Tomb Raider Timeline/Playing orders

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Given the recent announcement of the "remastered" trilogy I thought it would be a good time to put up the Tomb Raider timeline. Until recently the games were treated as having three distinct timelines, Classic, Legend and Survivor. However, during the 25th Anniversary it was announced that moving forward there would be a "unified" timeline, where the same version of Lara Croft experienced all of the events of the games. This announcement included the release of a timeline which outlined the order of canonical material, however given the contradictory backstories of each iteration of Lara it is unclear how this would "work".

Since the status of "unified" Lara is a bit ambiguous at the moment I decided the best option would be to treat each Tomb Raider timeline as distinct constructs and leaving the Unified timeline as bare bones until we get more detail.

KEY:
Video Games
Novels
Comic books/strips
Live-action films
Animated media

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Classic Timeline

The classic iteration of Lara Croft first appeared in 1996's Tomb Raider created by CORE Design. This Lara was active in the 90s and begun adventuring after surviving a plane crash in her early 20s. Both of her parents are alive and Lara is portrayed as actively rebellious towards them. she was usually portrayed as a "Lone Wolf".

I am going to go with the assumption that the handheld games released during this era are "canonical" to this timeline, however as I play through them I may change this if I find apparent contradictions.

Timeline
????
Tomb Raider Opening FMV (00:00 - 00:39)

1982
Tomb Raider Chronicles: The Black Isle

1984
Tomb Raider The Last Revelation: Angkor Wat

1989
July 15th
Tomb Raider Chronicles: The philosophers Stone

1995
February 5th
Tomb Raider Chronicles: The Spear of Destiny

1996
"Mean Machines" comic strip
Tomb Raider (1996)
Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business

1997
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider: Escape from the Dragons Lair
Tomb Raider II The Golden mask

1998

Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider III: The Lost Artifact

1999
Tomb Raider Chronicles: Tower Block

Tomb Raider: Times exclusive mission

December
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

2000
Tomb Raider Chronicles: framing story
TBC

Read/Play order
Official Core Design biography (found here)
"Mean Machines" comic strip (found here)
Tomb Raider (1996) & Unfinished Business DLC
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider: Escape from the Dragons Lair
Tomb Raider II Golden Mask DLC
Tomb Raider III & The Lost Artifact DLC
Tomb Raider: Times exclusive mission
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider Chronicles press release kit (found here)
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider: Amulet of Power
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult
Tomb Raider: The Man of Bronze

Spoiler: Timeline reasoning

Official Core Design biography
This is an outline of Lara Croft's back story as understood by Core Design, Tomb Raiders original developers. Its pretty detailed and doesn't really match with the back stories of other iterations of Lara Croft.

"Mean Machines" comic strip
Promotional strip for the first Tomb Raider game which appeared in "Mean Machines", a British gaming magazine. The last frame features Lara walking into a cafe, which the implication that this is the establishment in Calcutta where she meets Larsen at the beginning of the first game.

Escape from the Dragons Lair
This is an odd one I stumbled across. its not an offically released piece of Tomb Raider media but its an additional level of Tomb Raider II allegedly designed by a Core Design employee. I decided to include it albeit with the caveat that it was never professionally released.

Tomb Raider Chronicles
This is a game which features a lot of flashbacks to different adventures Lara went through, and there tends to be some contraversy in placement, however the press release kit gives some very explicit placements for each adventure. There are some continuity errors in these stories, but given that they are being retold by people several years later I think it is appropriate to just assume that the "unreliable narrator" narrative device is in effect.

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Legend Timeline

This timeline begins with 2006's "Tomb Raider" Legend and appears to function as a "Soft reboot" for Tomb Raider. This Lara was active in the 2000s and she was motivated towards adventuring after the loss of her mother in a plane crash during childhood. This series primarily consists of Legend, Anniversary and Underworld but there is a frequent assumption that the later "Lara Croft" games and novels released during the "Survivor" era take place on this timeline. There also seems to be an implication that "Legend" Lara experienced her own version of the "classic" games but I will wait until I can play through these installments myself before making a judgement.

Timeline
TBC

Read/Play order
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider Legend
Tomb Raider Underworld
TBC

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Survivor Timeline

This timeline begins with 2013's "Tomb Raider" which is very clearly a complete reboot of the franchise. These games begin with Lara's inital "call to adventure" and then show Lara Croft growing into the "Tomb Raider" as it were. Probably the most strongly structured timeline so far, as the series featured multiple comic and novel tie-ins that were clearly stated to be canonical. It is possible that this timeline will be the basis for the "unified" timeline but its hard to say at the moment.

Timeline
TBC

Play/Read order
Tomb Raider: the beginning
Tomb Raider 2013
Tomb Raider the ten thousand immortals
Tomb Raider season of the witch 1-6
Tomb raider secrets and lies 7-12
Tomb raider queens of serpents 13 – 18
Rise of tomb raider
Tomb raider: spore
Tomb raider choice and sacrifice
Tomb raider survivors crusade
Tomb raider inferno
Shadow of the tomb raider path of apocalypse
Shadow of tomb raider

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Unified Timeline:

As stated previously, the unified timeline is a combination of the three previous timelines, and as of September 2023 we have not seen any installments in this timeline. This timeline is based on the official timeline that was posted by Square Enix that has since been taken down (although you can find it on the wayback machine). I have also included the Angel of Darkness tie-in novels as they were released during the event and described as "partially canon"

Timeline order
Tomb Raider: the beginning
Tomb Raider 2013
Tomb Raider the ten thousand immortals
Tomb Raider season of the witch 1-6
Tomb raider secrets and lies 7-12
Tomb raider queens of serpents 13 – 18
Rise of tomb raider
Tomb raider: spore
Tomb raider choice and sacrifice
Tomb raider survivors crusade
Tomb raider inferno
Shadow of the tomb raider path of apocalypse
Shadow of tomb raider
[Unreleased Netflix animated series]
Tomb Raider (1996) & Unfinished Business DLC/ Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider II & Golden Mask DLC
Tomb Raider III & The Lost Artifact DLC
Tomb Raider: Times exclusive mission
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider: Amulet of Power
Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
Tomb Raider: The Lost Cult
Tomb Raider: The Man of Bronze
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Lara Croft and the Frozen Omen
Lara Croft and the Blade of Gwynnever
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Tomb Raider: Underworld Beneath the Ashes & Lara's Shadow

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Top Cow Comics Timeline

TBC

 

[Lucid_Dreamer]

Other Media

TBC