Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was set in early 2003, and followed on from the events of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles. The Angel of Darkness was the last Tomb Raider title to be made by Core Design. However, enormous problems with development combined with lacklustre reviews made Eidos Interactive take the decision to withdraw the franchise from Core Design and grant the development rights to American-based Crystal Dynamics.
Improvements in technology meant that the developers could contemplate making Lara’s newest adventure more immersive, more complex, and more ambitious than ever before. Derby-based developers Core Design, who had nurtured Lara Croft from her inception in 1994/5, wanted to make her debut on the PlayStation 2 as spectacular as possible. Its two-and-a-half-year development and subsequent reception marked a crucial turning point for the Tomb Raider franchise. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was first released on the 20th June 2003.
Today, we celebrate the dark horse of the Tomb Raider franchise – the controversial but beloved Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness Welcome back to Survivor Reborn’s Retrospective series.
