It is now official that a new Tomb Raider game is currently being developed in Unreal Engine 5. Its existence is however the only thing known about the new installment at the time of writing.
During a livestream to mark the full release of Unreal Engine 5 earlier today, franchise general manager Dallas Dickinson announced that developer Crystal Dynamics has begun working on a new Tomb Raider game. He also added that the new engine will ensure a next-generation cinematic action-adventure experience worthy of the Tomb Raider franchise.
Crystal Dynamics is incredibly excited about the future of Unreal and how it will help us take our storytelling to the next level. That's why we're proud to announce that our next #tombraider game is being built on Unreal Engine 5! pic.twitter.com/UFMiWzJAZc
— Tomb Raider (@tombraider) April 5, 2022
“This new engine translates into next-level storytelling and gameplay experiences and that’s why we are thrilled to announce today that we have just started development of our next Tomb Raider game powered by Unreal Engine 5,” said Dickinson.
“Our goal is to push the envelope of fidelity and to deliver the high-quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve both from Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider franchise.”
The new Tomb Raider game was technically confirmed to be on the drawing board of Crystal Dynamics last year. While highlighting plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Tomb Raider franchise throughout 2021, game director Will Kerslake shared that the next Tomb Raider will “unify” the timelines of both the original installments and the recently rebooted trilogy.
Crystal Dynamics has not explained how it plans to merge both timelines. That will be something the developer is likely to reveal once development reaches its first few milestones.
The original Tomb Raider trilogy was released between 1996 and 1998. The rebooted Tomb Raider trilogy landed between 2013 and 2018 with Shadow of the Tomb Raider being the most recent installment in the franchise.
