Tomb Raider developers Crystal Dynamics announced that new reboot writer Rhianna Pratchett will be moving on from the now two-game series.
“Rhianna was instrumental in helping us find Lara’s voice in the 2013 origin story,” writes Crystal Dynamics. “And through Rise of the Tomb Raider she shaped Lara into the evolving heroine we know today. The entire team thanks Rhianna for her dedication and tireless efforts on the games.”
Pratchett took to twitter to express her own heartfelt thanks with the amicable split.
So, I’m packing up my climbing axe plus a little venison jerky for the road, and bidding a fond farewell to Lara. Onwards to new adventures!
— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) January 3, 2017
But, I like to think we did some good things. Maybe shifted the gaming landscape a wee bit. And that feels damn good.
— Rhianna Pratchett (@rhipratchett) January 3, 2017
The recently rebooted series have received very favorable reviews. One of gaming’s most famous characters was re-imagined as a more realistic and gritty action heroine rather than a blow-up doll with guns. The sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, continued the same superior writing and gameplay. It was released as an Xbox exclusive in 2015 before coming to PlayStation 4 and Windows PC in 2016.
For her work on Rise of the Tomb Raider, Pratchett won Outstanding Achievement in Videogame Writing from the Writer’s Guild of America Awards in 2016.
While her work on Tomb Raider has been her biggest yet, Pratchett has been quietly working as a writer in the video game industry for far longer than that. Her writing credits include Prince of Persia, Mirror’s Edge, and the Overlord series.
