Tomb Raider reveal confirmed for The Game Awards as devs tease return of iconic dual-pistol Lara Croft: "Did you miss her?"

It's been more than seven years since Shadow of the Tomb Raider put a bow on Lara Croft's big reboot trilogy, and since then, series fans have been desperate for even a morsel of information on what's coming next. Now, finally, it seems relief is in sight, as a big Tomb Raider reveal has been teased for The Game Awards later this week.

"Did you miss her?" the official Tomb Raider account asks on Twitter. "She missed you." The message encourages you to tune into the annual TGA showcase on December 11 "for a look at the future of one of gaming's most iconic franchises." The news was initially revealed in Fortnite, as part of a TGA-branded island built for players to vote on their favorite fanmade creations in the battle royale hub.

The teaser includes an image showing a silhouette of Lara Croft posing proudly with the old-school dual pistols that helped define her appearance in the original 1996 game. If you squint just hard enough, you can just about make out pouches and holster straps around her legs that hint at the old costume, too.

It's possible that this reveal is tied to some non-gaming multimedia project, like maybe the upcoming Prime Video series, but I'm inclined to believe it's going to be our first look at the new Tomb Raider game Crystal Dynamics first announced way back in 2022. You don't tease "future of one of gaming's most iconic franchises" without knowing that fans are going to expect a video game reveal.

The most telling bit is the new-look Lara. As far back as 2021, Crystal Dynamics was talking about its intent to "unify" the old-school Tomb Raider timeline with the modern Survivor trilogy, and we've occasionally seen new versions of the character blending '90s camp costuming with a more realistic appearance for the character herself. The idea of a "unified" Lara Croft design has grown powerful in the minds of fans, and this new teaser certainly seems to suggest something along those lines.

For now, we have only two concrete bits of information on the new Tomb Raider game: it's being developed in Unreal Engine 5, and it's going to be published by Amazon Games. For a couple of years now, it's seemed that Crystal Dynamics only emerges from its silence to announce another round of layoffs before going quiet once again. Here's hoping this reveal at The Game Awards turns out to be a little more unequivocally positive.

These are the best Tomb Raider games ever made.