Tidbits
  1. In the leaked concept art for Tomb Raider in 2010, it was suggested that Lara was going to be able to ride a horse around the island. However in later interviews, Crystal Dynamics brand director Karl Stewart revealed that "we soon realised that a horse implied ‘open world’, like, ‘Why can’t I gallop around the whole island?’ So the horse had to go." The whole island was never going to be open world but the hubs would be.
  2. In the 'Turning Point' trailer, Lara has an iPhone 4 with a phone cover by Specks and is using 'Beats' by Dr Dre earphones. The music that can be heard in that trailer is said to be "an original techno piece "whipped up" by in-house sound designer Alex Wilmer".
  3. In early concept art, the game was originally titled 'Tomb Raider: Ascension'.
  4. In the 'Turning Point' trailer, there was a red crab, seen on the rocks. Fans on the official forum named it 'FeeFee'. In the game, in the location 'Shipwreck Beach', there are several crabs wandering about on the beach. If you shoot one, you will get the achievement/trophy 'Crab Cakes' for killing 'FeeFee the crab'.
  5. After finding all the GPS' in the game, there is a classic secret chime, followed by Lara saying 'ah-ha'.
  6. Amelia Earhart was one of Lara's inspirations for her character/ In addition, the DLC tomb 'Tomb of the Lost Adventurer' is based on Earhart's last known location, her plane crashing on a lost island. Lara's Aviatrix outfit is based on Earhart's classic bomber jacket.
  7. Steph was removed due to lack of character building.
  8. In the Challenge tomb 'Tomb of the Handmaidens', as you approach the treasure chest, if you look up, you will see a wooden pole with metal spikes. Brian Horton stated in a live stream of the game that this is a pyre similar to the one where Sam is tied to, which was used to see if a woman was suitable for Himiko's soul.
  9. The murals that can be seen when approaching Captain Jessop tell the story of the handmaiden heading up the waters, and then the winds caused by Himiko's spirit to put out the flames of the ritual, and then finally the ritual is complete.
  10. The descent (scene where Lara heads downs a waterfall and then lands into a plane, slips on a parachute and then through trees) was inspired by Rambo: First Blood.
  11. There is a relic that you pick up that Lara first believes is real. After examining, she sees that it is 'Made in China'. Brian Horton during his Tomb Raider (2013) stream said that during research, this exact mistake happened to them so as an inside joke, they added it in.
  12. When the challenge tombs were first made, they were scavenger dens only. But they decided to add a level of history to them, making them ancient rooms which the scavengers took over for other purposes.
  13. 'Sky boat' was the developer's nickname for the ship that is suspended in the sky, the scene is Lara's descent via the gondola.
  14. Boris the big boss on the Endurance has a toy bunny tucked into his belt.
  15. During his live stream of Tomb Raider (2013) in September 2015, Brian Horton agreed with fans that Alex was not a possible love interest for Lara and they were strictly friends. Sam however was open for interpretation.
  16. The developers had originally planned to sacrifice Sam so that the other survivors could leave the island, however the developers didn’t want to force failure on players.
  17. According to issue 126 of the official Playstation magazine which announced the PS4 version of Rise of the Tomb Raider, the total sales of Tomb Raider on all formats is approximately 8.5 million copies worldwide.
  18. Tomb Raider (2013) contains 169 collectibles in total and 23 chapters.
  19. There are 35,000 polygons in Lara’s in game model.
  20. There were plans early in the development stage to make Tomb Raider (2013) into a co-op game and it was to include specifically designed crewmates that would play alongside Lara to survive the environments and fight off enemies together. The idea was left out but the crewmates did become a part of the story.
  21. The Crystal Dynamics team sought advice from fellow developers Rocksteady on how to reinvent a well known franchise. Rocksteady even shared their proprietary task tracking software (called Rocktrack) to Crystal.
  22. Plans originally for the Definitive Edition of Tomb Raider (2013) was to have all shrubs and trees dynamic and moving in the wind. However according to Scot Amos, play testers soon became jumpy after the bear trap scene, expecting enemies from all moving shrubbery and taking a while to continue the story. So the developers had to tone it down.
  23. Upon returning to the Shanty Town, two enemies have a conversation where one admits that his pet rat 'Sprinkles' has escaped.  Community Manager Meagan Marie also has a cat called Sprinkles.
  24. Model Erin Johnson posed for various renders and cover artwork for this game.

Sources

No. 02 
Tomb Raider (2013) The music Lara is listening to through phone in the Turning Point trailer 
http://www.musicoftombraider.com/2011/08/new-turning-point-score-from-tomb.html

No. 20
Co-Op Game Idea
http://www.gamesradar.com/10-cool-facts-you-never-knew-about-the-tomb-raider-games/

No. 21
Rocksteady
http://www.gamesradar.com/10-cool-facts-you-never-knew-about-the-tomb-raider-games/

No. 22
Dynamic Scenery
http://www.gamesradar.com/10-cool-facts-you-never-knew-about-the-tomb-raider-games/