Returning to their Croft
The next entry in theTomb Raiderseries is on the way, and it’ll be built in Epic’s engine. Crystal Dynamics confirms that it’s working on the nextTomb Raiderin Unreal Engine 5.
The news arrived during today’s State of Unreal presentation, where Epic launched UE5 to the public. The engine is now available to use, alongside some extra tools like the Lyra Starter Game and a city sample fromThe Matrix AwakensUnreal demo from late last year.
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#tombraidergame is being built on Unreal Engine 5!pic.twitter.com/UFMiWzJAZc
— Tomb Raider (@tombraider)June 02, 2025
Legacy of theTomb Raider
No details were announced yet on where this journey will go or how it links in to previousTomb Raidergames. Crystal Dynamics helmed the first two reboot games, starting with 2013’sTomb Raiderand thenRise of the Tomb Raider.Eidos-Montréal, meanwhile, took up 2018’sShadow of the Tomb Raider.
Things have been quiet for Lara since then, as Crystal Dynamics went to work onMarvel’s Avengersand Eidos-Montréal went toGuardians of the Galaxy. Now, it looks like CD is back on theTomb Raiderfranchise, and I’m interested to see where they take the character from here.
It’ll be some added work, as Crystal Dynamics is also collaborating on thePerfect Darkreboot with The Initiative. That’s another project we’ve yet to see much of, outside of the initial announcement. It’s unclear when we’ll see either Joanna Dark or Lara Croft back on the screen again.
With all that, I’m happy to seeTomb Raidergames back in development. I was a fan of reboot trilogy, and would definitely like to see where Crystal Dynamics could go. TheMatrixdemo was pretty impressive too, andTomb Raidergames have usually been good showpieces for tech and visuals.
The newTomb Raideris also now one of several projects in development on Unreal, including the nextWitchergame from CD Projekt Red. Today, Epic confirmed over 85 studios are working on UE5, including those two and The Coalition. Seems like Unreal is off to a running start with the new engine.
