Several images have been leaked from a planned remaster of Tomb Raider: Anniversary, showing a glimpse into the canceled project. The 2007 title was already a remake, tackling the beloved original 1996 title in a new game engine. Both Anniversary and the original Tomb Raider follow adventurer Lara Croft as she climbs, swings, and fights her way through historic locations around the world in search of the legendary Scion artifact of Atlantis.

According to a new leak, a remaster of Anniversary was in the works before ultimately being scrapped. Leaked images of a canceled Tomb Raider: Anniversary remaster have surfaced thanks to the Infinity Tomb Raider X and originally shared by ropir20606 on archive.org. The images date back to 2019 and show renders from the project, which was underway in collaboration between Crystal Dynamics and Virtuos Shanghai.

Leaked Tomb Raider Remaster Project Images Show Character And Environment Renders

The Game Was Canceled Before It Got Too Far

The leaked images show 3D renders of several unfinished locations that seem to be the interior of a tomb, with no textures applied. Three texture-less wild animals are also shown—a mountain lion, gorilla, and bear—which would have been in line with the original game's emphasis on surviving against the wilderness. The renders also show a very young-looking Lara with realistic proportions.

The original poster of the leak explains that the remaster started by importing all the game's PC assets into the Xbox One and "other modern platforms" of the time (presumably the PS4). The development team planned to merge the original game's engine with the upgraded engine of the 2015 title Rise of the Tomb Raider. Unfortunately, the remaster's development was canceled before the team could get too far, according to the leak.

Fans Can Still Play A Remaster Of The Original Tomb Raider

A Remaster Of The First Three Games Was Released Last Year

The remaster of Tomb Raider: Anniversary might have been canceled, but fans still got their remasters in a different form. Last year, Crystal Dynamics released Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, which was created in collaboration with Aspyr and Core Design. The remaster was a more faithful recreation of the first three games of the franchise, rather than a remake in the style of the modern Lara Croft that debuted in 2013.

The remastered titles received generally positive reviews, with Screen Rant's Carrie Lambertsen calling it "more of a port than a remaster" in her review of the remaster. Lara Croft has come a long way from the blocky 1990s title, but it's still a classic, and bringing the game into the modern world as faithfully as possible was likely a good call in the end. Although we'll probably never see the originally planned Tomb Raider: Anniversary remaster, the leaked images offer a look at what we might have gotten instead of the remaster we actually got.

Source: Infinity Tomb Raider/X