Tomb Raider 30th anniversary wallpaper shows the evolution of an icon

Just when it seemed nothing could distract the world from GTA VI mania, Crystal Dynamics has come along to remind us that the next installment in another iconic game franchise is also coming soon. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be released in February, and in the meantime the developer has started celebrating the original game's 30th anniversary.

The original Tomb Raider was released for the Sega Saturn in Europe and Japan on 25 October, 1996. The North American release came a month later alongside the version for the original PlayStation. To commemorate the birth of an icon, Crystal Dynamics has released a series of Tomb Raider 30 wallpapers showing the evolution of Lara Croft over the ages.

The main Tomb Raider anniversary artwork fits eight incarnations of the intrepid archaeologist Lara Croft, from her original dual-pistol-wielding low-poly appearance to the more grounded and vulnerable Lara of Survivor and the new Lara Croft from Legacy of Atlantis, which is being developed with Flying Wild Hog, and Tomb Raider: Catalyst, which is coming further ahead in 2028.

Some fans will be disappointed by the apparent snub of Underworld Lara, but the pieces artwork captures well how Lara has evolved over the years, and how she's remained unmistakably Lara despite the changes to her appearance and character as technology has permitted developers to hone their vision.

The 1996 Lara design continues to provide the basis for the character today despite the ability to make her look more realistic. PlayStation 2-era Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld introduced smoother geometry and more expressive animation, while the Survivor trilogy pushed the detail and realism, with each leap adding more polygons, texture, as well as nuance to Lara's character.

Crystal Dynamics has also released a new illustration commissioned from artist Inna Vjuzhanina as part of the Tomb Raider anniversary celebrations. Available in multiple formats. The piece brings together Toby Gard and Core Design's Lara Croft from the 1996 debut, originally made of just a few hundred polygons, alongside the character design from the upcoming games developed in Unreal Engine 5.

She's not THIS old, but there's some cool Lara Croft pixel art too..

One of the aspects of Lara's appearance that's evolved most dramatically is her hair. In the first two games, it was made from big polygons, not we have precise strands made from overlapping semi-transparent texture that mimic real clumps of hair. Her skin too. Subsurface scattering makes skin look more real, in changing light while blend shapes can form thousands of natural-looking facial expressions.

3D printing a real model of Lara's body allowed developers to get real-world clothes tailor made, which could then be scanned to bring into the games.

You can download the anniversary artwork and wallpapers from Crystal Dynamics via Flickr.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis will be released on 12 February, 2027. Pre-orders are live now on the PlayStation Store and via Steam and Xbox.

Also check out the Tomb Raider gear store for anniversary merchandise, from glasses to swimwear.

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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.