'A world wounded by colonialism': 'Tomb Raider' board game condemns its own 30-year-old storyline as 'colonialist'
A tabletop board game based on the video game and movie franchise "Tomb Raider" reportedly condemned its own plot for out-of-date themes, which it characterized as "colonialist."
The story of Lara Croft and "Tomb Raider" began in 1994 and, as its name suggests, focuses on a female relic hunter who raids tombs and hunts treasure across the world.
The popular franchise has enjoyed enormous success in video games and film iterations, so much so that Evil Hat Productions saw fit to bring the story to life in board-game format in February 2024.
The game, "Tomb Raider: Truth of Shadows," says that players will "face perilous challenges and tough choices" as they learn what it takes to be a hero.
Nowhere in the official synopsis, however, does it include the game's alleged self-deprecating stance on the entire basis of its plotline. That commentary was reportedly saved for the game's instruction manual, which fans of the franchise quickly learned about when opening their new board game.
According to Tomb Raider Forums and Tomb Raider Chronicles, websites that deal specifically with fans and "Tomb Raider" content, Evil Hat Productions has called its own product a work of colonialism.
An alleged excerpt from the game's manual gave a definition of the term "raiding" and then condemned it as operating on "the assumption of 'finders keepers' that grants raiders with the means and the drive to claim ownership of artefacts, regardless of whether they have any historical or cultural claim to the treasure."
Aside from the strange and obvious statement declaring theft as immoral, this was not the only alleged cultural argument from the company.
"Later games released in the franchise have started the work of addressing this by having Lara Croft acknowledge her past mistakes and try to understand and show respect for the cultures and communities she comes into contact with," the manual reportedly read.
It also allegedly noted that the treasure hunter knows better than to decorate her mantle with the stolen artifacts and now prefers to prioritize "seeking out the truth."
"Much of this game is inspired by her humanity, struggle with heroism, and her tenacity. We believe that all three aspects are an important component in creating a game that celebrates history and culture while acknowledging the respect and work required to live in a world wounded by colonialism," the quote continued.
"In this game, we seek to continue in that work alongside Crystal Dynamics by creating a sandbox for you to tell stories that address colonialist themes in play and create your own stories of respect and support for the people and cultures your Seekers encounter."
Crystal Dynamics, of course, refers to the team that is currently developing "Tomb Raider" games.
Ideologues using beloved IPs as meatpuppets once again\nthe irony of using this as a tagline; "The Truth is hidden. The Truth is dangerous. And in the end, the power of Truth is what we make it."— (@)
If the reports are accurate, this would not be the first time Evil Hat Productions has brought its own product in front of a theoretical human rights tribunal.
For its 2020 game "Fate of Cthulhu," the creators saw fit to condemn the original author of the source material used for the game.
While using his mythos, Evil Hat Productions found time to denounce American writer H.P. Lovecraft as a bigot.
Following a brief trigger warning about "systemic abuses of power," the company simply wrote, "Howard Phillips Lovecraft was a racist and an anti-Semite," in bold letters.
However, the company's use of his works was later justified by citing the writer's own quote and stating that "writers of color" have turned his work into their own stories.
"We hope you use [the stories] for inspiration as much as you use Lovecraft's original works."
While developing Fate of Cthulhu, we were obligated to reflect on the problematic roots of the source material.\nWe tackle that on page 6.\nThe mythos is definitely worth exploring - it's also worth re-examining.\nhttps://t.co/v0F853zsM0— (@)
"The main tool for progressive ideology in gaming (according to Sweet Baby Inc.-style consulting groups) is to 'flip,'" celebrated game developer Mark Kern told Blaze News.
"Their guidelines suggest flipping everything: gender, storylines, main characters. This is deemed to increase inclusion and accessibility of the material to a modern audience. It is actually the Marxist strategy of erasing the past in order to build a new future in their image," Kern continued.
"The goal is not to include everyone, it is to exclude their political opponents. This is a repeated behavior in games to subvert, erase, and destroy. This is why they had to change 'Tomb Raider.'"
The franchise has faced publicity hurdles in 2024, which began with a release of a remaster of its original video games.
In them, the titles received an in-game content warning for "offensive depictions" and "racial" prejudices but were not censored.
Evil Hat Productions has yet to respond to questions regarding the instruction manual and its position on the subject matter. This article will be updated with any applicable responses.
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Canada's human rights commission suggests Christmas and Easter holidays amount to 'systemic religious discrimination'
The Canadian Human Rights Commission recently published a paper suggesting that statutory holidays linked to celebrations of Christian significance, Christmas and Easter in particular, are evidence of "religious intolerance."
The report from the federally-funded "human rights watchdog" made little secret of its ultimate aim, underscoring that Canada must work towards the "eradication" of such so-called religious intolerance.
The CHRC was created in 1977 and tasked with administering the northern nation's Human Rights Act. While the outfit allegedly exists today "to help ensure that everyone in Canada is treated fairly," it prioritizes helping specific identity groups and has a team that is 76.8% female.
The commission, which takes for granted that "[s]ystemic racism is a persistent problem in Canada" and receives around $32 million in taxpayer funds annually, has assumed considerable judicial powers in recent decades.
The CHRC now appears keen to tackle what a lesser provincial human rights outfit alternatively termed "systemic faithism."
In an Oct. 23 publication entitled "Discussion Paper on Religion Intolerance," the CHRC stated, "Religious intolerance impedes the ability of Canadian society to be democratic, welcoming, open-minded, and accepting. Only through understanding and acknowledging the existence of religious intolerance in Canada can we begin to address it and work towards its eradication."
"Religious intolerance can materialize in many ways, from microaggressions, to lack of accommodation and acceptance of religious practices," continued the paper.
This intolerance is allegedly "deeply rooted in [Canada's] identity as a settler colonial state" and "manifests itself in present-day systemic religious discrimination."
The National Post highlighted that contrary to the core claim of the paper, the free exercise of religion has been Canadian law since before the nation's confederation in 1867. The colonial Province of Canada enacted the Freedom of Worship Act in 1851, protecting "free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference."
Despite well over a century of religious pluralism, the CHRC paper claimed, "Discrimination against religious minorities in Canada is grounded in Canada's history of colonialism. This history manifests itself in present-day systemic religious discrimination. An obvious example is statutory holidays in Canada. Statutory holidays related to Christianity, including Christmas and Easter, are the only Canadian statutory holidays linked to religious holy days."
"As a result, non-Christians may need to request special accommodations to observe their holy days and other times of the year where their religion requires them to abstain from work," continued the paper.
While the CHRC insinuated that the celebration of Christmas and Easter — in a nation where an estimated 63.2% of the population is Christian — comes at the expense of non-Christians, the paper later acknowledged that Canadian employers and service providers are legally obligated and duty bound to accommodate the religious requirements of clients and employees.
Conservative lawmaker Jeremy Patzer responded to the report, writing, "This is ridiculous. Christmas is celebrated all around the world by people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. This is another example of woke ideology fomenting within the federal government. I for one will be celebrating Christmas whole heartedly. Merry Christmas!"
John Rustad, the leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia, wrote on X, "The Trudeau Liberals have lost their minds to woke culture. There is nothing discriminatory about Christmas."
Christmas has been celebrated in Canada for well over three centuries and has been a multicultural event for just as long. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, there are indications that Jean de Brébeuf — an early missionary who was ultimately tortured to death by Iroquois Indians — was celebrating Christmas with the Huron in their native tongue as early as the 1640s.
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Taxpayer dollars set to fund Oxford research over the link between milk and racism?!
Yes, you read that right. Milk is apparently racist, and we need taxpayer dollars to prove it.
Pat Gray and the “Unleashed” panel discuss how a team of academics at an Oxford museum plan to conduct research over milk’s link to colonialism, which will be funded by taxpaying U.K. citizens who surely will be thrilled to contribute to such a noble cause.
“An Oxford museum will research the political nature of milk and its colonial legacies. One of the experts involved has previously argued that milk is a Northern European obsession; it's been imposed on other parts of the world,” reads Pat.
“[Dr. Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp] said the assumption that milk was a key part of the human diet may be understood as a white supremacist one, as many populations outside Europe and North America have high levels of lactose intolerance in adulthood.”
It's Time We Talk About the Link Between Milk and Colonialismyoutu.be
The museum has announced that “it had received the funding,” but “the size of the grant has not yet been revealed.”
“The museum said by focusing on communities intersecting industry aid and government regulation, the project aims to center on heritage as a vital framework for understanding how colonial legacies influence contemporary issues that affect people's lives.”
Who knew milk was considered a contemporary issue?
“I am so pissed off at Borden right now. I am just so angry at their part in keeping people down,” says Pat sarcastically.
But in all seriousness, thank goodness “it's happening in Britain and not here.”
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