It's hard to believe the amount of anniversaries that are due to be celebrated this year.
Crash Bandicoot, Sonic, Pokémon and Tomb Raider all have landmark years in 2021, with their developers holding the celebration cards close to their chests.
However, this week saw Crystal Dynamics, the present owner of Tomb Raider, announce through Twitter that they have been working on the 25th anniversary celebrations for Lara Croft.
With that, lets see what's been announced so far, and what's being planned.
A 25-Year Celebration from February
The timing of the announcement was slightly strange, with the tweet and video appearing at half-ten, UK time, so this was an announcement clearly for the American market.
In the video, the community managers and director of the franchise, spoke about how they were ready to celebrate the series, starting on February 1st, talking about a game from the series every month, with apparent surprises to come.
While they had nothing to announce in the way of a new game, they did confirm that a 'unification' of both theirs and previous games from the CORE Design days will be occurring, which has set off the thoughts of the community into an excited tail-spin.
February 1st, this coming Monday is where we will supposedly hear the start of the celebrations from Crystal Dynamics.
READ MORE: A leaked TR 10th Anniversary Edition has been released thanks to the community.
What could be coming?
It's fair to say that the social platforms of Tomb Raider has been lacking in recent years. It's only been in the last six months that we've finally seen them showcase the talented individuals of the community on Twitter and Facebook; from artistry to cosplays. But they could still do more, and even take some inspiration from other accounts, such as Fall Guys.
So it's nice that they've said upfront that the community will be celebrated here, with nostalgic touches. One wish would be to see the classic games on modern platforms.
While one can buy them on Steam, they can't be played on modern consoles or the Switch, and their mobile variants have been pulled due to low sales.
It would be great to see the classic titles, 'Angel of Darkness' especially to see a re-release, or a remaster. It's currently a huge-headache to get the game working on a PC, and its thanks to the TR community again, such as talented YouTuber 'Steve Of Warr' especially that has found a way to make it shine.
To have 'AoD' updated for modern systems would be welcome by many; this writer included. It looks like this method of talking about a game every month, is the game's best chance to resurface again, and be the classic that it was meant to be.
However, with their statement of 'unifying the timelines', one can't help but wonder if a new game is coming, set after the anime series, that bridges both timelines. An artefact that brings in Lara's from 'both' the universes, and then merges them, a 'Crisis on Infinite Earths' method perhaps?
But with Crystal seemingly talking about a certain game every month for the rest of 2021, one can't help but wonder what else is coming.
Perhaps previous voice actors of Lara Croft; Shelley Blond, Judith Gibbins, Keeley Hawes and etc will make an appearance soon?
Or perhaps we will see Crystal revive the '10th Anniversary Edition' fully thanks to the community from January?
Whatever the news, its welcoming that Crystal Dynamics clearly have huge plans for the franchise going forward, and Feb 1st looks to be a great start for the anniversary and the passionate community as a whole.
READ MORE: Fans are remaking the original Tomb Raider 2!
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Retro