Summary

  • The Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection comes with a warning denouncing some racially and ethnically prejudiced content from the original games.
  • The notice, written by Crystal Dynamics, does not specify which exact content it is referring to, although its wording implies it reflects on the South Pacific section of Tomb Raider 3.
  • That part of the 1998 game includes depictions of tribal people implied to be cannibals, which is a modern stereotype that at least one human rights organization has publicly denounced in the past.

The Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection comes with a warning that denounces some of the content from the original trilogy as "rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices." The bundle comprising the remasters of the original Tomb Raider trilogy releases February 14 for PC and the last two console generations.

The first three entries in the iconic action-adventure franchise were developed by the now-defunct British company Core Design, with the series then going through several developer switches that started and ended with Crystal Dynamics. And while the Embracer Group-owned studio is still the lead on the series, the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection was primarily developed by Aspyr Media, its sister company.

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Yet it is Crystal Dynamics and not Aspyr that is responsible for the newly emerged content warning, which was originally spotted by Tomb Raider Forums users on February 13. "The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people," the notice reads, adding that these renditions were influenced by ethnic and racial stereotypes that run contrary to Crystal Dynamics' values. Even so, the U.S. Studio said it decided to leave the offensive content in its original form in the hopes that its "harmful impact" could be acknowledged and used to inform modern sensibilities.

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The PS Store graphic for the Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered collection featuring three versions of Lara Croft.

Crystal Dynamics' Warning Possibly Refers to the South Pacific Section of Tomb Raider 3

The warning doesn't actually contain any examples of the content that the studio deemed offensive. But the fact that it references depictions of "people" does help narrow down the list of contentious levels by quite a bit, because the original Tomb Raider trilogy doesn't have that many human enemies or friendly characters to begin with. Excluding ethnically white and completely obscured human enemies from the equation leaves just two levels that Crystal Dynamics' warning could ostensibly be referring to: Coastal Village and Temple of Puna in Tomb Raider 3, both of which are part of the game's South Pacific section.

The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable, and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics. Rather than removing this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form, unaltered, in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it.

Namely, this segment of the 1998 game features several types of Tribesmen—equipped with spears, axes, and poison darts—that are implied to be cannibals. There is a long string of evidence suggesting such depictions are rooted in cultural stereotypes that tribal people find highly offensive. E.g., in 2011, human rights organization Survival International submitted a formal complaint with UK authorities over "ludicrous" media reports that a German tourist who went missing in Polynesia had been "eaten by cannibals." The filing argued that the media had painted an extremely offensive narrative that tribal people are "primitive savages." The complaint equated the act of implying contemporary tribal people practice cannibalism to "calling Germans today Nazis because of their past."

According to early player reports, the content warning appears just once after booting the collection of the Tomb Raider remasters for the first time. Seeing it again afterward is only possible by deleting one's save file.

Source: Survival International

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Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft Tag Page Cover Art
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft
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Released
February 14, 2024
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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Discover Lara Croft’s Original Adventures, Lovingly Restored

Play the Original Three Tomb Raider Adventures: For the first time ever, play the complete experience with all expansions and secret levels on modern platforms in this definitive collection.

Included Game Titles
Tomb Raider I + Unfinished Business
Tomb Raider II + Golden Mask
Tomb Raider III + The Lost Artifact

Solve Ancient Mysteries: Uncover treasures of the ancient world by solving puzzles and unraveling mysteries lost to the ravages of time.

Globe-trotting Adventure: Follow Lara Croft around the world and face off against deadly foes and dangerous myths.

Lovingly Restored: Experience the classics boasting upgraded graphics, with the option to switch to the original polygon look at any time.

ESRB
T For Teen // Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
Developer(s)
Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics
Publisher(s)
Aspyr
Franchise
Tomb Raider
Genre(s)
Action-Adventure