Tomb Raider was originally going to be a horror game: Square Enix releases footage from the canceled Survival-Horror game Lara Croft

Lara Croft has been a true icon not only in the gaming industry, but in the entertainment industry in general for almost 25 years – and the Tomb Raider franchise has endured for a long time, which is rare to find. Classic SEGA and PlayStation games have continued to be true classics, while modern Tomb Raider titles like the 2013 reboot and its subsequent sequels have also received a ton of praise.

The franchise took on a life in the modern age, adopting many of the modern AAA action-adventure tropes in the 2013 reboot, but it looks like the original plans were drastically different. Square Enix recently released a 7-minute video as part of their 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider: Ascension, the survival horror game.

Tomb Raider: Acension, Lara Croft’s Canceled Survival Horror Game

The footage shows Lara traversing many apparently terrifying locations with all sorts of monsters and what appears to be a semi-open world similar to what players had in the 2013 game. The tone seems a lot darker and geared toward survival horror rather than the action-adventure that the 2013 reboot eventually became.

The footage appears to be from an early build of the game, but it has a ton of cool ideas that could potentially be explored in a future title. Tomb Raider has the potential to succumb to the survival horror experience, and perhaps sometime in the future, Square Enix might return to that particular well. Square Enix has released a couple more videos detailing the early concept art as well as the branding.

The concept art gives players a better look at the monsters Lara would have fought in Tomb Raider: Ascension and what inspired them. The 2013 reboot was universally acclaimed, and players generally welcomed the change in tone with open arms – but perhaps the story could have been very different if Square Enix had opted to go the horror route instead.