Developer Squashes Rape Rumors Linked to Rebooted Tomb Raider

After a number of reports coming out of E3 2012 suggested that the initial stages of the new Tomb Raider video game featured a near rape scene involving Lara Croft, the development team quickly sought to change the perception of gamers and clear up how the game would handle such sensitive issues.

Posting on the official website of the rebooted Tomb Raider, Darrell Gallagher, who is the leader of the Crystal Dynamics studio, stated, “We had a great E3 with Tomb Raider and received a fantastic public and press response, with the game picking up numerous game of the show awards based on the new direction taken with the franchise.

“Unfortunately we were not clear in a recent E3 press interview and things have been misunderstood. Before this gets out of hand, let me explain.”

Gallagher says that the aim of the scene the community was talking about was not to show Lara Croft in distress, but to show gamers how hard it is for a normal human being to kill another man for the first time, in dire circumstances.

He added, “In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind of categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.”

The new Tomb Raider is designed to reboot the entire series and it puts gamers in control of a more vulnerable Lara, who needs to quickly find her bearings and develop her abilities after a series of circumstances lets her marooned on an island with very limited resources.

The game will focus more on emotion than on straight up dungeon exploration and combat.

Tomb Raider will be launched on the PC, the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 on March 5, 2013.

Via: Developer Squashes Rape Rumors Linked to Rebooted Tomb Raider