The next installment in the Tomb Raider franchise is finally in he works, and Crystal Dynamics officially announced that it’ll be powered by the brand new Unreal Engine 5.
With the availability of this brand new engine, Dallas Dickinson, the franchise general manager for Tomb Raider at Crystal Dynamics, dropped the surprise via Twitter.
Crystal Dynamics is incredibly excited about the future of Unreal and how it will help us take our storytelling to the next level. That's why we're proud to announce that our next #tombraider game is being built on Unreal Engine 5! pic.twitter.com/UFMiWzJAZc
— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) April 5, 2022
In the message Dickinson makes the big announcement and further affirms their support for the new engine:
“Our goal is to push the envelope of fidelity, and to deliver the high-quality, cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve form both Crystal Dynamics, and the Tomb Raider franchise.”
So far, this is all the information on the new Tomb Raider game–no date of release, no story teasing, and no other mention of Lara Croft. Unreal Engine 5 looks to be the primary engine for games moving forward as we’ve seen it featured in other projects such as ‘The Matrix Awakens’ and the recent new regarding an upcoming Witcher sequel.
Given that the first Unreal Engine 5 demo featured gameplay and style that’s seemingly inspired by the Tomb Raider series, we can’t wait to see how this next installment will look.
As of now, a Tomb Raider anime series is in the works courtesy of Netflix. The story will pick up after the game’s main trilogy, and sees Tasha Huo (of The Witcher: Blood Origin) taking the lead as writer and executive producer.
The Tomb Raider ‘Survivor Trilogy’ is available on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, macOS, and Linux.