Aspyr Pushes Back On Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Outfits Backlash, Insists 'No AI Generated Assets Were Used'
· IGN
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered publisher Aspyr has denied using AI-generated assets, insisting the contentious outfits added via the most recent update "were created by our team of artists."
Last week, fans slammed Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered's latest patch and outfits, claiming they "can't accept this level of quality." Wthin hours of last week's free patch going live, fans flooded social media to share images of "Melting sunglasses, clipping accessories, pixelated and squiggly textures, nonsensical AI slop symbols, and painted on straps and details instead of 3D ones." Said one fan: "I'm sorry, but even if it's free this is nowhere near acceptable."
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The outfits caused such backlash, in fact, that the lead artist on the remaster, Giovanni Lucca, immediately distanced himself from them, writing on X/Twitter at the time: "Hey folks, just to clarify. I was not involved in the art direction of this new patch with the Challenge Mode for Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered. Nome [sic] of the original developers at Saber was involve[d] in it."
The publisher, however, claims otherwise. After telling players that it "hears and appreciates" your feedback regarding the Challenge Mode update, Aspyr said in a statement posted to BlueSky: "The outfits in the update were created by our team of artists. No AI generated assets were used in the update."
It also confirmed that its "top priority" now is delivering a patch to "fix the texture issues and technical bugs," as well as "a series of updates [...] to address a variety of technical issues across all platforms."
Fans weren't convinced, though. "Lie all you want, we aren't stupid," slammed one respondent, while another wrote: "'No AI generated assets'. The patch's key art is literally AI generated. Don't let them gaslight you with this nothing-burger statement, first the lying, and no apology, no progress report, nothing but empty promises of coming patches that likely won't address anything important. Shameful. Do better."
"Okay, so taken at face value, the outfits weren't AI. They're just hideous," commented someone else. "I'm not taking this at face value btw."
As yet, there's no word on when that patch will roll out, but Aspyr said it would "release more details on the patch content and timing as soon as possible."
Previously, Crystal Dynamics included a sensitivity warning in the collection for what it called "deeply harmful" racial and ethnic prejudices, but explained it kept them in "in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it," while publisher Aspyr had to apologize after Lara Croft pinup posters were "inadvertently removed."
Don't forget that a new Tomb Raider game is on the way next year, too: Tomb Raider: Catalyst. It will be the first new entry since 2018's Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which wrapped up a trilogy of games during the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.