Entertainment

Keeley Hawes is back as Lara Croft – but only for a mobile game

October 28, 2021

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider the series’ games are up to 89% off this week, with Rise Of The Tomb Raider free via Amazon Gaming.

It was the 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider on Monday, but for some peculiar reason Square Enix waited till today to acknowledge the fact – not because they forgot but because in truth there’s not much to announce.

A new Tomb Raider game is in development, but they already warned it wouldn’t be shown this year and so instead they’ve focused on some heavy discounts for existing games and the upcoming mobile game Tomb Raider Reloaded.

Reloaded also hasn’t been seen in action yet but it features a cutesy chibi style art style and the option for Lara to be voiced by any one of the actresses that have played the role in previous games, including original Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins from Tomb Raider 2 and 3, Jonell Eliott from The Last Revelation to Angel Of Darkness, and Keely Hawes from the Legend trilogy.

Hawes, now best known for BBC show Bodyguard, also voiced Lara in spin-offs Lara Croft And The Guardian of Light and Lara Croft And The Temple of Osiris, both of which have been announced as coming to Nintendo Switch next year.

Current actress Camilla Luddington, who also provided motion capture for Lara in the reboot trilogy, doesn’t seem to be involved in Reloaded and is likely to be replaced for whatever the new game is announced as.

Original Lara Croft voice actors — From left to right: Judith Gibbins, Jonell Elliott, and Shelley Blond (pic: Square Enix)

Outside of games, Allen Maldonado is to join the voice cast of the Tomb Raider Netflix anime series as tech expert Zip, from the original and Legend era of games, and Early Baylon as the voice of Jonah Maiava from the reboot trilogy. So, a sort of multiverse crossover of Lara Croft assistants that nobody ever really liked but for some reason Square Enix keep bringing back.

The show is a direct sequel to Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, with Captain America’s Hayley Atwell as Lara. That means it could hint at whatever the new game will be, although probably only in terms of story.

There’s also set to be an escape room style live event in London called Tomb Raider: The LIVE Experience, and an exhibition at the Storyworld museum in Groningen, the Netherlands – although most people’s globetrotting this year is still likely to be in video games rather than real life.