Tomb Raider IV screenwriter reveals how he "killed" Lara Croft - he hoped the producer wouldn't read to the end

The developers' fatigue was reflected in their approach to constructing the story's ending.

The ending of Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation hinted that Lara Croft did not survive the adventure. A book, "The Making of Tomb Raider: 1997-2000," dedicated to the creation of classic games about the tomb raider's exploits, is currently in preparation, and developers are giving interviews, revealing some details of their work.

During a conversation with Radio Times, designer and screenwriter Andy Sandham said that the developers "were fed up with Lara" and wanted to kill her:

I wrote [Lara's death into the script] and handed the initial draft with the plot outline to Adrian [Smith, producer] and Jez [Jeremy Heath-Smith, producer], almost certain that they would get bored and wouldn't read it to the end. I suppose that's what happened. I remember Jez later yelling at us about it. Probably when he saw that final cutscene.

Designer Richard Morton describes those events a little differently. According to him, the idea of Lara's death came about because the creators of Tomb Raider IV "didn't know how to end the game." However, it wasn't a real death - it was assumed that the death would be temporary and Lara Croft would be brought back for PlayStation 2.