Crystal Dynamics denies Tomb Raider attempted rape scene

Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics has denied claims of a scene depicting the attempted rape of Lara Croft in the upcoming game, saying the whole thing was a big misunderstanding.

“We had a great E3 with Tomb Raider and received a fantastic public and press response, with the game picking up numerous ‘game of the show awards’ based on the new direction taken with the franchise. Unfortunately we were not clear in a recent E3 press interview and things have been misunderstood. Before this gets out of hand, let me explain,” studio boss Darrell Gallagher wrote in a post on the official site.

“In making this Tomb Raider origins story our aim was to take Lara Croft on an exploration of what makes her the character she embodies in late Tomb Raider games. One of the character defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an ‘attempted rape’ scene is the content we showed at this year’s E3 and which over a million people have now seen in our recent trailer entitled ‘Crossroads’.

“This is where Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular section, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly. Sexual assault of any kind [is] categorically not a theme that we cover in this game.”

So that’s nice, but it’s sort of hard to believe it was a misunderstanding when the game’s executive producer actually even used the word “rape” to describe the controversial scene.

“Her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island,” Ron Rosenberg told Kotaku. “They try to rape her, and she’s literally turned into a cornered animal. And that’s a huge step in her evolution: she’s either forced to fight back or die and that’s what we’re showing today.”

Maybe he just meant the scavengers were camping her spawn or something. But probably not.