Amazon Games will release the next Tomb Raider game. A date has not been set. The title will continue to be developed by Crystal Dynamics, the studio behind the last three games of the so-called Reboot trilogy. The upcoming Lara Croft adventure will be Amazon Games’ first major single-player title. So far, the Amazon division has focused on releasing multiplayer games.
The previous titles in the Tomb Raider series developed by Crystal Dynamics – Tomb Raider (2013), Rise of the Tomb Raider (2015) and Shadow of the Tomb Raider (2018) – were released by Japanese publisher Square Enix. This year, however, Square Enix sold some iconic brands to Embracer. In addition to “Deus Ex” this also includes “Tomb Raider”.
Lara Croft as a single player pioneer on Amazon
Although the Swedish Embracer Group owns its own game publisher, Amazon Games has now secured the publication of the upcoming Tomb Raider game, the company announces. Amazon hasn’t gone as far as acquiring Crystal Dynamics or buying the Tomb Raider brand, though. Amazon Games will support the developers and will be responsible for marketing and sales worldwide.
Previously, Amazon Games hadn’t released any major single-player titles and focused primarily on online role-playing games. This includes the self-developed MMORPG “New World”, which was plagued by graphics card defects and crashes. Alongside this, Amazon Games also released the game “Lost Ark”, which has caught many Diablo and World of Warcraft fans in South Korea and Russia since 2019.
It will take time to publish
Amazon Games states that the next Tomb Raider game will continue Lara Croft’s story in the series, so it won’t be another reboot of older titles. Players take control of the heroine as usual and must explore the environment, find paths, solve puzzles and overcome enemies. This gameplay should be familiar and appealing to fans of the series.
The previously untitled Tomb Raider game will use the modern Unreal Engine 5. This has been known since the game engine was released in April 2022. The title itself is located according to the Amazon announcement but still in an early stage of development. That’s why the release of the next Lara Croft adventure should take a while. Amazon Games plans to announce details at a later date.
(fds)