Tickling Posters Removed From Tomb Raider, Players Revolt

The remastered trilogy of the first three parts of the now legendary Tomb Raider series was released on Valentine’s Day this year and was warmly received by gamers and critics alike. The developers approached the original with respect and, apart from the improved graphics, practically did not interfere with it, although a lot has changed in the quarter of a century since its release.

Due to the rather stereotypical depiction of the indigenous black people of Africa as primitive cannibals, a warning message has been added before the main menu for safety, in which the studio Crystal Dynamics warns sensitive players in advance that they may witness potentially objectionable content. Even then, many people were angry that the developers were excessively politically correct and unnecessarily giving way to current social trends, but they didn’t know that it didn’t end there.

In the latest patch, the challenging posters of the main character, which can be found in the Sleeping with the Fishes level from the third part of the series, were removed without prior warning. Not that it’s some kind of erotica, in one of them Lara Croft is fully clothed, in the other she is undressed, but lying on her stomach, so no intimate detail can be seen anyway.

Why the studio took this step more than two months after release is a mystery, after all, this particular scene is still being boasted about in official promotional documents. In addition, it should be said that the change only applies to the remastered version, if you switch to the original at that moment, the posters will appear again. Still, some players are literally talking about castrating, mutilating or spitting on the legacy of the original games, calling for boycotts or at least refunds.

Unnecessary? It depends. Rather than the texture modification itself, which most players will just pass by without interest, the principle is important in this case. If it happens once, it can happen at any time and on a much larger scale. People buy remasters of old games mostly to reminisce about the original experiences, but it could happen that due to a number of modifications, they don’t even recognize the original game anymore. For example, China could object to the depiction of Tibet as a sovereign state, animal rights activists could challenge a ban on killing wolves, and archaeologists could challenge the image of a Tyrannosaurus rex from a now-legendary fight.

Tomb Raider could thus become a completely different game, and the players would not be able to do anything about it, because the license conditions, which they confirmed with their purchase, give them practically no control over the content.

Anyway, despite the very strong negative reaction of the gaming community, this “censorship” remains in the game. PC owners can at least download an unofficial patch that puts both posters back in place.