Reimagining Greece
If Peru is where the adventure begins, Greece is where it deepens. In Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the ruins of Greece mark a turning point. The spaces grow grander, the puzzles grow more demanding, and the story opens onto something far larger than Lara first imagined.
Traversable Grandeur
Jason Epps, Design Director at Crystal Dynamics, describes the design north star for Greece in two words: traversable grandeur.
“The vault in St. Francis’ Folly is a great example,” Epps says. “From the original, this vertical chamber with four chambers dedicated to Greek champions has a wonderful sense of scale. We applied that feeling to the rest of the Greece environment, leaning into a hidden oasis of ruins.”
“Early in Greece, the player can choose which of the four tombs to tackle,” Epps says. Greece gives you the freedom to explore its spaces in the order that calls to you.
That choice changes how Greece feels to play. Each tomb is a self-contained challenge with its own identity, its own dangers, and its own rewards. The order you tackle them is yours to decide.
Where History and Myth Collide
For John Stafford, Narrative Director at Crystal Dynamics, Greece offered something unique to the story. “Greece is a place where history and myth feel inseparable, which makes it a perfect setting for Lara Croft,” he says. “There are ancient secrets hidden beneath places we think we understand, and revelations that propel the story to new heights.”
Greece is also where the broader mystery comes into focus. “Greece is where Lara really starts to see the bigger picture,” Stafford says, “both in terms of the connection to Atlantis, but also her understanding of history as she knows it.”
That shift in understanding is personal. “When crafting Tomb Raider stories, we like to blend real history with mythology, to give it that weight of believability,” Stafford says. “Lara will encounter some familiar historical faces in the Greece level, which creates a fun new perspective on the past for both her and the audience.”
A New Kind of Challenge
The shift from Peru to Greece is felt in every system. The environments are more vertical, the paths more interconnected, and the puzzles ask more of the player. St. Francis’ Folly alone stands as one of the most iconic spaces in Tomb Raider history, and the reimagined version leans fully into that legacy.
Epps says the team’s biggest debate was how far to push it. “Our biggest argument about Greece was how intricate to make the traversal path in the vault area of St. Francis’ Folly,” he says. The answer, clearly, was to embrace the complexity.
That complexity is part of what makes Greece a turning point. The puzzles demand more attention, the traversal demands more precision, and the stakes of every encounter feel higher. It is the moment in Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis where the game fully trusts the player to rise to the challenge.
And Greece has more surprises in store. The encounters that await Lara here are among the most memorable in the game, drawing on the mythology of the world and delivering the kind of spectacle the original could only hint at. More on that in the future.
Pre-order Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis
Lara Croft’s greatest adventure begins February 12, 2027. Pre-orders are live now. Secure your edition before launch, and join us across the months ahead for new mini-documentaries, deep dives, and exclusive looks at the world of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
