Tomb Raider: Catalyst was one of two exciting new Tomb Raider titles that surprised fans at the 2025 Game Awards. While Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is a modern re-imagining of Lara Croft's first adventure, Catalyst sees the titular Tomb Raider embark on an all-new journey to unearth ancient treasures in Northern India. The game, which is set at the furthest point in Lara's timeline seen so far, is an exciting new chapter for the beloved franchise.
The Tomb Raider series turns 30 years old in 2026, and developer Crystal Dynamics is celebrating this landmark year by going back to the very beginning of Lara Croft's adventures with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Following that, in 2027, will come Catalyst, which will take place further in Lara's career when she is already internationally famous with many friends and enemies. Crystal Dynamics Head of Studio Scot Amos and Game Director Will Kerslak, speaking at a press event attended by The Best War Games, expressed their excitement for Catalyst's North India setting, examination of an older and more established Lara Croft, and the many other fun surprises in store for fans.
3 Tomb Raider: Catalyst Is An Adventure Both Old And New Fans Can Enjoy
When creating Catalyst, Amos and the Crystal Dynamics team had one major goal in mind: create a Lara Croft adventure that could be enjoyed by longtime Tomb Raider fans but would also be perfect for new fans looking to jump into the series for the first time. There have been over a dozen Tomb Raider games released since 1996, and Amos wanted to ensure that Catalyst was a game that could just as easily be someone's first or twentieth Tomb Raider experience:
"For longtime fans, this is the furthest point in her career. This is really where she is right now. Everything else is the history. So this is a great time for those longtime fans to see what's next for Lara Croft... For new fans, we've designed Catalyst so that players can jump in right now and pick up with her adventures. There's no homework required."
Few details have been revealed about the plot of Tomb Raider: Catalyst — only that Lara Croft travels to Northern India in the wake of a mysterious cataclysm, where she encounters ancient secrets, rivals, and allies, including other adventurers who may wish to use the newly uncovered treasures for their own nefarious purposes. "It's the largest Tomb Raider that we've made to date," Amos revealed, "and all of this is built, for the first time for us as a studio, in Unreal Engine 5... There's this amazing amount of depth and breadth that we get to explore and expand on that we haven't been able to do before."
2 Catalyst Will Feature A Stunning Northern India Setting
Lara Croft's adventures in Tomb Raider: Catalyst will take place in Northern India, a location that has not been explored in previous Tomb Raider titles. Kerslake revealed that this particular setting choice was made at least partially as an homage to the opening of the original Tomb Raider game:
"It was actually in the intro of the original Tomb Raider. [Lara's] sitting there in Calcutta, in a hotel, when Larson meets her. So it's a place that Tomb Raider has touched on before. It was a fan-favorite location that we were interested in."
As the trailer shown at the 2025 Game Awards revealed, Tomb Raider Catalyst's portrayal of Northern India will feature the eye-catching visuals the series has come to be known for, rendered in stunning detail in Unreal Engine 5. Both Kerslake and Amos were thrilled with the setting choice and extremely excited for players to explore it in Catalyst. Amos said:
"[Northern India is] one of those landscapes that is just gorgeous, [with] so much history and culture. We have these really vast and varied landscapes that are just begging to be explored...from these really high peaks with these beautiful, just strikingly gorgeous vistas, all the way to the darkest tombs underground."
1 Tomb Raider: Catalyst Will Show How Lara Croft Has Grown And Changed
One element of the process that Amos and Kerslake have particularly enjoyed is how producing two games at once has allowed them to explore Lara Croft's growth and development through a unique lens. The Lara of Legacy of Atlantis is not completely new to the tomb-raiding lifestyle, but is still somewhat early in her career. Catalyst's Lara has years of adventures under her belt. She's navigated Norse ruins in Underworld, faced down mysterious entities in Legend, and had many other epic and dangerous journeys around the world.
Kerslake sees the two variations of Lara Croft appearing in Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst — both portrayed by Alix Wilton Regan — as fundamentally the same character. However, he emphasizes that Catalyst's Lara has been influenced and shaped by the many adventures she has undertaken:
"There are two adventures here, but they are two adventures of the same character. Tomb Raider: Catalyst is a brand-new adventure, [a] top of her game experience for Lara Croft. It's the same character, but at two distinct periods in her life."
Both Amos and Kerslake felt that Alix Wilton Regan, who is a longtime fan of the series, was the perfect casting choice for Lara Croft in Legacy of Atlantis and Catalyst. Wilton Regan, whose previous roles include Aya in Assassin's Creed Origins and the Female Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition, brought an emotional depth to both the younger Lara and the experienced, hardened and occasionally world-weary Catalyst version of the character. Kerslake said:
"From the beginning, she got what we were trying to do: bring all the confidence of the character forward, but continue to push on the emotional depth that we need for modern storytelling."
Right now, there is a major marketing focus on Legacy of Atlantis, which will be the first of the two games releasing. However, it is likely that more information regarding the story, setting, and gameplay of Tomb Raider: Catalyst will be revealed throughout 2026 as the iconic franchise celebrates its 30th anniversary. Amos and Kerslake hinted that there are so many things about Catalyst they are excited to finally be able to share in the near future. Could this be the start of a new trilogy or series for Tomb Raider? Amos and Kerslake could neither confirm nor deny. "This is an all-new adventure for Lara Croft, a new chapter," Amos emphasized. "And that is all we're saying today."
- Released
- 2027
- Developer(s)
- Crystal Dynamics
- Publisher(s)
- Amazon Games
- Franchise
- Tomb Raider
- Number of Players
- Single-player
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Action
