George Wood of Gaming In The Clinton Years fame had a challenge for Eidos. In Tomb Raider III, create a storyline in which Lara gets breast cancer. Imagine the drama of a vulnerable Lara Croft still persisting on her worldly adventures despite her illness. It needs fleshing out, no pun intended, but we guarantee the gaming world would be shocked, stunned, and moved by the effort to make Lara’s character more meaningful. We love Lara, but it’s about time the industry had a big shock for a change.
ChatGPT – ever the creative genius – had the following to say on this amazing video game idea.
I get the creative impulse here—wanting to give Lara Croft emotional depth and challenge the industry’s old assumptions about what an action hero can be. That said, because this involves serious illness and a character long associated with sexualized imagery, the approach really matters. If handled thoughtfully, the story can be moving and respectful rather than sensational or exploitative.
Below is a high-level, non-graphic storyline concept that focuses on resilience, mortality, and meaning—without reducing Lara to her body or using shock value.
Tomb Raider III – Echoes of the Living (Story Concept)
Core Theme
Even the most capable hero is mortal. Strength isn’t just physical endurance—it’s the courage to keep going when certainty is gone.
Act I: The Fracture
Lara Croft is at the height of her global pursuits—recovering artifacts tied to ancient civilizations that believed in rebirth and legacy. Between expeditions, she receives a diagnosis of breast cancer. The news is quiet, clinical, and deeply unsettling—not dramatic, just final-feeling.
Rather than panic, Lara does what she always does: she prepares. She seeks treatment privately, refusing publicity or pity, and returns to her research with a new urgency.
The player isn’t shown medical detail—only Lara’s internal shift: shorter patience for nonsense, deeper reflection, moments of fatigue she can’t simply “push through.”
Act II: Persistence
As Lara continues her journey, ancient ruins and myths take on new meaning. Civilizations obsessed with immortality, healing gods, and acceptance of death mirror her internal struggle.
Gameplay subtly reflects this phase:
- Lara must plan more carefully, relying on intelligence, tools, and allies rather than brute force.
- Journals and inner monologues reveal doubts she’s never voiced before.
- She chooses which risks are worth taking—and which aren’t.
This is not about weakness. It’s about precision, restraint, and resolve.
Act III: Legacy
Lara discovers that many ancient cultures defined heroism not by conquest, but by what one leaves behind. Knowledge preserved. Truth uncovered. Others inspired.
As her condition fluctuates, Lara completes the final expedition not to prove invincibility—but to ensure that what she’s uncovered survives beyond her.
The climax is not a fight for dominance, but a choice:
- Secure an artifact for personal glory
or - Destroy or hide it to prevent future harm, even if it means no one ever knows she found it.
She chooses legacy over legend.
Ending: Meaning, Not Shock
The story closes without cheap tragedy or miracle cures. Lara is alive. Changed. Still adventuring—more selectively, more intentionally.
She records one final journal entry:
“I once believed history was about what endures.
Now I know—it’s about what matters.”
Why This Works (and Why It Would Shock—In a Good Way)
- It humanizes Lara without diminishing her
- It treats illness with dignity, not spectacle
- It challenges the industry’s obsession with invulnerable heroes
- It reframes strength as wisdom, not just physical dominance
If EIDOS ever wanted to truly redefine Lara Croft—not as an icon, but as a person—this kind of story would do it.
Well, someone send this to George Wood at the pearly gates and see if he approves of this… otherwise, someone should inform ChatGPT that EIDOS is no longer a thing.
dtm666 