[Leaked Build] Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition (Developed by Core Design) build released, briefly an Indiana Jones game

[Gradon]

Hello all, just some brief information about what this is:

Tomb Raider: 10th Anniversary Edition was a project developed by Core Design in 2005-6, it was to be released after Tomb Raider Legend. It was a remake of Tomb Raider 1 by the original development team, but was cancelled in 2006. There was some sparse footage released of the game after it's cancellation. The project was cancelled due to Core Design being sold to Rebellion, and then the project was given to Crystal Dynamic who went on to develop their own version of the game unrelated called Tomb Raider Anniversary after Tomb Raider Legend, released in 2007.

Now a build of 'Indiana Jones' has leaked onto the internet, this appears to be a re-skin of a Tomb Raider 10th Anniversary Edition build shortly after it's cancellation, the game is filled with TRAE assets and the build has been recovered with all of its original files by fans. Tomb Raider fans acquired this earlier in 2020 and had been in contact with Crystal Dynamics several times to confirm whether they could officially release it or not. They received no reply after a while so have released it onto the internet New Years day themselves. Here's some videos of the build in action.





The build is dated 25th of July, 2006.

Source

 

[Anaron]

A CORE remake? I never knew about this!

😭

 

[Tailzo]

I like this, looks good

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Is there no video showing the Indy assets? Sorry if I'm missing the obvious!
The music in the second video is great.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Interesting. Looks so different from what Crystal Dynamics released.

Is this an evolution of the Angel of Darkness mechanics? I always say I'm going to go back and play that some day.

 

[ghostcrew]

Fuck yes! Thanks OP.

Spent a day at CORE Design once when I was a teenager (through some loose connection) and it was an absolute dream. I remember it was the day that the first Half-Life 2 images were coming out online and every was going crazy over them.

 

[Kresnik]

Were they developing this for PSP or am I thinking of anything else?

Looks gorgeous, faithful to the original and I love the atmosphere of the levels. As much as I love what Crystal Dynamics did, I prefer the Core Design style of TR better (although I know people were well sick of it by the point this would've come out).

 

[Deleted member 16876]

God I miss this Tomb Raider...

I wish they would make another one with some of the improvements that the new Tomb Raider series brought like her newer design where she has muscles and stuff, combined with her old attitude and the game design.

 

[Uhyve]

Oooh, I remember reading about this on Unseen64 ages ago. That's so cool.

 

[Zen_Master]

Looks like an interesting case of what might have been, thanks for posting OP. It looks indeed much closer to the original games graphics and gameplay wise than the anniversary edition that ended up being released.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

I would've played the shit out of this. I'm one of those dozens out there that actually love the original TR games, tank controls and all.

 

[Jon God]

I would've played the shit out of this. I'm one of those dozens out there that actually love the original TR games, tank controls and all.

Click to shrink...

I don't love the tank controls, but I still really love the game design, puzzle design, and especially the level design of the CORE Tomb Raider games.

 

[Djalminha]

That looks amazing! I like it better than what I remember of the remake, which I enjoyed but thought lost some atmosphere and the QTEs weren't a great idea.

 

[KORNdog]

Was the music in the croft manor video the original music? The choir part sounds a hell of a lot like halo.

 

[JediMPG]

Was the music in the croft manor video the original music? The choir part sounds a hell of a lot low halo.

Click to shrink...

I'm positive it's the theme from the Anniversary edition

 

[Chibs]

That's so cool! I really miss old school Tomb Raider. Thanks for sharing, I'd never heard of this until now.

 

[-shadow-]

This was my number one game that was in development at one point that I wanted out there. I can't believe it happened finally.
Been trying to get it working for a few hours now, but the instructions on TRF seems somewhat incorrect.

Edit: Also the original two leaked trailers were obviously of a later development build, since a lot in here is missing or just acting very odd. Seems people are modding it already to include some cutscenes that aren't currently working (properly) and some stuff is getting traction. So chances are, this might actually end up working some day.

 

[Deleted member 17388]

Oh, yeah! So cool!

 

[divination]

Interesting! I remember watching the leaked trailers for this years ago.

Makes me wish we had a TR game coming out in the vein of the original games. Even the LAU trilogy is preferable to the newer games imo.

 

[LongLivePlay94]

I felt so bad for Core design and the way they got treated towards the end. Poor management from Eidos and pressure from outside clearly caused issues within. Such a shame.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Wow!!

Thanks for posting these... I can't believe after all these years I'm finally seeing a lengthy gameplay from this version.

I love the Anniversary we ended up getting, but Core Design makes the best atmosphere and the best feelings of Tomb Raiding and Isolation.

So sad that Tomb Raider hasn't been the franchise it used to be :-(

Wish they go back to the roots like the Core Design Tomb Raiders.

Resident Evil did it.. and now Final Fantasy is doing it as well Tomb Raider needs to be next!

These three franchises are my holy three of gaming.

 

[JDHarbs]

Wait, we could've had a Core Design Indiana Jones game?

 

[Klappdrachen]

This is very interesting, thanks for sharing.

So sad what happened to this franchise 😔

 

[Uhyve]

Man, it's kinda cool, the caves level at least is actually completable from start to finish. And it feels okay to play outside of the controller weirdness (I'm not sure if that's me or the build).

It's a shame that it isn't alittle closer to completion.

 

[Wanderer5]

Oh hey, this has appeared again. God does it look so good.

Was the music in the croft manor video the original music? The choir part sounds a hell of a lot like halo.

Click to shrink...

It is the original theme.

 

[-shadow-]

I felt so bad for Core design and the way they got treated towards the end. Poor management from Eidos and pressure from outside clearly caused issues within. Such a shame.

Click to shrink...

Yes and no. It's a bit weird with Core and Eidos. Eidos turned Core basically in the precursor of current day modern development where they had to pump out a new game very single year for a couple of years back to back. The staff at Core was done with the series after 3 and wanted a break, hence why they killed Lara off with 4 so that they could do so before bringing her back with The Angel of Darkness. However politics are Eidos demanded yet another game, so the new staff started work on AOD and the core (no pun intended) staff was working on Chronicles. When they were done with that game, the core staff went to the development of AOD and it was in an absolute state of chaos apparently. No one was taking charge and everyone was just doing whatever.
Here the politics at both companies started to become difficult with some staff at Core refusing to take responsibility on the project and Eidos demanding a 2002 release. This was after they threw a year of development away in part because of Chronicles. Ego's budded against each other and the game was delayed for a 2003 release, but still development went ahead with a ton of struggles and rumour has it that they changed the control scheme a mere month or so before the game had to go gold, so a large part of the game had to be reworked and (again, what is true is up in the air) simply cut to make the deadline (though the cutting part is painfully obvious in the final product).
The end result of Angel of Darkness is entirely on both parties and Core got entirely what they deserved on basis of AOD its state (remember, releasing a garbage game and patching it later wasn't really a thing yet except on disc reprints). The problem is that they got in such a hot mess entirely because of the crunch Eidos put them on and no one checked on them how the project was going. There's a great interview with one of the people that worked on it (I forgot their name) on I think Eurogamer that goes into a lot of detail and how he took full responsibility in the end. It's absolutely fascinating and insane what went on before and during the development of Angel of Darkness.

Wait, we could've had a Core Design Indiana Jones game?

Click to shrink...

No, they developed the Tomb Raider remake and after its cancelation the project was (somewhat) retooled into a pitch for a Indiana Jones game, but the core (no pun intended) is still the original Tomb Raider game through and through.

Man, it's kinda cool, the caves level at least is actually completable from start to finish. And it feels okay to play outside of the controller weirdness (I'm not sure if that's me or the build).

It's a shame that it isn't alittle closer to completion.

Click to shrink...

iirc when this was canned, the rumours were that it was around 80/85% finished and the trailers show that there is more to it than we've got. So chances are that a later build might still pop up. But for now, it seems that the community goes to town on it. So chances are we'll at least get a fully working version of the game soon, just not as a finished project, but more a fully working "what if".

 

[eso76]

Omg I had no idea.
This does feel and look just right: this would have been the remastermake I needed; the Anniversary we got didn't quite capture the same atmosphere as the original, but it looks perfectly intact here.

God how I miss this Tomb Raider

 

[LongLivePlay94]

Yes and no. It's a bit weird with Core and Eidos. Eidos turned Core basically in the precursor of current day modern development where they had to pump out a new game very single year for a couple of years back to back. The staff at Core was done with the series after 3 and wanted a break, hence why they killed Lara off with 4 so that they could do so before bringing her back with The Angel of Darkness. However politics are Eidos demanded yet another game, so the new staff started work on AOD and the core (no pun intended) staff was working on Chronicles. When they were done with that game, the core staff went to the development of AOD and it was in an absolute state of chaos apparently. No one was taking charge and everyone was just doing whatever.
Here the politics at both companies started to become difficult with some staff at Core refusing to take responsibility on the project and Eidos demanding a 2002 release. This was after they threw a year of development away in part because of Chronicles. Ego's budded against each other and the game was delayed for a 2003 release, but still development went ahead with a ton of struggles and rumour has it that they changed the control scheme a mere month or so before the game had to go gold, so a large part of the game had to be reworked and (again, what is true is up in the air) simply cut to make the deadline (though the cutting part is painfully obvious in the final product).
The end result of Angel of Darkness is entirely on both parties and Core got entirely what they deserved on basis of AOD its state (remember, releasing a garbage game and patching it later wasn't really a thing yet except on disc reprints). The problem is that they got in such a hot mess entirely because of the crunch Eidos put them on and no one checked on them how the project was going. There's a great interview with one of the people that worked on it (I forgot their name) on I think Eurogamer that goes into a lot of detail and how he took full responsibility in the end. It's absolutely fascinating and insane what went on before and during the development of Angel of Darkness.

Click to shrink...

I appreciate the long and thoughtful reply but I already knew all this. One of my game design tutors at university spent some time with Core and worked on The Last Revelation. My other tutor worked on Rascal for PS1 and mainly Travellers Tales projects.

What I was also getting it is how Paramount threw Core under the bus for the lack of success of the film which in fairness was completely bollocks and Eidos did not defend them nor did they effectively nurture them either.

I know the study was sporadically hiring staff and they were very nonchalant about the way that they did it that created a rift and a gulf between the teams. I know that Eidos didn't give Core enough time to really get to grips with the PS2 development kits that they were struggling to understand, all whilst requesting more and more features and sticking firm to their deadline. I know that Core felt like there was no management structure because it kind of didn't as Eidos kept having Jeremy Smith working with their new projects that they forgot about what was going on under their noses.

It's like the company I work for used to be a corporate company. Now they're all franchises because the corporate entity just wasn't capable of running a business. They took all the better management from the smaller stores to their flagship stores and just promoter anyone who said they wanted to be a manager. The handling of the staff and the teams was virtually non existent whilst the morons at head office just continued sipping their coffee and eating their biscuits without a care in the world. Then they wonder how this could have possibly happened when the shit hit the fan.

I'm not saying Core was perfect but like you said and like I already knew, Core was sick of being pressured to do the next one and the next one and the next one. So they killed Lara. But then they HAD to do the next one etc. Eidos really used the team and the Tomb Raider IP as a piggy bank for funding their new projects. Eidos were inept as a publisher but they got their just rewards in the end.[/QUOTE]

 

[Deleted member 64666]

WUTTTT? How did I miss this?

 

[Jon God]

Omg I had no idea.
This does feel and look just right: this would have been the remastermake I needed; the Anniversary we got didn't quite capture the same atmosphere as the original, but it looks perfectly intact here.

God how I miss this Tomb Raider

Click to shrink...

So much this.

That being said, I wouldn't be opposed to a Tomb Raider reboot handled by a team of exCORE Design folks, but with a more reasonably dressed Lara.

The way they handled atmosphere was really something different.

 

[Deleted member 17388]

Were they developing this for PSP or am I thinking of anything else?

Click to shrink...

It was indeed intended for PSP.

However, the rumors around this game also said a PC version with higher resolution would come out at a later date.

 

[-shadow-]

I appreciate the long and thoughtful reply but I already knew all this. One of my game design tutors at university spent some time with Core and worked on The Last Revelation. My other tutor worked on Rascal for PS1 and mainly Travellers Tales projects.

What I was also getting it is how Paramount threw Core under the bus for the lack of success of the film which in fairness was completely bollocks and Eidos did not defend them nor did they effectively nurture them either.

I know the study was sporadically hiring staff and they were very nonchalant about the way that they did it that created a rift and a gulf between the teams. I know that Eidos didn't give Core enough time to really get to grips with the PS2 development kits that they were struggling to understand, all whilst requesting more and more features and sticking firm to their deadline. I know that Core felt like there was no management structure because it kind of didn't as Eidos kept having Jeremy Smith working with their new projects that they forgot about what was going on under their noses.

It's like the company I work for used to be a corporate company. Now they're all franchises because the corporate entity just wasn't capable of running a business. They took all the better management from the smaller stores to their flagship stores and just promoter anyone who said they wanted to be a manager. The handling of the staff and the teams was virtually non existent whilst the morons at head office just continued sipping their coffee and eating their biscuits without a care in the world. Then they wonder how this could have possibly happened when the shit hit the fan.

I'm not saying Core was perfect but like you said and like I already knew, Core was sick of being pressured to do the next one and the next one and the next one. So they killed Lara. But then they HAD to do the next one etc. Eidos really used the team and the Tomb Raider IP as a piggy bank for funding their new projects. Eidos were inept as a publisher but they got their just rewards in the end.

Click to shrink...

Sorry if I came across in any way I didn't intent of course, didn't mean it in any negative way. And yeah, Paramount was ruthless with the second film. And while I enjoy the first one, the second one is rough! But yeah, it's a shame what happened to Core, but looking back at it and all the interviews, articles and even pre-views, it's just fucking fascinating to see it all. Honestly, I'm still holding hope one of the Angel of Darkness build leaks. That stuff really intrigues me still!

It was indeed intended for PSP.

However, the rumors around this game also said a PC version with higher resolution would come out at a later date.

Click to shrink...

Somewhere in the design document it states that a PS2 version was going to happen and PC as well, but you can at this moment already bump up the resolution. Here's a few screenshots I just took:

I'll try other areas later, it's 2:30 AM here, I need to get my sleep!

 

[Y2Kev]

omg i've wanted this for 15 years

 

[Deleted member 17388]

Somewhere in the design document it states that a PS2 version was going to happen and PC as well, but you can at this moment already bump up the resolution. Here's a few screenshots I just took:

Click to shrink...

Thank you! Looking forward to more :D

Also, I really like that they included this pose:

To her idle animation.

 

[Gradon]

Is there no video showing the Indy assets? Sorry if I'm missing the obvious!
The music in the second video is great.

Click to shrink...

Not that I can find, in fact these are the only screenshots I can find and it's someone having already loaded TR levels.

 

[-shadow-]

There is a Twitter video of the multiplayer with Lara and Indy, but can't find it atm.

 

[ApexNorth]

This is really cool, watching my dad playthrough the Tomb Raider games when I was a kid is a cherished memory. I'd kill for those remakes, Anniversary didn't quite capture the atmosphere of the originals.

 

[Roquentin]

So cool! I finished the first level. The game is obviously not even close to being done: the camera is a bit wacky, movement feels too stiff and buggy, it crashes, there are no enemies (which I don't mind), very few sound effects, etc. I might play some more if I'm able to re-configure the controller. I hope full source code for the engine leaks, so the community improves it.

 

[AmirMoosavi]

This is great! I'm actually playing through both Anniversary and the original for the first time these past few weeks, will check this out once I've completed those two, thanks for sharing :)

 

[Chaystic]

Holy shit!

 

[AmirMoosavi]

Do we know whose decision it was to target the PSP as the lead platform? Eidos or CORE?

On a sidenote, I'm currently reading this book and will recommend it to CORE Design era Tomb Raider fans (who can read French):

 

[Venom.]

I miss this Lara.

 

[-shadow-]

Do we know whose decision it was to target the PSP as the lead platform? Eidos or CORE?

Click to shrink...

Going by the design document, it's most likely Core that made that decision.

 

[Temascos]

Man, this is a great piece of gaming history. Core was one of those companies I really looked at hoping to apply for when I was a kid, having lived a hop, skip and a jump away from their offices.

Core Design really needed a break after working on multiple games back to back, it must have been so brutal in the run up to Angel Of Darkness.

 

[AmirMoosavi]

Core Design really needed a break after working on multiple games back to back, it must have been so brutal in the run up to Angel Of Darkness.

Click to shrink...

Even after working on Tomb Raider III they should've been given a break. Looking over the Development sections of The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and Angel of Darkness, every game seems to have been rushed due to Eidos' demands for an annual TR entry. CORE obviously wanted TLR to be the end, and then when they were asked back they wanted to work on AoD for PS2, but were asked to work on another game for PS1/DC, so had to split into two teams. Such a shame they weren't at least allowed to properly develop AoD.

I've got about halfway through TLR recently and some of the puzzles are great, but the levels are too big for their own good, it's far too easy to get lost in semi-open world maps. It feels like an awkward halfway step between the original trilogy and a proper (for then) "next-gen" Tomb Raider.

20 years on, the Tomb Raider story told by the people who were there

In July 2010, Lara Croft Way opened in Derby. The name for part of a new ring road was chosen from a shortlist by publi…

www.eurogamer.net

 

[-shadow-]

Here's a bunch of screenshots I took from different levels, final two are in 4k.
I get this is a PSP game and that the game is unfinished.
But I find the art direction in this version to be a million times more attractive than Crystals direction which came down to being flat, gray and bloom.

4k:

Click to shrink...

What a shame this was cancelled. Seems some people have managed to get some stuff to trigger like the T-Rex
So it's interesting to see how the game ends up from now until the end of the year, might be really interesting!

 

[IvanJCroft]

i love Crystal's anniversary but you can see the lack of colors in their version of TR1 by looking at this one, this looks incredible and i hope one day it'll be available to play from start to finish.