THEZEPHEROUS ARCHIVE

On This Day Video Games

Tomb Raider. Thirty years of adventure.

Lara’s first adventure, the Lost Valley, and the small design decisions that helped create a lasting silhouette.

The anniversary film · 35 seconds. The story is also available in the slides and text below.

The Anniversary Film

Return to the Lost Valley.

October 25 is Tomb Raider’s official franchise anniversary. Our thirtieth-anniversary feature returns to Core Design and Eidos Interactive’s original 1996 adventure.

From a T. rex in the Lost Valley to Shelley Blond’s performance as Lara, these five slides revisit the game’s world, its voice and its original in-game model.

The Photo Essay

Five frames from Lara’s first adventure.

A silhouette shaped by the hardware.

The original in-game Lara used 250 polygons. Her bun helped keep the model within its polygon limit, while higher-detail promotional artwork could show a braid. The third slide uses a gameplay crop to make that distinction visible.

The performance behind the adventurer.

Shelley Blond voiced Lara in the original 1996 game. Paired with the Lost Valley’s ruins and sudden T. rex encounter, that performance belongs to the history of this first adventure.

This feature follows the official October 25 commemorative date; it does not assign one simultaneous launch day to every platform and region.

Wanted for the Archive

The Saturn original.

An original boxed Sega Saturn Tomb Raider, preserving the game together with its manual and physical packaging.

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