For those who are too young to have realized, but the Tomb Raider games you guys are playing these days is actually a reboot of the franchise. The first ever Tomb Raider title, which by the way plays very differently from today’s version, was released 20 years ago back in 1996. To celebrate the game’s 20th anniversary, a short film titled “Tomb Raider: The Trilogy” has since been released.
If you’re watching the video above and wonder why on earth does it look so old, it is because it is old. Apparently this movie was made and was originally pegged for a release in 1998, but for some reason or the other it was never released. The film’s producer Janey de Nordwall recently came across the old tapes and decided to hand them over to Square Enix who then decided to put it on YouTube.
According to the description, “Produced in 1998 by Silver Films for the Tomb Raider III launch party, The Trilogy was never screened outside the event at the Natural History Museum in London that evening. Thanks to Producer Janey de Nordwall, who recently found the original digibeta tape, we’re able to share the short online in its original quality for the first time.”
It also adds, “Tomb Raider: The Trilogy captured the spirit of the Tomb Raider phenomenon and impact of Lara Croft in the late 90s, wrapped up in a detective-noir setting.” Now for all we know it could be that the movie studios and developers are gauging how people might react to a new Tomb Raider film, which last we heard had Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley as a possible candidate for the lead role, but either way if you about 10 minutes to spare, you might want to check it out.