Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition has been in the news a lot lately for various contested aspects of the the next-gen port, from a lower framerate on the Xbox One to an altered appearance for Lara Croft that makes her look more like a dirty supermodel than a relatively normal survivor type. Now over at Hardcore Gamer it's been discovered that the scenes of violence depicted upon Lara have also been toned down – at least in one narrative sequence.



The scene in question occurs around the halfway point of the game, when Lara is tied up and beaten by a couple of thugs. In the original release, the damage to Lara's face during the beating is extensive, with her surviving the encounter with what appears to be a horribly beaten black eye, a large cut on her forehead and a generally bruised appearance, blood notwithstanding.



However, in Definitive Edition the more graphic elements of the beating have been removed, with little blood or wounds to speak of. While no explanation has been given to this in-game retouch, it certainly raises the question over Crystal Dynamics perhaps wanting to even further distance themselves following a 2012 quote from executive producer Ron Rosenberg that claimed-and-then-backpedaled that Lara would have to kill to survive against attempted sexual assault.



In any case, with all tweaks to the Definitive Edition, it wouldn't be unreasonable for some fans to question whether or not Crystal Dynamics is perhaps going back on the original, no-frills-or-sexualization depiction of Ms. Croft that the Tomb Raider reboot was originally supposed to be.



Via Hardcore Gamer