‘Tomb Raider I-III Remastered’ Features Trigger Warning That Accuses Games Of “Offensive Depictions Of People And Cultures Rooted In Racial And Ethnic Prejudices”

A trigger warning appears at the beginning of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft that accuses the various games of “offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices.”

The trigger warning was shared to the TombRaiderForums.com website and reads in full, “The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures rooted in racial and ethnic prejudices. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable, and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics.”

It adds, “Rather than removing this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form, unaltered, in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it.”

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Individuals in the forum heavily criticized the trigger warning. The original poster stated, “It’s not about a sensitivity warning, it’s about Crystal being absolute c****. They’re so outrageously self righteous, adding in this insulting description of Core and the original games, when it was completely unnecessary. It’s the final straw for me. If you’re a new player and see this message pop up, what’s it going to make you think?”

He then asked, “Also, what offensive depictions are we actually talking about here? Is it just the tribesmen, or is it Londoners? Italian men? Scottish men? Because the statement implies there’s multiple issues amongst the games.”

Others echoed this sentiment. One wrote, “Basically, there’s warning for ‘offense’ some might take then there’s outright accusing of being ‘rooted in racial and ethnic prejudice.'”

Another added, “The wording of it is what pisses me off to the max. You see other studios like movies make statements, but they never try to lecture people or pass judgement on those who came before. This felt like they couldn’t wait until they got the chance to jump all over Core Design and their work. Young folks will now think of Core Design as that racist studio that made a really racist game. It’s revolting.”

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Still another wrote, “The real question is, if the games are so racist and offensive, why are they trying to profit off them? And where’s the ‘no actual animals/aliens/dinosaurs/mummies were harmed’ warning, if they think we’re that stupid.”

This user also mocked in another post, “Here’s some games we remastered, we want you to play them but we want to distance ourselves from them because they’re too racist and innapropriate. Enjoy!”

Another stated, “I have no issue with a disclaimer itself, we were expecting it anyways… but that wording was not necessary.”

Still another added, “Nobody said they shouldn’t have a disclaimer. It’s the wording that’s absurd. They made it look like all of us who played them back in the day were a bunch of bigots.”

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Some justified the trigger warning. One wrote, “Do I personally think the warning is necessary or justified? No. But do I see a possible future where some blogs or individuals on TikTok will call out Crystal Dynamics for some random exaggeration on the content present in the games? Absolutely yes. So with this warning they just take the wind out of those people’s sails preamptively (sp?).”

Another user added, “Maybe the players here are all Western players, so they naturally get this idea. But I will add the fact as a Chinese that for any Chinese who grew up in communist China (especially a nationalist), the plot of Tomb Raider 2 is inexcusable. If the plot of TR2 appeared in any modern game, it would be boycotted and torn apart by Chinese players.”

He continued, “They had contact with some Chinese Tomb fans during the localization process, so Chinese TR fans may have informed them of some very politically sensitive points. When the achievement list was leaked a while back, I was surprised to see that the Tibet part was classified as a “China codex” achievement, and now I think I know why. From this point of view, it is obviously reasonable and necessary for CD to do this. I’m not giving my opinion, just providing a perspective.”

The official description on Steam states, “Play the Original Three Tomb Raider Adventures: For the first time ever, play the complete experience with all expansions and secret levels on modern platforms in this definitive collection.”

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered releases on February 14th at 12 am local time for PlayStation and Xbox. It arrives at 9 am PST on February 14th on the Nintendo Switch and the Epic Games store. Finally, it arrives at 12 am CST on February 14th for Steam.

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered includes Tomb Raider I + Unfinished Business, Tomb Raider II + Golden Mask, and Tomb Raider III + The Lost Artifact.

What do you make of this trigger warning for the game?

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