Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has been harping on it for quite some time, but studio head Darrell Gallagher has once again spoken out to emphasize the fact that they’re working hard to make sure that Lara is a much more believable and relatable character than she’s been in prior games.
Gallagher told MCV that the “confident, wisecracking adventurer” seen in older games has been done away with in favor of a woman who has much more personality.
She was obviously fully-formed; she was a confident, wisecracking adventurer and it was something that people weren’t necessarily connected to 15 years in. So we wanted to strip it down, give her a personality, make her feel more human, grounded and believable.
The thing we want to do is make her a more modern version of a young British girl versus somebody that was so, I hate to use the word ‘posh’, but in a sphere where she had a butler. She wasn’t that relatable – almost like the niece of the queen or something.
Interestingly enough, the team drew a bit of inspiration from modern female actresses, likening Lara to Keira Knightley.
You look at some of the actresses that are popular at this point, someone like a Keira Knightley, she’s just a very likeable English girl and that’s the kind of person that you’d imagine Lara to be like. We really wanted to make her a little bit closer to somebody you could know.
Tomb Raider is set to launch on March 5th for Xbox 360 and PS3.
