Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Features Content Warning About ‘Offensive Depictions’

Today is Valentine's Day and on this day we welcome the remaster of the first three tomb Raider games with open arms. Although the new version beefs up these classics with modern visuals, it still retains some things that could be problematic.

Crystal Dynamics recognizes stereotypes

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered – developed in collaboration with Aspyr – is an opportunity to replay Lara Croft's previous adventures, only with a slight improvement in visuals and tweaks to the mechanics. However, as pointed out IGNgames start by offering a warning about some of the content they contain.

The opening message states that the collection features “offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudice.” Even if Crystal Dynamics recognizes that such representations are “deeply harmful” and “inexcusable”, the studio wanted to keep them for this new edition.

The warning goes on to say that instead of removing potentially offensive content, the company has chosen to “present it here in its original, unchanged form, in the hope that we can recognize and learn from its harmful impact.” .

The IGN report states that it's not entirely clear which parts of the Tomb Raider remaster the content warning is referring to. However, it is likely that this points to the depiction of tribesmen, who are “implicitly cannibalistic”, in which they “wield sharp axes and shoot poisoned darts from blowguns”.

In addition to a shine on the original games, Tomb Raider I-III also comes with official expansion packs and secret levels. It is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PC and previous generation consoles. It's also currently 20% off Steambut only for the next few hours.