Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Includes Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Warning From Crystal Dynamics [IGN]

Crystal Dynamics has added a content warning to Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered flagging what it described as racial and ethnic stereotypes.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered includes new versions of the first three Tomb Raider games, developed by defunct UK studio Core Design in the mid-to-late ‘90s to massive sales success.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, out this week on modern consoles and PC, includes a message from current Tomb Raider custodian Crystal Dynamics that warns against some of the content in the games and explains why the developer chose to leave it in.

Here is the message in full:

“The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable, and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics.

“Rather than removing this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form, unaltered, in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it.”

While Crystal Dynamics failed to specify which parts of the games sparked the content warning, it may be related to the depiction of South Pacific islanders in Tomb Raider 3. These tribesmen, who are implied to be cannibals, wield pointed axes and shoot poison darts from blowguns as they battle against Lara Croft, issuing animal-like death cries as they are defeated.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered includes visually updated versions of Tomb Raider and The Unfinished Business Expansion, Tomb Raider 2 and The Gold Mask Expansion, and Tomb Raider 3 and The Lost Artifact Expansion. It comes out February 13 across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered is developed by Aspyr, which earlier this month confirmed to IGN that the collection does not feature a platinum trophy on PlayStation 5, but does on PlayStation 4.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.