Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot was itself rebooted several times

Tomb Raider, Crystal Dynamics' just-released reboot of the action game series, was itself rebooted multiple times during development, according to The Final Hours of Tomb Raider by Geoff Keighley.

"There have only been two things that have stayed the same throughout his entire project," said Karl Stewart, Crystal Dynamics' global brand director. "One, it's set on an island, and two, it's called Tomb Raider."

The developers began debating what kinds of changes would constitute a reboot in 2009, questioning everything from gun mechanics to heroine Lara Croft's historically shapely figure. The team's first shipped experiment after their rethinking was 2010's Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The Tomb Raider moniker didn't appear on the game because Crystal Dynamics was saving it for what would become Tomb Raider.

You can find out more about the game's development — including influences like Shadow of the Colossus and an abandoned fighting sequence reminiscent of God of War — in The Final Hours of Tomb Raider. The ebook is available now for $2.99 as an iPad app and is expected to be released on Steam in the next few days. For more on how Lara Croft fared in the reboot, be sure to check out our review.