It took ages for Crystal Dynamics to settle on a body and face model for iconic Lara Croft in their franchise reboot of the Tomb Raider series. Readers of Tomb Raider: The Final Hours Digital Book (available on Steam) will remember the time and effort it took to get her just right, with a body and a face that is both curvaceous, yet realistic.
Well, now they’ve done it again.
For the upcoming, updated PlayStation 4 port, The Definitive Edition, Lara has undergone a few more new changes.
As you can see in the recent trailer they released on announcing the port, you might have noticed that there have been a few changes to the hero’s face – notably, a slightly wider jawline and deeper-set, darker eyes.
The question is: why?
Scot Amose, executive producer had a few things to say about it:
“Our Sr. Art Director, Brian Horton, directed the exploration and development of the next-gen Lara as seen in Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition. We did start with the idea of updating just her skin or a few extra polygons, but as we started to learn more about the hardware and what was possible, we felt Lara deserved even more attention. So we had the same folks who built her for the initial PS3/X360 version dedicated to reworking her for the next-gen version. In the end… we’re excited about both this new step in upgrading Lara with her new TressFX hair, new sub-surface scattering on skin, and overall new look. But we’re never satisfied … meaning Brian and team are anxiously looking forward to feedback from everyone when they see her live on PS4/Xbox One in January as we listen to all feedback and will greedily take and reflect on your inputs for ways we could even improve her further in the future.”
All of this is aimed to add more realism to her appearance. As you can see in the video below, the TressFX hair physics were created specifically with Lara in mind. They will be used for other characters in the future, but the primary focus was for Lara in this game.
Just when we started getting used to the new face of the Tomb Raider franchise, they go and change it on us – in the same game, even! It’s worse than Doctor Who. Well, there might be new changes for her in the future, but Amos certainly isn’t telling:
“I’d say that Lara’s looks are just the start for what we will continue to evolve for all future iterations of Tomb Raider on next-gen.”
What do you think of Lara’s new face?
