Next Tomb Raider in development, built with Unreal Engine 5

Crystal Dynamics announced that the next game in the Tomb Raider series is in development and that it’s being built in Unreal Engine 5.

The announcement took place during Epic Games’ recent State of Unreal presentation, which also unveiled that Unreal Engine 5 is now out of early access. During the presentation, Tomb Raider franchise general manager Dallas Dickinson announced that Crystal Dynamics has “just started” developing the next Tomb Raider game “powered by Unreal Engine 5.”

“Our goal is to push the envelope of fidelity and to deliver the high-quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve from both Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider franchise,” Dickinson said.

This marks the first time that a Tomb Raider game will be developed in Unreal Engine. The most recent Tomb Raider games have all been developed in Crystal Dynamics’ Foundation Engine. The last Tomb Raider game, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, was developed by Eidos-Montréal and launched in 2018 and then again in 2021 as part of a definitive edition trilogy collection. The last Tomb Raider game Crystal Dynamics developed was 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider. Since then, Crystal Dynamics launched the Marvel’s Avengers in 2020 to mixed reception.

This marks the second high-profile developer to move away from its own proprietary engine and adopt Unreal Engine 5 within the last few weeks. The other is CD Projekt Red, who announced that it’s developing the next Witcher game in Unreal Engine 5 instead of its own REDengine.