Other : The Tomb Raider Website
Tomb Raider 1
The very first Tomb Raider website. It is the US version (as it links to Eidos Interactive. com, not to mention the animated Gif starts with a US release date), and probably the only UK version there ever was (it appears that the first UK site is in 2000 and it is linked to the Eidos Interactive website). It opened in December 1996, as confirmed by the old fansite 'TR Archives', the first capture of it on Web Archive is dated to December 26th 1996, so it is quite close to the game's release. Links include Reviews/Quotes regarding the game, Screenshots and Demos, Storyline and Game Features. Sadly, you can't use them now.
The next capture date is of January 27th 1997, and there is a slight change to what you can see. Pages have been merged together and the links now include Reviews/Quotes regarding the game, Screenshots/Demos/Contests, Storyline/Features and Lara's Page & Calendar. Again, you can't use them now but you can use the web archive to find the pages, though on most of them, there isn't anything to see. You can however see links to sound clips and video clips that players would've been treated to. 
Using Web Archive, we see that sometime around December 1997, the official Tomb Raider 1 website updated its home page, to act as a portal to the Tomb Raider 2 and Fighting Force websites and to 'Lara's Page' and 'Demos and Patches'. The homepage did change around June 1997 but this image is lost to history.
This is the official German Tomb Raider homepage. The earliest capture on the web archive is December 27th 1996. The icons, from left to right go to pages: Hints, Press, Lara, Info and Links, but again, none of them work now, nor can you find the pages.
Links:
English Home Page - Calendar - Wallpapers / Calendar Art - Wallpapers / Calendar - Storyline - Features - Sounds - Hints & Cheats - Movies (Which can be seen on Eidos Interactive here) English Home Page Transition to TR2 German Home Page 
On to Tomb Raider: Unfinished Business, or Tomb Raider Gold as it is also known as. The first image shows a landing page, where you can find a link to the pages of Tomb Raider 1, The Shadow of the Cat levels hub page or the Unfinished Business levels hub page.
This was the first expansion pack for the Tomb Raider series, released in 1998 and contained 4 levels. The design of the webpages pretty much followed the layout of the Tomb Raider 2 website, and you could find everything that you wanted to know about the levels. Links:
Home Page - Drawings Page Unfinished Business Page - Movies - Screenshots - Press Shadow of the Cat Page - Movies - Screenshots - Press Tomb Raider 2
Rather than updating the page for 'tombraider.com', the website for Tomb Raider 2 instead was an offshoot of pages - 'tombraider.com/tr2', and for the first and only time, it offered a low bandwidth site in black and white and a high bandwidth site in colour. Again, being a US domain, it showed promotions of US stores. In later dates, the TR2 pages remained available and promoted Flatland Rover. From the pictures above you can see that there are the usual links that tell you about the game and there is also a strategy guide written by Prima called a 'Fast Track Guide'. The picture in the middle of the page is animated - Lara winks and the tiger lifts its head.
Links:
Home Page - Storyline - Baddies - Features - Screenshots - Press - Demos Home Page Low Res - Storyline - Baddies - Features - Screenshots - Press 
The website was updated again in April 1999 for the release of Tomb Raider 2: Golden Mask (Tomb Raider 2 Gold). Initially, there was only one download link for one of the levels, but a second link was later available with the release of the second level. Also included were links to a new Fast Track Guide and to the Flatland Rover. Fans were treated to screenshots, wallpapers and developer insights.
Note the 'Back to Home' button with the US TR logo - the domain of 'TombRaider.com' was a hub page and TR2 Gold became a new link in the selection to the other TR games available at the time. Links:
Home Page - Storyline & Features - Wallpaper - Screenshots - Downloads - Press - Designer Diary - Community - Contests Tomb Raider 3
With the release of Tomb Raider 3 in 1998, a new site was created and it included all the goodies fans wanted to see about the upcoming game. It is around this time that a different Tomb Raider website was created, called 'Lara's World' - no doubt to satisfy the increasing interest surrounding Lara herself.
Later, when the expansion pack 'Tomb Raider 3: The Lost Artefact' was released, there was a link to a dedicated site for it on the TR3 homepage. Links:
Home Page - New Features - Screenshots - Screenshot Archive - Story - Locations - Press - Demo Arcade - Wallpaper Tomb Raider 3: The Lost Artefact
The Lost Artefact website was available in 2000 and was made with Flash. It contains all the basic information that fans would want to know about this new expansion pack. Interestingly, this is the US site and there is also a Japanese site too.
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
In 1999, a new game was released and a new set of webpages was created for it. The Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation website wasn't as still as the TR3 website was. Areas of the page seemed to shine and there was a little animation in the area that reads: 'Young Lara Revealed'. On the other pages, the moon passes over the sun. Along the right side of the homepage, there were links to other promotions, such as Flatland Rover, True Confections chocolate and the Sega Dreamcast version of TR4.
The page to 'Designer Diary' existed but it never said anything but 'Coming Soon'. Downloads included movies, wallpapers, demos and patches. 
Here is the French version of the Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation website. It contains all the same information and pictures that the English version does, however, this version is the only one that offers screensavers and the Jigsaw and Clicker games for download. Could this be the origin of these mini games?
As a side note, Eidos Interactive hosted a version of the official Tomb Raider website on their own UK domain, and it did have a few small differences. The most obvious difference is the use of the European TR logo. There is a different Gif that plays in the small window on the lower right side, promoting updates to the site. It could only be found on the Eidos.co.uk website but judging by the web captures, it didn't appear to last too long on the site - barely a year. There isn't anything too different on other pages: there is slightly different text on the Features page, the Press page only has one link and there are only two groups of wallpapers in the Downloads Archive page.
Links:
Home Page - Features - Screenshots - Screenshot Archive - Story - Downloads - Press - Interview - Designer Diary - Young Lara - Press Release - Young Lara - Biography | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 | Page 6 - Young Lara - Wallpaper - Young Lara - Screenshots - Young Lara - Screenshot Archive - The Millennium Edition - Sega Dreamcast French Website: Home Page - Story - Demos - Screenshots - Wallpapers & Screensavers - Videos - Biography - Interview with Lara Croft - Interview with Adrian Smith - The Team - Press Eidos UK Website: Home Page Tomb Raider Chronicles
Tomb Raider Chronicles appeared in 2000. The sort of pages available were about the same as before - story, screenshots, etc - but there was something exciting about the release of the 5th game, something that fans had been wanting for a long while, and that is the Level Editor. The program itself was found on the PC disks of the game but the webpage for it offered a FAQ, additional WAD and texture files and some screenshots of the program in action and of what "rookies can do". The downloads offered wallpapers and a link to the US Eidos Interactive website for more wallpapers, screenshots, movies and the demo.
In sponsorship with Timex, there was also an animated Gif of the different Timex TMX Grip Clips that were available for purchase, as well as a link to where you could buy one for yourself. 
This is the Japanese Tomb Raider Chronicles homepage, found on the Eidos.co.jp domain. Interestingly, like several TR hub websites, the copyright is stuck at 1996. This site has all that the English version has - screenshots, level editor images - but they had unique title images to the page, as seen only on the Downloads page now.
This is the French homepage for TR Chronicles. It is a Flash website but it still works today if you have a browser extension. It is on the Eidos-France website. It's pretty cool as you can learn about the locations, character, TR chronology, see some screenshots and other things. Some of the pages have links to go elsewhere, which do not work now.
Links:
Home Page - Story/Features - Level Editor - Screenshots - Downloads - Community - Press Eidos Japan Website Home Page - Story - Features - Level Editor - Screenshots - Download Eidos France Website Home Page Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
The Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness website marked a new format for TR sites - it was created completely in Flash. It was more animated and far more jazzy than a still site. There were new things on offer: Eidos Mobile offered exclusive goodies for your mobile phone, trailers could be watched on the site, and there was an updated news feed on the homepage.
Sadly this is one of several Tomb Raider websites that you can't revisit anymore, though with the use of standalone Flash players, you are able to view it offline. Tomb-of-Ash has managed to preserve the SWF files and you can pretty much see everything that was. The Trivia Quiz is a new feature to the Tomb Raider website, and the questions do change each time - shame that there weren't more! Tomb Raider: Legend
Image Source: Meagan Marie, Crystal Dynamics
This is the second of the TR websites that you can't view anymore as it was created completely in Flash. A new feature to the sites was the 'Radio' at the top, where fans could listen to various tracks from the new game. Not only could you view the various pages, some of the scenery was interactive - if you hovered over one of the stone buttons along the top bar, some rocks would fall down the screen. Another new feature to the site was a VIP section - fans could register with the site and they would be treated to exclusive content, such as a Desktop Lara, 3D screens and VIP news.
Links:
The only page worth directing to, from the initial Legend landing page, is the Poland TRL website, which actually takes you to a fansite. Poland Home Page Tomb Raider: AnniversaryThis is another site that you can't see anymore as it was created in Flash, but the fansite 'Aspidetr' has some pictures that preserve how it looked.
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Thankfully the Underworld website wasn't another Flash site. It kept fans up to date with news, new articles and various other assets that became available. The image above shows the news page as the home button takes you to a page where you can select your language/region.
Links: Landing Page - News - Media - Blogs - Games Tomb Raider (2013)Again, you can't access this website anymore as it doesn't go further than the age gate.
Rise of the Tomb RaiderTo go to the homepage in 2015 and 2016, you'll only get a white screen - it can no longer be seen anymore.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
It appears that the official TR website briefly held its own domain, but some time after, it was moved onto the Square Enix domain. It contains everything that fans need to know about the latest game.
Links: Homepage on TR Domain - Homepage of Square Enix Domain Tomb Raider
On February 8th 2024, the official Tomb Raider website was relaunched in a new design. For the time being, as there is no information about an upcoming game, it currently serves as a hub for information about current projects and news articles. It also features a mini puzzle for those who have created an account, guest articles and a link to the official Tomb Raider Gear Store.
Link: Homepage |
