A new ‘Tomb Raider’ game is coming, made in Unreal Engine 5

At the end of yesterday’s (April 5) Unreal Engine 5 presentation from Epic Games, developer Crystal Dynamics announced it was starting work on the next instalment of the Tomb Raider series.

Franchise general manager for Tomb Raider, Dallas Dickinson, explained that the team is proud to be a part of the launch of Unreal Engine 5, saying:

“This new engine translates into next-level storytelling and gameplay experiences, and that’s why we’re thrilled to announce today that we’ve just started development of our next Tomb Raider game, powered by Unreal Engine 5.”

“Our goal is to push the envelope of fidelity and to deliver the high-quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve from both Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider franchise. We can’t wait to take this journey together.”

The developer was behind the most recent Marvel’s Avengers title, which got a pretty big patch at the end of March. This new Tomb Raider is in very early stages, it seems, with a huge amount of jobs available for applicants on the Crystal Dynamics website, from production to enemy design and animation director roles all listed.

Most of the preferred requirements section for these jobs does include “experience working in Unreal Engine”. It’s also worth noting that the last of the rebooted trilogy of Tomb Raider titles wasn’t actually lead by Crystal Dynamics, instead it was developed by Eidos-Montreal, and wasn’t as well received.

Dickinson is also reportedly head of a studio that was formed in 2021, dubbed Crystal Southwest, which IGN reported in May would be “a major part of all current and future Crystal Dynamics titles”. It’s unclear if Dickinson’s role has changed, or there’s some overlap.

Crystal Dynamics is a very busy developer at the moment, as the studio is also working on the next Perfect Dark title, although is not the primary developer and is instead helping out The Initiative (a subsidiary Xbox Game Studio).

The Epic Games Presentation also included the announcement that Unreal Engine 5 is available now, and includes assets from The Matrix Awakens to help people start making games.

In other news Life Is Strange: True Colors is coming to Xbox Game Pass, and Microsoft has also announced the first raft of titles for April that will be joining it.