THE HISTORY OF LARA CROFT AND THE SCION AHEAD OF TOMB RAIDER REIMAGINING

[ 12 May 2026 ]

Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis, an upcoming video game developed by Flying Wild Hog in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics, is based on the original Tomb Raider video game and is a reimagining of that title. It is scheduled for release in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and follows the story of British adventurer Lara Croft. The following summary provides an account of the narrative from the original 1996 game.

Lara Croft is a British archaeologist and adventurer who was raised in an aristocratic family headed by Lord Henshingly Croft. After surviving a plane crash in the Himalayas during her youth, she chose a life of independent travel and exploration rather than remaining within upper-class British society. Living at Croft Manor in Surrey, Lara finances her expeditions through commissioned archaeological work and by writing travel books.

In the original 1996 Tomb Raider, she is hired by businesswoman Jacqueline Natla to locate the Scion, an ancient Atlantean artefact divided into three pieces. Lara begins the search in the Peruvian Andes, where she enters the tomb of Qualopec near Vilcabamba and retrieves the first section of the Scion before being confronted by Natla's associate Larson, who reveals that rival treasure hunter Pierre DuPont has been sent to recover the remaining pieces.

Lara investigates Natla Technologies and discovers records describing Atlantis and the three rulers who once controlled the Scion. Her search leads her to St. Francis' Folly, a monastery in Greece built above the tomb of the Atlantean ruler Tihocan. After several encounters with Pierre DuPont, Lara reaches Tihocan's tomb, kills Pierre, and recovers the second piece of the Scion. Murals inside the tomb describe how Atlantis was destroyed by a catastrophe and explain that Tihocan and Qualopec imprisoned a third ruler after experiments involving the Scion created mutant creatures. When Lara combines the two recovered pieces, she experiences a vision revealing that the final section was hidden in Egypt.

Travelling to Egypt, Lara explores the lost city of Khamoon and the surrounding tombs in search of the third piece. After killing Larson, she recovers the final section of the Scion, but is immediately ambushed by Jacqueline Natla and her henchmen, who seize the completed artefact. Lara escapes and secretly boards Natla's yacht, which travels to an uncharted island containing an Atlantean pyramid. Inside the pyramid, Lara discovers that Natla herself was the third Atlantean ruler shown in the vision. Natla explains that she intends to use the Scion to direct human evolution and create a new civilisation. Lara destroys the artefact, fights through the collapsing pyramid, defeats Natla, and escapes the island before it explodes.

Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis