The June 2026 State of Play showcase gave us a closer look at the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, which serves as a (second) remake of the original 1996 Tomb Raider. As I watched Lara Croft flip, grapple, and swing her way through the release date trailer, one thought kept resurfacing in my mind: “Lara looks great.” But further investigation is starting to make me wonder if I’m the only person who thinks so.
The State of Play livestream wasn’t the first time players have laid eyes on the new Lara–that happened back in December, when Crystal Dynamics debuted the game’s first trailer at The Game Awards. The response to Lara’s appearance was instant, with players and game critics alike calling out her new appearance as “anti-woke” and “yassified.” One Redditor even described her outfit as “giving sex doll [vibes].” I chalked most of that up to different strokes for different folks, and figured people would adjust to Lara’s new look–which is far tamer than her original 1996 look, but somewhat similar to her look in the 2013 reboot trilogy–over time.
But the response to the new trailer proved me wrong. Players are still referring to Lara’s new look as “yassified” and complaining that her arms aren’t muscular enough. Generally speaking, the main complaints seem to be that she wears eyeliner and has a curvy body. (Though of course, there are those on the other side of the spectrum arguing that her breasts are too small.) Even fictional women can’t win in the court of public opinion, it seems. But all the hubbub over the last six months regarding Lara’s appearance–especially claims that she’s too thin, too thick, or wearing too much makeup–genuinely have me wondering if we’re looking at the same character model here.
What these complaints really seem to boil down to is that Lara is too feminine. She’s wearing eyeliner in the jungle! She has a curvy frame! The horror!
Surely I’m not the only Tomb Raider fan who’s aware that Lara is not only canonically female, but also canonically a femme fatale. Her allure is a vital part of her character. The artists behind her Legacy of Atlantis design honestly could have gone a little harder in terms of making her “look sexy” and still gotten away with it. They didn’t, and I’m glad, because Lara’s sex appeal has always been a part of both her appearance and her personality. But the point remains: Physical attractiveness has always been a weapon in Lara’s arsenal, and trying to strip that out of a remake of the original game is both bizarre and, frankly, offensive.
When I first stepped into Lara Croft’s boots in the 1990s, she was rocking eyeliner and dark lipstick (the latter being a remnant of ’90s fashion that has since fallen out of favor, hence her natural lip color in recent installments). Her hip-to-waist ratio was the kind you will never find in nature, and she was sporting giant, horrifying polygon-boobs. Every ad for the game made it clear that Lara’s design was meant to titillate men first and foremost.
And you know what? I loved her anyway. At that point, I was just excited to have a game where playing as a female character was even an option. I’ve raised my standards in the decades since then, and would be eye-rolling with the rest of you if Legacy-Lara had comically huge breasts and an impossibly tiny waist. But she doesn’t. She has a traditionally attractive face and body–not an unnatural, unattainable one. Her shorts aren’t any shorter than they were back in ’96, her tank top is plenty modest, her footwear is practical, and no jiggle physics are at play. If Lara’s “too sexy” in this trailer, then I’m “too sexy” on my average camping trip.
This version of Lara is actually wearing less blush and eyeliner than she was in 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and I don’t remember hearing nearly as many complaints about her being overly attractive back then. In fact, the main complaint at the time was that she was too muscular and “manly.” Legacy-Lara has thick eyelashes, but thick eyelashes are “in” right now, and just like her dark lipstick in the ’90s, this seems to be a nod to current beauty trends rather than an attempt to up her sex appeal. Honestly, the back-and-forth battle over Lara Croft’s body has been raging since the minute she debuted.
Outside of the games, the Tomb Raider franchise has occasionally toyed with giving Lara a more masculine look. The most striking example is the Netflix animated series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, which depicted Lara with thick, defined biceps, a far less curvy waist, and a broader, flatter chest. I didn’t enjoy the show much, largely due to the fact that Lara looked and acted nothing like herself. An entire facet of her personality–her talent for weaponizing her allure–was simply erased in an effort to make her seem physically and emotionally “tough,” as if she wasn’t both of those things already. I’m extremely happy to see that Crystal Dynamics didn’t go in that direction for Legacy of Atlantis, just like I’m happy to see that they didn’t over-sexualize her.
Don’t get me wrong–gender-non-conforming characters (especially female ones) deserve their place in fiction. The extremely positive player reaction to characters like Karlach in Baldur’s Gate 3 prove that there’s plenty of love to go around for masculine female characters. Yes, the gaming industry should make room for these characters in their games’ narratives, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of turning a beloved feminine character from a long-running franchise into someone nobody recognizes, and it’s starting to feel like that’s ultimately what some players want from Legacy of Atlantis. That’s pretty ironic. I struggle to imagine anything less feminist than the implication that a female character needs her feminine traits sanded away to be seen as capable or believable.
The fact is, girly girls exist, and that’s perfectly okay. Lara has always been both a girly girl and a total badass regardless of whether she’s appearing in a gritty reboot or a more lighthearted remake, and her willingness to embrace her femininity is a huge part of why I love her. If I were the one swinging from grappling hooks and exploring secret ruins, you can bet your ass I’d be doing it in eyeliner, too. It’s just who I am, and it’s who Lara has always been. Sometimes eyeliner is eyeliner, but sometimes it’s war paint.
Of course, as I write this, the usual suspects are taking to social media to complain that Lara’s new look is actually not feminine enough. Her breasts are too small! She looks too much like a human woman! The horror!
Like I said, even fictional women can’t win. But Lara’s look in Legacy of Atlantis isn’t hurting anyone, and while she is quite pretty, nothing about her beauty feels unrealistic, hypersexualized, or over-the-top to me.
Honestly, the only aspect of Legacy-Lara’s appearance that’s really worth being mad about is the fact that it was possibly generated by AI.
