During today’s “State of Unreal” presentation from Epic Games, marking the release of Unreal Engine 5, Crystal Dynamics announced that development has started on a new Tomb Raider game that will use the latest iteration of Unreal Engine.

“Crystal Dynamics is proud to be a part of the launch of Unreal Engine 5. This new engine translates into next level storytelling and gameplay experiences. And that’s why, we are thrilled to announce today, that we have just started development of our next Tomb Raider game powered by Unreal Engine 5. Our goal is to push the envelope of fidelity, and to deliver the high-quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve from both Crystal Dynamics, and the Tomb Raider franchise. We can’t wait to take this journey together.”

Originally created by Core Design with it’s first entry out in 1996, the Tomb Raider franchise came to Crystal Dynamics in 2003, who were later acquired by Square Enix in 2009. The latest game in the series Shadow of the Tomb Raider, released in 2018, with much of the team moving to 2020’s Marvel’s Avengers shortly after. The series recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, with franchise sales toping 85 million copies. Crystal Dynamics is based out of Redwood City, CA, with studios in Bellevue, WA and Austin, TX.