Tomb Raider: The Live Experience

Tomb Raider: The Live Experience was a live attraction by Little Lion Entertainment in collaboration with Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix in Camden Market, London. It opened on May 9th, 2022, and closed a year and a half later on December 30th, 2023.

Tomb Raider: The Live Experience features a handful of locations, such as: Croft Manor, Snowy Finland, Sinking Ship, Cananza Cave, Costa Rican Jungle, and Ancient Tomb.

On April 22nd, 2022, it was announced that Alicia Vikander would return to voice Lara Croft, as well as appear in a video message during the attraction. However, the video message never appeared in the attraction, and was never released to the public. Earl Baylon was announced to return as the voice of Jonah Maiava, with Allen Maldonado making his first appearance as Zip ahead of the upcoming Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft.

Story

In the attraction, guests play the role of a student under the tutelage of Lara Croft at the University of Camden Loch. Numerous characters appear as guides to assist the experience, as the participants solve puzzles and complete physical challenges to advance the story further.

Note: The story received alterations throughout its operation, however the general structure remained the same.

Finland

The students start their journey in Croft Manor, where they are soon teleported by a mysterious relic known as a "telesphere", to a snowy cabin in Finland. They are greeted by one of Lara's allies, Parker. Parker plays a message to the guests from Lara warning them that Aidan, Lara's rival, has obtained an artefact with the power to rebuild the world. The students are tasked with travelling across the world using the telesphere and Lara's network to collect 16 relics that could stop said artefact in a race against time, as Aidan's henchmen also embark on a hunt to track them down. Parker appoints a team leader amongst the students, giving them a backpack similar to Lara's, and two medipacks.

Aidan's henchmen soon arrive at the cabin. Parker helps the students escape through a secret passageway and towards a truck for an escape, staying behind to offer a distraction. Parker's screams can be heard from behind the wall. Zip greets the students over an audio link, instructing them to meet a sailing art dealer who may possess some of the relics. Aidan's men catch up to the students where a chase ensues, but the students are successfully able to ward them off for now.

Atlantic Ocean

At the docks, the students must convince the art dealer to allow them on board, and that they are not with the police. The art dealer relents, and the students are able to collect more relics. The ship then enters troublesome waters, with everyone on board attempting to avoid a shipwreck. The telesphere activates to take the students to safety, leaving the art dealer behind. The players are given the choice to give the dealer a medipack in order to keep them alive post-shipwreck, or leave them to fend for themselves completely. Their fate is revealed at the end of the adventure.

Costa Rica

Arriving in the jungle, the students are greeted by one of Lara's friends from her time as a student. They assist them in zip lining towards the Cananza Caves, where a research assistant suffering from hallucinations due to cave fumes invites them inside. The assistant plays them a message from Jonah Maiava, who instructs them to continue their search, and wishing them well on their adventure. After another series of puzzles to find more relics, the students are evacuated due to rising cave fumes. Back in the jungle, two more of Lara's friends challenge the students to an assault course ahead of their final showdown with Aidan. Collecting the final relics, Lara's two friends open the Tomb of Sibu, also warning them that they were going beyond the point of no return.

Tomb of Sibu

The students crawl through a series of tight, narrow and dark tunnels until they emerge within the tomb. They are greeted by an injured Aidan henchman who was double-crossed after having doubts about their operation. Regretful of their past decisions and bleeding to death, players are given the choice to give the wounded henchman a medipack. If the players choose to do so, they are thanked for their forgiveness and empathy. If not, they will slowly die from blood loss. Regardless, the henchman aids the students in taking a leap of faith down to the entrance of the final chamber.

In the final exchange, Aidan confronts the players and maligns modern society. He offers the students to join him in the new world, where the climate crisis and shortages of food, water and energy no longer exist. However, from a platform above, Lara appears. On her command, the students place the relics into a series of plinths, whereas Aidan will remove them and toss them around the chamber. Once they are all in place, the chamber begins to shake, with Aidan's malfunctioning equipment beginning to spark. Lara uses her dual pistols to injure Aidan with a non-lethal wound, before instructing her students to escape.

Private Jet

On their flight home to London, the students are served by Winston. He congratulates them on stopping Aidan, playing one final message from Lara, where she says she looks forward to hearing about their adventures in class next week. Before the students disembark, Winston grades the players on the amount of relics found, challenges completed, and choices made throughout the experience. He then expresses confusion over a recent inquiry from Natla Technologies, who are interested in Lara's archeology work. He hands over a business card that features a real world number that can be used to contact them.

Locations

• Croft Manor
• Finland
• Atlantic Ocean/Sinking Ship
• Costa Rica
  • Costa Rican Jungle
  • Cananza Caves
  • Tomb of Sibu

Trivia

• This attraction exists within its own timeline, combining elements from timelines that preceded it.
• If the players are missing elemental relics during the final confrontation with Aidan, Parker will appear in the chamber and throw the players an extra backpack containing the relic in order to complete the sequence.
• According to on-site staff, Little Lion Entertainment was also developing a version of the experience for Dubai.
• A shipping container during the Sinking Ship section features an exact replica of Lara's compound bow and climbing axe from the Survivor Timeline.
• Winston appears at the end of the attraction, and grades the team on their work during the experience.
• Players are given a business card for Natla Technologies at the end of the experience, with a working UK telephone number of 0203 983 5531.
• The on-site actors for the experience were a rotating cast, with many employees filling different roles during different sessions. Characters like Parker were played by people of different gender identities.
• During the final showdown, Lara Croft appears on a platform far away from the exchange with Aidan. Light and shadows obscured the live actor's face, as her lines by Alicia Vikander were played over a speaker.
• In her video message at the start of the attraction, Lara would have been seen wearing an outfit similar to the Remnant Jacket from Rise of the Tomb Raider, as seen in a social media post from the filming of this segment.

Gallery

The only known image of Alicia Vikander filming for Tomb Raider: The Live Experience.