Summary
- Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered pays homage to Core Design with a grave on Chronicles' main menu.
- Core Design created Tomb Raider in 1996 and, following its huge success, released five sequels in just seven years.
- However, it closed its doors 20 years later amid the poor reception to Angel of Darkness.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered brings the last three Core Design games to modern hardware, and to pay homage to the developer who started it all in 1996, Aspyr hid a little Easter egg on the nꦬew Chronicles main menu.
As pointed out by u/MSPTurbo on the series' sub💎reddit, you can see a grave in the background marked "Core Design 1998 - 2006", just b෴ehind Lara Croft's parents. Wait long enough, and the main menu will even cut to a close-up.
Why Did Core Design Close Down?
Core Design, the Derby-based studio founded by several former Gremlin Graphics devs, began work on Tomb Raider in 1994. When it released two years later, it was a huge hit both critically and commercially, selling over seven million copies. This ambitious, globe-trotting affair inspired by Indiana Jones, in which a British heroine fends off dinosaurs and even Atlantean monsters, helped put Core Design and publisher Eidos Interactive on the map.
Unsurprisingly then, five sequels were released in just seven years. But this ambitioꦺn, coupled with the advent of the next generation of consoles, proved too much for one studio to bear. And so, Core Design was split in two. One team, comprised of series veterans, worked on Chronicles, while a more fresh-faced team led the charge on Angel of Darkness.
Marking the beginning of a new trilogy for a new generation, Angel of Darkness had a lot of bold ideas, spurred on by other popular series of its era. It had more open areas that gave the series a slice of life akin to Shenmue, RPG-style dialogue with branching paths, and even 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Metal Gear Solid-inspired stealth. But with a tight deadline, several delays, crunch, "no ෴leadership" (), and poised at management — release this before 2003 "or everyone gets screw🍰ed" — Core Design's first step onto the PS2 would also be its last.
Square Enix acquired Eidos in 2009, but 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:sold it and Crystal Dynamics in 2022.
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Angel of Darkness killed Core Design, but not immediately. Managing director and co-founder Jeremy Heath-Smith left to form Circle Studio after Eidos handed control of Tomb Raider over to another one of its studios, Crystal Dynamics. Most of Core Design followed Heath-Smith, which left the team "floundering around ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwith a handful of people trying to get a project off ♉the ground". The few who were left pitched a remake of the first Tomb Raider for PSP, but it unfortunately led nowhere.
Just a year later, in 2006, Rebellion Developments stripped Core Design for parts, leaving its IP — namely Tomb Raider — with Eidos. To this♉ day, Crystal Dynamics is still in charge of the series.
Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered
- Developer(s)
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crystal Dynamics
- Publisher(s)
- Aspyr
- Franchise
- 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tomb Raider
