Guardian of Light - Development

Development

Guardian of Light is not part of the main Tomb Raider brand, instead it is intended to start a new series simply titled, "Lara Croft". Brand director Karl Stewart said, "When Underworld was finished, that was the end to the trilogy, and kind of the end of a whole era for us. We took a step back as a studio and spent a couple of months experimenting, trying to make a decision on how to go forward". Stewart also said that everyone who worked on Guardian of Light also worked on the previous three games (Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and Tomb Raider: Underworld). Guardian of Light uses the same game engine as Tomb Raider: Underworld and features real-time lighting effects, realistic shadows and "tons" of physics-based objects. Vegetation sways in the wind and react when the player walks through it. The environments have a "nice sense of scale".

The game's producer, Forest Large, said in a podcast that New Orleans was considered as a location; though due to time restraints, the location was ultimately decided to be set in Central America and elements from previous games, such as plants, were borrowed and modified for Guardian of Light. Crystal Dynamics stated on their Facebook page that development on Guardian of Light has not affected development on the next main installment and reboot of the franchise, titled Tomb Raider. Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light uses recycled musical cues from Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld by composers Troels Brun Folmann and Colin O'Malley.