If you’ve seen the gorgeous trailer for the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot that first made its appearance back at E3 earlier this year, you are well aware of the new look that Eidos has given Lara Croft. In a recent statement by the game’s art director Brian Horton, Crystal Dynamics had several reasons for bringing about this noticeable change.

On the official Eidos forums, Horton explained how Lara’s new look strikes the perfect balance of mixing the new with the old, as the team worked hard to keep her look a bit “understated” while balancing that with a much more subtle sex appeal.

The idea behind the grey was something that the team debated for a while. As a fan of the classics we wanted to nod to the original outfit in some way, and our first concept was of a light blue tank. We lived with that for a while and decided that a more neutral color was more fitting the personality profile we are building for her in this origin story. We wanted to allow Lara to look understated. She’s not interested in standing out because she hasn’t yet achieved the confidence in herself. The grey also had an interesting side effect; depending on the lighting it changes color. For instance, in the Den her top reads as blue, which I really liked. We use color in the lighting throughout the game to express emotions so Lara’s outfit seems to change based on these color shifts. We didn’t want her to have a uniform, so designing clothes that could be purchased in a store seemed like the correct choice. Layered tanks, khakis and boots felt right for her, and if you look at the original Lara it’s very close to that vision. The shorts were never a part of the equation for us, nor being an icon of fashion. It just didn’t feel right in context to her character or as a crew member on this expedition. If you feel this detracts from her sex appeal I understand, but that was not our main goal. Our goal was to create the most believable, grounded version of Lara we could, younger and more emotionally rich.

From what we’ve seen of the game thus far, it looks like Crystal Dynamics has really nailed an authentic look and feel for Miss Lara Croft. For more news on this upcoming action adventure title, keep it here at PlayStation Lifestyle.