Lara Croft has always been known as the most prominent and beautiful female character in gaming, but now she’s starting to be recognized for something else and that’s her age. Over time, as Croft has aged, she’s been given several face lifts in an attempt to salvage the franchise and a couple of days ago, another face lift took place in hopes of rebooting the series for the last time. Instead of a promiscuous and sexually clad Croft, the design team is going in a different direction this time around and are instead trying to promote Lara through her vulnerability and general badassness.

“We wanted to make a girl that was somewhat familiar, yet had a special quality about her – something in the way her eyes look and her expression in her face that makes you want to care for her,” art director Brian Horton explained to Game Informer.

“Her skin is still bare on the arms and there are going to be rips and tears on her clothes, but it won’t be about being revealing. It’s a way of saying that through these tough situations, there is a beauty and vulnerability coming through. I think that is sexy in its own way.

“There is a different tone we are going for across the board,” he said, “and Lara Croft as a sex object isn’t our goal. No unlockable bikinis.”

Despite this very much needed change, I have an odd feeling that without the sexual prowess that Croft used to portray, a lot of gamers are going to overlook the treasure hunter entirely. If that holds true, gaming has reached a very sad state of mind — no doubt.

“She isn’t going to be as tall as the men around her – about a head shorter. This reinforces the feeling that she’s against all odds,” Horton said.

“The relative proportion is more important than the actual number [5′ 7”] – making her feel like a scrapper of sorts, even though she will always find a way through her self-determination. She will find a way to survive even if she doesn’t have Amazonian proportions in the game.

“The emphasis on acrobatics isn’t nearly as important as the fact that she is capable.”

How excited are some of you for this reboot? Personally, I think this is one of the best decisions they’ve made with Croft in a very long time. Hopefully during development, things go smoothly and fans end up with a great product, because watching storied franchises like Sonic, Tomb Raider, etc,… go into the bargain bin on a consistent basis is getting a little depressing.