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Tomb Raider Trilogy PC remasters weren't official, have been cancelled

Update: Remember last week when there was a remastered Tomb Raider Trilogy announced for PC? Turns out Square Enix didn’t sanction it.

Square Enix has taken down all videos associated with the remasters, and developer Realtech VR has announced that work has halted on the project.

Here is the only tweet from the developers on the matter:

Additionally, Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics had this to say, via DSoGaming:

“While we always welcome passion and excitement for the Tomb Raider franchise, the remasters in question were initiated and advertised without seeking approval. As such, they were never officially sanctioned.

“Ensuring fans receive high quality gaming experiences is at the heart of our mission as a company, which requires all projects to go through proper channels. We are thrilled about the future of Tomb Raider, and cannot thank fans enough for their continued support and excitement for the brand.”

Our original story is below.

Original Story: Tomb Raider Trilogy remasters are coming to PC.

You can already play the first three Tomb Raider games on Steam, but they only exist because of some emulation wizardry - they are not proper ports, and they don’t exactly run great.

Luckily, there are remasters coming for each of the three games. Best of all, they’re free if you already own the originals.

These remasters will work as mods for the original games, essentially. Therefore, you will have to own the originals if you want to play them anyway.

These prettied-up versions of the three adventure gaming classics are being tackled by a company called Realtech VR, and they will run in 1080p and at 60fps.

Less excitingly, the remasters are based on the mobile versions of the original three Tomb Raider games. Publisher Square Enix recently came under fire for releasing a remaster of Chrono Trigger to PC, only for that to turn out to be based on the mobile version, which caused the game to actually lose its visual charm in places.

Cover image for YouTube video

Even if it doesn’t live up to your expectations visually, however, at least you will be able to play the first three Tomb Raider games with a modern controller. There will also be proper graphics settings, like in an actual PC game. OpenVR support is also promised, though the extent of this support is not currently clear.

There is no release date set at the time of writing, but Realtech VR has already done the first two games. Once the third is ready, they will be made available on Steam. Square Enix is looking into bringing the remasters to GOG, but it is not clear if that will be possible or not.

Check out the two progress videos below to see how Realtech VR has done with the first two Tomb Raider games. A proper trailer for the remasters is coming next month.

Cover image for YouTube video

Thanks, PCGamer.

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Kirk McKeand avatar

Kirk McKeand

Former Deputy Editor

Kirk is an award-winning writer from the UK's Lincoln, and has written for the likes of IGN, Vice, Eurogamer, Edge, Playboy, and several other magazines, newspapers, and websites. For several years, Kirk also acted as the editor of VG247.

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