‘Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered’ has added an ethical and racial content warning.
The PlayStation adventure franchise, which is developed by Crystal Dynamics and initially launched in 2001, releases today (14.02.24) bringing an updated experience to the classic games. However, it has been revealed that the title begins with a content warning that states the three games include “offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices."
The full statement reads: "The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable, and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics.
"Rather than removing this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form, unaltered, in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it.”
Although Crystal Dynamics does not specify which sections of the games include insensitive portrayals of cultures, one likely contender would be the depiction of the South Pacific tribesmen in ‘Tomb Raider 3’, who are implied to be cannibals, shoot poisonous arrow darts at Lara Croft and make animalistic sounds.
‘Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered’ is available on PC via Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S and the Nintendo Switch.