The June 2026 State of Play showcase gave us a more in-depth take a look at the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, which serves as a (second) remake of the unique 1996 Tomb Raider. As I watched Lara Croft flip, grapple, and swing her method via the discharge date trailer, one thought stored resurfacing in my thoughts: “Lara appears nice.” However additional investigation is beginning to make me marvel if I am the one one who thinks so.
The State of Play livestream wasn’t the primary time gamers have laid eyes on the brand new Lara–that occurred again in December, when Crystal Dynamics debuted the sport’s first trailer at The Sport Awards. The response to Lara’s look was on the spot, with gamers and sport critics alike calling out her new look as “anti-woke” and “yassified.” One Redditor even described her outfit as “giving intercourse doll [vibes].” I chalked most of that as much as completely different strokes for various people, and figured individuals would regulate to Lara’s new look–which is much tamer than her unique 1996 look, however considerably just like her look within the 2013 reboot trilogy–over time.
However the response to the brand new trailer proved me flawed. Gamers are nonetheless referring to Lara’s new look as “yassified” and complaining that her arms aren’t muscular sufficient. Typically talking, the primary complaints appear to be that she wears eyeliner and has a curvy physique. (Although in fact, there are these on the opposite facet of the spectrum arguing that her breasts are too small.) Even fictional girls cannot win within the courtroom of public opinion, it appears. However all of the hubbub during the last six months relating to Lara’s appearance–especially claims that she’s too skinny, too thick, or carrying an excessive amount of makeup–genuinely have me questioning if we’re wanting on the identical character mannequin right here.
What these complaints actually appear to boil right down to is that Lara is just too female. She’s carrying eyeliner within the jungle! She has a curvy body! The horror!
Certainly I am not the one Tomb Raider fan who’s conscious that Lara will not be solely canonically feminine, but additionally canonically a femme fatale. Her attract is an important a part of her character. The artists behind her Legacy of Atlantis design actually may have gone slightly more durable by way of making her “look attractive” and nonetheless gotten away with it. They did not, and I am glad, as a result of Lara’s intercourse enchantment has all the time been part of each her look and her character. However the level stays: Bodily attractiveness has all the time been a weapon in Lara’s arsenal, and making an attempt to strip that out of a remake of the unique sport is each weird and, frankly, offensive.
After I first stepped into Lara Croft’s boots within the Nineteen Nineties, she was rocking eyeliner and darkish lipstick (the latter being a remnant of ’90s trend that has since fallen out of favor, therefore her pure lip coloration in current installments). Her hip-to-waist ratio was the type you’ll by no means discover in nature, and he or she was sporting large, horrifying polygon-boobs. Each advert for the sport made it clear that Lara’s design was meant to titillate males initially.
And you realize what? I cherished her anyway. At that time, I used to be simply excited to have a sport the place enjoying as a feminine character was even an possibility. I’ve raised my requirements within the many years since then, and can be eye-rolling with the remainder of you if Legacy-Lara had comically enormous breasts and an impossibly tiny waist. However she does not. She has a historically engaging face and body–not an unnatural, unattainable one. Her shorts are no shorter than they have been again in ’96, her tank high is lots modest, her footwear is sensible, and no jiggle physics are at play. If Lara’s “too attractive” on this trailer, then I am “too attractive” on my common tenting journey.
This model of Lara is definitely carrying much less blush and eyeliner than she was in 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and I do not keep in mind listening to practically as many complaints about her being overly engaging again then. Actually, the primary criticism on the time was that she was too muscular and “manly.” Legacy-Lara has thick eyelashes, however thick eyelashes are “in” proper now, and identical to her darkish lipstick within the ’90s, this appears to be a nod to present magnificence tendencies reasonably than an try and up her intercourse enchantment. Actually, the back-and-forth battle over Lara Croft’s physique has been raging because the minute she debuted.
Exterior of the video games, the Tomb Raider franchise has sometimes toyed with giving Lara a extra masculine look. Probably the most hanging instance is the Netflix animated collection Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, which depicted Lara with thick, outlined biceps, a far much less curvy waist, and a broader, flatter chest. I did not benefit from the present a lot, largely on account of the truth that Lara regarded and acted nothing like herself. A whole side of her personality–her expertise for weaponizing her allure–was merely erased in an effort to make her appear bodily and emotionally “powerful,” as if she wasn’t each of these issues already. I am extraordinarily comfortable to see that Crystal Dynamics did not go in that path for Legacy of Atlantis, identical to I am comfortable to see that they did not over-sexualize her.
Do not get me wrong–gender-non-conforming characters (particularly feminine ones) deserve their place in fiction. The extraordinarily optimistic participant response to characters like Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 show that there is loads of like to go round for masculine feminine characters. Sure, the gaming business ought to make room for these characters of their video games’ narratives, but it surely should not come at the price of turning a beloved female character from a long-running franchise into somebody no one acknowledges, and it is beginning to really feel like that is in the end what some gamers need from Legacy of Atlantis. That is fairly ironic. I battle to think about something much less feminist than the implication {that a} feminine character wants her female traits sanded away to be seen as succesful or plausible.
The actual fact is, girly ladies exist, and that is completely okay. Lara has all the time been each a girly woman and a complete badass no matter whether or not she’s showing in a gritty reboot or a extra lighthearted remake, and her willingness to embrace her femininity is a large a part of why I really like her. If I have been the one swinging from grappling hooks and exploring secret ruins, you may guess your ass I would be doing it in eyeliner, too. It is simply who I’m, and it is who Lara has all the time been. Typically eyeliner is eyeliner, however typically it is warfare paint.
In fact, as I write this, the same old suspects are taking to social media to complain that Lara’s new look is definitely not female sufficient. Her breasts are too small! She appears an excessive amount of like a human girl! The horror!
Like I mentioned, even fictional girls cannot win. However Lara’s look in Legacy of Atlantis is not hurting anybody, and whereas she is sort of fairly, nothing about her magnificence feels unrealistic, hypersexualized, or over-the-top to me.
Actually, the one facet of Legacy-Lara’s look that is actually price being mad about is the truth that it was presumably generated by AI.
