The most famous nude code in gaming history was never real, but millions of people spent hours trying to unlock it, which proved just how obsessed the world was with Lara Croft. This episode follows the Tomb Raider franchise from Core Design in Derby, where Toby Gard swapped his protagonist’s gender to avoid looking like an Indiana Jones knockoff, through Paul Douglas’s custom 3D engine with true verticality, tank controls, and a 1996 debut that sold over seven million units and saved publisher Eidos.

We trace the punishing annual release schedule, the shadow team secretly assigned to Tomb Raider III, Gard’s departure over the marketing of Lara’s sex appeal, and the 2003 Angel of Darkness disaster that cost Core Design the franchise. Then we cover Crystal Dynamics’ Legend trilogy, the 2013 Survivor reboot that sold 11 million units, Square Enix’s $300 million sale to Embracer Group to fund NFT ambitions, and the new Unreal Engine 5 game and Amazon television series with Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Sophie Turner.

• Why tank controls offered precision in an era of unpredictable 3D cameras
• How Tutankhamun’s tomb and Prince of Persia shaped the original level design
• Core Design’s final attempts to survive, including reskinning a PSP remake as an Indiana Jones pitch
• The what could Lara do philosophy behind the Crystal Engine and physics-based puzzles
• Magazine covers, U2 stadium screens, Royal Mail stamps, and a Guinness World Record