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For over a decade, Tomb Raider and Uncharted have slugged it out for the affection of gamers but how did things start and what is the future for both series?
Even the greatest rivalries can take years to develop and when Tomb Raider was released (initially only on the Sega Saturn) in 1996, there was no hint that it would end up as one half of a double act. Even so, it’s difficult to overstate the impact it made on a previously unsuspecting game-playing public. It may seem incredible now, but it was the first successful action adventure game to feature a female protagonist. And what a protagonist: Lara Croft was blue-blooded, seductive, totally kickass, and able to wield a gun in each hand while pulling off gymnastic moves.
By the time Tomb Raider 2 was released in 1997, Lara Croft had appeared on the cover of The Face and been the subject of a feature in The Economist. She was also famously co-opted into Tony Blair’s Cool Britannia circus. Ian Livingstone, at that time CEO of original Tomb Raider publisher Eidos Interactive, later told me the company had only pressed 100,000 copies of the first Tomb Raider at launch and ended up selling 5 million.
Eidos was not slow to capitalise on its hit: Tomb Raider 3 followed in 1998 and Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation in 1999. The series became associated with the parallel success of the original PlayStation, with Eidos negotiating a console exclusivity clause with Sony that made Lara Croft a de facto console mascot.
But Eidos’s eagerness to milk its cash cow – and the aforementioned affinity with the PlayStation – nearly bred disaster. Things went pear-shaped when original developer Core Design’s failed to get to grips with the complexities of programming for the PlayStation 2 (launched in 2000), which led to the disastrous release of Tomb Raider: Angel Of Darkness – originally slated for a 2002 release but delayed until 2003.
Angel Of Darkness was a hot mess – not only was it hopelessly buggy (then Sony Europe boss Chris Deering subsequently told me that had it not been a Tomb Raider game he would never have allowed it to be certified for release) but its attempt to redefine the well-worn Tomb Raider format, placing Lara in a near-empty Paris that was supposed to function as a sort of world hub, fell hopelessly flat.
Tomb Raider survived the disaster that was Angel Of Darkness, but Core Design did not. Eidos subsequently entrusted development duties to San Francisco-based Crystal Dynamics and one of the games industry’s first successful franchise reboots was the result. Crystal Dynamics’ first effort, 2006’s Tomb Raider Legend, got things back on track in fine style and Lara was reborn, with a less anatomically infeasible figure and a generally more realistic tone.
And at that point, one of the games industry’s great rivalries was born. In 2007, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune was released to the world. One of the first major first party releases for the PlayStation 3, it was published by Sony and developed by Naughty Dog, who were then best known for Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter.
In Nathan Drake, it may have had a male protagonist, but Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune had more than a mere whiff of Tomb Raider about it – to the point where some nicknamed it Dude Raider. Third person action adventure gameplay involving gunplay, platforming, and puzzle-solving with an Indiana Jones style archaeological bent? Check. Exotic locations? Check. Rock-climbing? Of course.
Playing Drake’s Fortune felt like playing a Tomb Raider game, albeit with the best production values a mid-2000s video game could muster. There was also a strong cast of supporting characters, who were interesting and complex (Lara’s cohorts are rarely anything less than annoying) and some equally involving storylines. Indeed, story-wise, Drake’s Fortune had much more to offer than any previous Tomb Raider game and in graphical terms it felt more state-of-the-art.
Lara’s fierce fanbase would counter that it lacked Tomb Raider’s more complex platforming and puzzles, while also accusing Uncharted of copyism: Tomb Raider, of course, was already a decade old as a franchise, before the first Uncharted was released.
Discerning gamers, with no particular bias, would contend that two quality action adventure franchises, however similar, were surely better than just one. And for the next decade the rivalry raged in the best possible way for gamers: with a steady stream of great games.
In 2007 Tomb Raider: Anniversary – a well-received remake of the original Tomb Raider – went up against Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. It was swiftly followed by Tomb Raider Underworld in 2008, the final game in Crystal Dynamics’ initial trilogy of titles.
Naughty Dog hit back with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves in 2009, which was showered with both critical praise and a hatful of awards. Still considered by many to be the best in the series, it was the point at which Uncharted became one of Sony’s most important new franchises and Naughty Dog was recognised for their storytelling and character work, as much as for their gameplay and graphics.
We then had to wait until 2011 for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, which was very good, even if it never eclipsed its predecessor. But Tomb Raider wasn’t done yet: 2013’s gritty reboot, simply entitled Tomb Raider, sparked a new trilogy which clearly borrowed some elements from Uncharted. Most notable was a new-found ability to drop into first person mode and free aim bows and guns, plus a multiplayer element – as seen in Uncharted 2.
The Tomb Raider reboot’s depiction of a young Lara’s origin story breathed a new lease of life into the legendary franchise and Crystal Dynamics, unsurprisingly, capitalised on it. Next up in the new trilogy was 2015’s Rise Of The Tomb Raider and then in 2016 Naughty Dog released the last mainline entry in the Uncharted series and the first not to involve co-creator Amy Hennig.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End had a slightly more serious tone, and no supernatural elements, and was followed up by half-sequel Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, in which players controlled the female character Chloe Frazer, making it the most Tomb Raider-like Uncharted game of all.
Crystal Dynamics’ second trilogy, begun in 2013, was concluded in 2018 with Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, which again garnered critical praise, and sold well, although not spectacularly.
And then… nothing. Since 2018, both franchises have been dormant and their hugely enjoyable rivalry, lasting over a decade, has evaporated. Will we see either franchise resurrected? Currently, it’s hard to say, and there are worrying reasons why.
As far as Tomb Raider is concerned, its most recent publisher, Square Enix (which subsumed Eidos in 2009) sold Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider intellectual property to Embracer Group in 2022. 2024 was an annus horribilis for Embracer Group; after an overoptimistic bout of expansion, it was forced to restructure and laid off more than 4,500 employees. Tomb Raider’s future has been assured but still nothing has been shown of the game and fans are understandably worried.
Meanwhile, Uncharted 4 was a very purposeful ending for the franchise, at least as far as protagonist Nathan Drake Is concerned. Naughty Dog has made it very clear they’re not returning to the series but, especially after the release of the live action movie, there’s been persistent rumours of Sony getting a different developer to work on a new entry.
However, away from video games, both franchises continue to exert major cultural influence. The rivalry between the two moved into a new arena in 2022, when an Uncharted film was released, starring Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and Mark Wahlberg as Sully. A sequel is already underway.
Tomb Raider, of course, has existed in the movie space since 2001’s Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, in which Angelie Jolie portrayed Lara, returning for a sequel in 2003, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life. More recently, Alicia Vikander took over celluloid Lara duties in 2018’s Tomb Raider.
Head to Netflix and you’ll find a newly released anime series entitled Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft and Phoebe Waller-Bridge is reportedly working on a new live action Tomb Raider series for Amazon Prime, possibly involving Sophie Turner in the lead role.
While both franchises live on via TV and film there almost certainly will be new entries in both series within the next couple of years. In fact, given the timings involved there’s a good chance they’ll come out at roughly the same time, opening up a new era in their mutually beneficial rivalry.
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