced Lara stranded on a mysterious island
- Gritty, grounded storytelling
- Emotional character development
- Skill trees, crafting, stealth, progression systems
- Bow-based gameplay and brutal combat
The focus was on how Lara becomes Lara Croft.
This reboot was a huge critical and commercial success:
- Review scores in the 9/10 range
- Nearly 15 million copies sold by 2021
- Became the best-selling Tomb Raider game ever
It also quietly included an online multiplayer mode, which, while not legendary, was surprisingly fun with friends.
❄️ Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015)
Now Lara was no longer just surviving. She was becoming the raider of legends.
Rise added:
- Deeper RPG elements
- Larger hub areas
- More tombs and puzzles
- Better stealth and combat
- Stunning snowy environments and cinematic set-pieces
Many critics called it:
“One of the best-looking games on the market at the time.”
The story dug further into Lara’s past, motivations, and emotional conflicts.
By 2021, Rise sold nearly 12 million copies, cementing the reboot’s success.
🌘 Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018)
For the final chapter:
- Development shifted to Eidos-Montréal as lead
- Crystal Dynamics took a supporting role
Shadow focused on:
- Mayan and Aztec mythology
- Heavier stealth and exploration
- Dense jungles and hidden tombs
- Lara dealing with the consequences of her actions
New mechanics included:
- Mud camouflage
- Predator-style stealth kills
- Expanded side content
It sold around 9 million copies and completed the reboot trilogy, tying Lara’s emotional and psychological journey into a full arc.
📺 Tomb Raider Beyond Games: Modern Movie Reboot & New Ownership
In parallel with the reboot games, Lara also returned to cinemas.
🎥 2018 Film Reboot
A new Tomb Raider film released in 2018:
- Starring Alicia Vikander, a Swedish actress
- Loosely based on the 2013 reboot game
- Focused on a grounded, more human Lara
Budget: around $90–100 million
Box office: about $275 million worldwide
Not a masterpiece, but generally seen as better aligned with modern Lara’s tone and personality.
Plans for sequels later stalled due to rights and corporate reshuffling.
🏢 Embracer & the Future
In recent years:
- Embracer Group acquired Eidos Interactive and Crystal Dynamics
- Crystal Dynamics worked (unsuccessfully) on Marvel’s Avengers
- After Avengers shut down, the expectation is that Tomb Raider is again a main priority
New Tomb Raider projects have been teased, including:
- A new mainline game using Unreal Engine
- An animated series
The exact timelines shift, but one thing is clear:
Lara Croft isn’t going anywhere.
❓ FAQ: Lara Croft & Tomb Raider
1. Why is Lara Croft considered so iconic?
Because she combined:
- Strong visual identity
- 3D platforming innovation
- A unique female lead in a male-dominated era
- Cross-media presence (games, movies, comics, merch)
She became one of the first truly global gaming celebrities.
2. Wasn’t Lara over-sexualized in the early games?
Yes. Her design leaned heavily into exaggerated proportions and marketing often objectified her. This was one reason her creator, Toby Gard, left the studio. The reboot era has moved firmly towards a more human, grounded portrayal.
3. Which Tomb Raider game should a new player start with?
For modern players:
- Start with Tomb Raider (2013)
- Then Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Then Shadow of the Tomb Raider
If you want to experience the classics later, try Tomb Raider Anniversary as a good bridge.
4. Are the older games still worth playing?
If you enjoy retro design, puzzle-heavy level layouts, and tanky controls, absolutely. Tomb Raider 1–4 are foundational games in 3D action-adventure history.
5. Is there an official place to follow Tomb Raider updates?
Yes, you can check the official site:
🔗 https://www.tombraider.com/
🎯 Final Thoughts: Why Lara Croft Still Matters
From a rushed polygon model in the 90s to a fully realized survivor-archaeologist in the 2010s, Lara Croft’s journey mirrors gaming’s own evolution.
She represents:
- The rise of cinematic 3D adventures
- The complicated history of female representation in games
- How a franchise can burn out — and still be reborn
- The blending of games, movies, and global pop culture
Even after canceled sequels, failed spin-offs, and corporate reshuffles, people still care about Lara. That alone proves how deeply she’s etched into the hearts of gamers.
The next Tomb Raider game will have a lot to live up to — but the foundations are strong.
And somewhere out there, a new generation of players is about to meet Lara Croft for the very first time.
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