Tomb Raider 2012 pictures show new Lara Croft

14 January 2011

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Posted by:Josh Romero

Tomb Raider 2012 is getting ready to take the franchise in an all-new direction and re-invent Lara Croft in the process.

The game is entirely based upon survival, and will take Lara into a deep, disturbing and realistic world where she will literally have to fight to survive. And in the process she will be broken, mentally and physically, before being reborn. The developers promise that we will see Lara in a new light and connect with her in new ways, and as the screenshots above and below attest, she will be much more likeable and attractive, by simply being more REAL.

As this picture shows, Lara Croft will react to all of the pain that she will encounter as she becomes a tomb raider and explores her environments. Her body will bruise and get covered in dirt and grime, and her face will grimace and reflect her emotions as she struggles to hold it together through each increasingly more difficult and puzzling situation.

But she must not give up. She must bandage her wounds and press on. On towards the light, she knows that there is an end to her pain, that the flame of hope will triumph over the curse of darkness that falls around her. Press on.

As you can see in the images above, the detail in both Lara Croft’s character model and environments is incredible. Not only is it highly realistic and incredibly detailed, but the game is highly cinematic, with contextual button presses appearing naturally when Lara needs to press a button to interact with the world.

We end with this beautiful and striking image. Lara has found the light. Freedom, at last.

Tomb Raider 2012 (or simply, “Tomb Raider”, as it will be entitled) will be released on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in 2012. You can check out more beautiful images of the game at Game Informer.