Game Title: Tomb Raider (2013)
Target Audience: Mature players 17+ who enjoy action-adventure games
Creator: Crystal Dynamics
Platform: PC, Xbox, PlayStation
Introduction
This week I played the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider, which lets you play as a character named Lara Croft, a young archaeologist surviving a shipwreck on a mysterious island. I played the game for about an hour, and even though I had never played the game, I was very impressed with how much action the game had and how quickly it drew my attention. The game emphasizes pain and vulnerability, using survival mechanics to tell the story.
In past games, Lara’s character was hypersexualized, but the reboot aims to reimagine her character by showing her strength through endurance and growth. Through a feminist lens, the game illustrates a tension between Lara’s growing strength and the way her body is consistently framed through vulnerability and distress. The game tries to empower Lara through survival mechanics, but also undermines that empowerment by reinforcing some harmful stereotypes.
Feminist Framing and Mechanics
Early in the game, Lara is cold and visibly distressed. The mechanics reflect this and instead of starting off by showing she is powerful, she has to hunt and survive. This design shift appears feminist because it centers a woman as a human learning to adapt and it also challenges the stereotype that men are always hunters. The MDA framework helps explain this. The mechanics like scavenging and climbing lead to dynamics of persistence and growth, resulting in an aesthetic of survival and transformation.
However, the camera often contradicts this progress that the rebooted game seems to address. It often focuses on Lara’s injuries and invites the player to observe her pain. This isn’t sexualized in a traditional sense, but she is still being watched through that lens of distress. The game involves some empathy, but also turns trauma into somewhat of a spectacle. I should also mention that the camera angle definitely still sexualizes Lara in some ways by showing a lot of close-up shots focusing on her body.
Analysis and Critique
Most of the other male protagonists in the game start off with skill and confidence, whereas Lara’s character has to grow throughout the game. Much of that growth is tied to physical trauma, and pain becomes a way that she proves her strength through repeated scenes of harm. I would argue that a player is asked to care about her because of the pain she endures rather than the decisions she makes.
One critique I have about the game is that most enemies are violent men, which one could argue suggests the stereotype of helpless femininity and brutal masculinity, and Lara’s power mainly comes from resisting them. A more feminist approach would give her a broader range of interactions, such as allies or other women who are more involved in the game. The narrative then could show some strength through connection and leadership instead of just isolation and endurance.
Ethics
The game treats the body as adaptable instead of being fixed, and that Lara’s skills are learned through experience and persistence. This can align with feminist theories that reject fixed traits and emphasize fluid identity. I will say, though, that the game still focuses heavily on her physical suffering, and a more feminist design could leave some additional space for emotional reflection and dialogue beyond just physical endurance.
Conclusion
Tomb Raider makes progress in reframing Lara Croft as a survivor rather than a symbol, and it uses gameplay to support that. However, it does fall into some familiar patterns, using pain as proof of growth and turning trauma into visual drama. Playing the game as a feminist means appreciating its shift in tone while staying critical of how agency is framed. I think that if Lara’s journey is about becoming stronger, the game should let her define that strength through choice and resilience rather than only through suffering.
