Lara Croft, one of the most renowned female heroines in gaming, was introduced to the world by the tremendous success of the first Tomb Raider game. The series’ puzzle-solving action established Lara’s status among the industry’s titans, spawning her own series of self-titled Lara Croft titles. To commemorate the franchise’s 25th anniversary, two of Lara’s top-down adventures, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, will be released on the Nintendo Switch next year.
The two Lara Croft-themed Tomb Raider offshoot games adapt the renowned puzzle-solving action of the franchise to a top-down isometric perspective. The two games were well-received by both fans and critics, and they managed to resurrect a franchise that had been dormant since its peak on the PlayStation 1. The Lara Croft spinoffs’ distinct design from the core Tomb Raider games has mainly died out, with Temple of Osiris being the last Lara Croft game released in 2014.
According to the official Tomb Raider Twitter, Crystal Dynamics is collaborating with Feral Interactive to bring back Guardian of Light and Temple of Osiris. The two games will be released on the Nintendo Switch at an unspecified date in 2022. Feral assisted Crystal Dynamics in bringing the Tomb Raider reboot trilogy to macOS and Linux, and the two businesses had previously collaborated on the series.
The Lara Croft titles coming to Nintendo Switch will be a welcome return for the legendary Tomb Raider protagonist as well as a pleasant addition for Nintendo fans. The two spinoffs will be the first Tomb Raider games to be launched on Nintendo’s hybrid portable device, as well as the franchise’s first new releases since Shadow of the Tomb Raider wrapped up the reboot trilogy in 2018. A smartphone Tomb Raider game is also in the works, with an uncertain release date in 2022.
Great #TombRaider25 news for @Nintendo fans! We are so excited to announce a collaboration between @CrystalDynamics and @feralgames to bring Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris to Nintendo Switch starting in 2022! pic.twitter.com/S1PBaxhJqt
— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) October 28, 2021
Because of Tomb Raider’s huge success in the gaming world, it has frequently spread outside of its own games and even the gaming industry as a whole. Following the early 2000s popularity of Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider films, Warner Bros. released a rebooted Tomb Raider film starring Alicia Vikander in 2018 and is currently working on a sequel with no set release date. Lara Croft’s entry on the Nintendo Switch will aim to deliver her unique brand of dungeon-crawling, puzzle-solving adventure to a new generation of fans.
