“Story-driven games and character-driven games are on the rise.” “We’ve started to see storytelling more at the forefront of the process,” notes Pratchett. “It seemed odd to me that you would put something into a game that wasn’t done by a professional.”īy contrast, the last 10 or 15 years have seen writing take on increasing importance in the video games industry. “One of the questions doing the rounds was: ‘Do games need professional writers?'” she laughs. But she was compelled by story-driven games and role-playing games in her own youth. Pratchett notes, somewhat ironically, that she prefers to play action-driven games rather than story-driven ones in her own time (it’s a bit like work otherwise!”). When Pratchett started out in the gaming industry as a journalist 18 years ago, story wasn’t generally considered important in games. Life Is Strange Storytelling is coming to the fore in gaming now It put me off a bit.”īy contrast, the new image of Lara that the developers had come up with “really struck” her when she started work on the reboot with this less sexualised approach mirroring her creation of a more rounded character. “I didn’t like that as a young female gamer at the time. “There was a lot of fun and strength there. “Original Lara was a great character, regardless of how she was portrayed,” she adds. “The marketing did the games a disservice. “That wasn’t a good reflection of what was in the games themselves,” argues Pratchett. Something which always sat slightly at odds with her positioning as an empowered female protagonist.

When updating the character, there was also the matter of original Lara’s status as a scantily-clad ‘lads mag’ pin-up to consider.

“It’s about bringing a bit of normality to a character that is fantastical – the good old ‘Buffy’ tradition.” An early design of the Lara Croft character The marketing sexualised her – it made her ‘for the boys’ “Her family does have money but she shunned that and put herself through university,” explains Pratchett. Hence the character’s reinvention in the Tomb Raider reboot as a young, inexperienced and slightly more down-to-earth woman – forced to fight for survival rather than thrill-seek for sport.

Rhianna pratchett tomb raider