Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Turntable Trailer Reveals Lara's Total Redesign

PlayStation used its own YouTube channel to publish a short, unassuming video this week: a 360-degree turntable of the rebuilt Lara Croft model from Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog's ground-up remake of the 1996 original. It runs less than a minute, but it anchors a much longer PlayStation Blog feature published the same day, in which the two studios walk through exactly how much has changed about Lara's face, hair and wardrobe since she last got a full visual overhaul.

That matters more than it might sound. Legacy of Atlantis is only the second time Crystal Dynamics has formally remade the game that started the franchise, following 2007's Tomb Raider: Anniversary, and the studio is treating the character model itself as one of the headline features rather than a background upgrade.

What the Turntable Actually Shows

The clip itself is simple: a slow rotation around Lara's new in-engine model, lit cleanly against a neutral background so every surface detail reads. It's a far cry from a conventional announcement trailer, and that's the point. Crystal Dynamics wanted a format that let fans scrutinize the rebuild the same way the art team does internally, rather than burying it inside a cut-heavy cinematic.

Character artist Brendon Bengston frames the brief the team worked from in the blog post: "how do we make this the most realistic-looking Lara while sticking with that original design?" The answer leans heavily on tools that didn't exist, or weren't practical at this fidelity, the last time Crystal Dynamics rebuilt her.

Hair Cards, Subsurface Scattering and a New Face

Where the 1996 original rendered Lara's braid as a handful of solid polygons, Legacy of Atlantis uses hair cards: layered, semi-transparent strips that approximate individual clumps of hair rather than one rigid shape. Bengston says the team can now "create hair cards and craft exact strands," extending to how the bang, ponytail and braid actually move as Lara runs and climbs.

Her skin uses subsurface scattering and flow maps, letting light diffuse under the surface the way it does on real skin instead of bouncing off a flat material. Custom blend shapes drive her face through specific expressions, so squinting into the sun or breaking into a smile leaves "bespoke lines" on her forehead and around her eyes, rather than the same handful of generic shapes every character in a game might share.

• Hair cards replace solid-polygon hair with layered strands that move independently
• Subsurface scattering and flow maps give skin a more natural response to light
• Custom blend shapes produce expression-specific detail rather than reused defaults

A Tailor-Made Approach to Every Thread

The clothing pipeline got an equally literal rebuild. Bengston explains that denim behaves differently than silk once it's in motion, so the team sculpted a base body, had it 3D-printed at real scale, and sent the print to a vendor who dressed it in actual garments before scanning the results. For one outfit, Crystal Dynamics went a step further and commissioned a tailor to sew a real version of Lara's clothing, which was then fitted to the mannequin and scanned to capture how the fabric actually folds and stretches.

Senior character concept artist Aleksandra Skiba of Flying Wild Hog, the Warsaw studio co-developing the remake, describes the balancing act behind redesigns like this one: "You want them to feel believable, but you also want them to look recognizable." That's the tension running through the whole piece — modernizing the technology without losing the silhouette players have known for thirty years.

“No matter the era, Lara must always feel like someone who needs to know what's behind the next door.”John Stafford, Narrative Director, Crystal Dynamics

What Stayed the Same

For all the talk of hair cards and tailored fabric, Crystal Dynamics is careful to frame the redesign as a technical upgrade rather than a reinvention. Narrative director John Stafford puts it plainly in the blog post: Lara's "intelligence, fearlessness, and thrill-seeking spirit remain completely intact." He draws a direct line to Anniversary, calling that 2007 remake a retelling of "a classic through a modern lens," and argues the same philosophy carries into Legacy of Atlantis — expanding how the story is told without rewriting who Lara is or why she goes looking for the Scion in the first place.

Stafford also makes the case for why that curiosity still matters mechanically, not just narratively: for Lara, "that adventure isn't something she survives, it's something she actively pursues."

When Legacy of Atlantis Arrives

Legacy of Atlantis was revealed at The Game Awards in December 2025 alongside the separate project Tomb Raider: Catalyst, and a June 2026 State of Play confirmed it had slipped from its original 2026 target. Amazon Games is publishing the remake from Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog on February 12, 2027, built in Unreal Engine 5 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC. Sony's own coverage highlights PS5 Pro enhancements via PSSR upscaling, and pre-orders are already live on the PlayStation Store.

The full story, including the Scion of Atlantis and the exotic locations Lara travels through to keep it out of the wrong hands, is still mostly unconfirmed beyond what's in the original 1996 game and Anniversary. Crystal Dynamics hasn't detailed a demo, beta or further gameplay footage beyond this design breakdown, so expect the next real look to arrive closer to February.

PlayStation's official 360-degree turntable reveal of Crystal Dynamics' rebuilt Lara Croft model for Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.