The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997-2000

By Daryl Baxter

Tomb Raider development in the late 1990s follows new leadership, canceled ideas, and pressures from an exhausting release schedule. The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997-2000 tells the untold story of a pivotal period about one of the most successful videogame series of all time, as a new development team at Core Design took charge of Tomb Raider in 1997. Picking up where 2021's The Making of Tomb Raider left off, this second volume covers Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, the expansion packs that were exclusive to PC at the time, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, as well as the first Game Boy title, following the departure of the original creators who moved on to work on a completely different title within the company. Based on original interviews with the Core Design team and others, along with exclusive images during this time, the book explores how the annual release schedule began to take its toll on the team, while revealing scrapped ideas such as a multiplayer mode, cut levels, and a fourth expansion pack that never came to be. The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997-2000 offers a candid look at the struggles of maintaining a global franchise at its peak, charting the creation of several blockbuster titles and revealing how the series' own success almost brought many in the team to breaking point.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1036114031
• ISBN13: 9781036114039
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: White Owl