Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness gave players a harder, more complicated Lara Croft and a new playable character in Kurtis Trent, and the writer behind it was Murti Schofield, who joined Core Design in 2000 as lead narrative designer.
Rethinking Lara
Schofield went back through the earlier games' lore so the new direction wouldn't throw out what was already there. "This wasn't to be a transgression, chucking out any of her admirable trademark qualities - more of a transformation into something darker, more noir, grittier than before," Schofield said.
His starting point was what happened to Lara after her mentor Werner von Croy left her in the pyramids in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation.
"Surely she would have been traumatised to some extent, however tough, remarkable and independent spirited," he said. That trauma became the base for a new Lara, less interested in tomb raiding and more focused on confronting her past and the man she believed had betrayed her.
The Backpack
Lara loses her backpack in the streets of Paris after Werner's murder, and that's the clean break from the old Lara.
"To match the 'noir' feel I wanted to evoke, it was a no-brainer that she would dress differently, darker, more 'street' including the way she would express herself through her makeup and general manner," Schofield said. What he ended up with was "a driven, highly motivated avenging angel with a mission – and in no mood for taking prisoners!"
Making Kurtis Trent
Kurtis Trent was Tomb Raider's first secondary playable character, and Schofield got to build him from scratch.
"I could cherry pick traits from all of my favourite heroic characters, ones I have admired since I was a kid," he said. Those ran from Alan Quartermain and Philip Marlowe on the page through to James Dean, Steve McQueen and, inevitably, Indiana Jones on screen.
He got a backstory of his own too. As the last member of the Secret Order of the Lux Veritatis, Kurtis could control his Chirugai disc telekinetically, throw up psychic shields, and use the "Wolf Sense" he inherited from his Navajo mother.
"I had the most incredible fun weaving together his back story and identifying how his unusual upbringing would form him into the Lone Blade Disc Slinger he was to become," Schofield said.
Restored for the Remaster
Players never got to fully experience those abilities in the original game, and the upcoming Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered will restore them, which Schofield calls "fantastically exciting."
The high point of the whole development for him was the voice recording in London with Jonell Elliot (Lara), Eric Loren (Kurtis) and Joss Ackland.
"Within the first hour I realised that the world I'd been carrying around in my head and the characters within it actually worked. They came alive and the world began to take solid form," he said. "There's nothing like that as vindication of all of one's efforts."
Looking Back
The Angel of Darkness had a troubled development and a mixed reception at release, and it's held on to a following that rates its story and characters. Schofield thanked the fans who've valued the team's work over the years.
"I am unendingly grateful to them for their words of appreciation and enthusiasm," he said, signing off with "Thank you... and HAPPY DAZE, forever!"
The rest of his work is on his site, murtischofield.com.
TLDR;
Murti Schofield, narrative designer on Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, made Lara darker after The Last Revelation and built Kurtis Trent out of his favourite fictional heroes. Kurtis's supernatural abilities, which players never got to fully experience in the original game, will be restored in the upcoming Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered.