Maybe some of you have noticed a character with a familiar name floating around social media. The name “Melissa Croft” perhaps? Some of you may have had questions like: “Who is this? Is she a real part of any Tomb Raider games?

Well to answer your questions, yes, she was. She is not a new concept. Here is a direct quote from the Tomb Raider Wiki page explaining it farther.

“Melissa Croft was a working concept in Core Design‘s version of Tomb Raider: Anniversary Edition which was cancelled. Melissa was supposed to be playable in a cooperative multiplayer mode, where the second player could control Melissa. After the player has completed the game once, they then would also have an option to play as Melissa in single-player mode. ^[1]”

Melissa is from Lara’s mother’s side of the family. Melissa Croft is a poor cousin and has a less moral interest in achieving her artefacts. Yes, she too harbours an interest concerning valuable artefacts from antiquities—a definable Croft trait.

The 25th anniversary of Tomb Raider in October

What I think would be a cool idea, and I do not know if this is planned at the moment, is if they included her in the newest mobile game due out this year just in time for the 25th anniversary! It gives a bit more material to explore that points to the classic Tomb Raider games.

For those who don’t know about this character, here is some images of concept art of Melissa. from Kev Crossly. Images from Planet Lara Face book and Core Design

Melissa was obviously an on the edge character and very different from Lara Croft. In fact, you could say they are exact opposites. That adds great diversity and allows us to see the double edged sword in character contrast. There is a defined steampunk element to this bad girl Melissa. I am a fan of that look.

By looking at her I can imagin a lot of spinoff stories concerning her. I can see her together with even Trinity, however, would she join them, or work against them as a double agent? Things to ponder about and I do hope they explore Melissa for futur adventuring. Until that point we can dream! See you all later!

Remember to:

Explore the World!

`Emma AKA M Harris