The creators of the new Tomb Raider have denied that their new game features an "attempted rape scene," directly contradicting their own statements to Kotaku last week.
Addressing the widespread reactions to the article posted on this site Monday, Crystal Dynamics studio head Darrell Gallagher released a statement today saying that there is no rape attempt against Tomb Raider hero Lara Croft in the scene shown in their "Crossroads" trailer.
"One of the character defining moments for Lara in the game, which has incorrectly been referred to as an 'attempted rape' scene is the content we showed at this year's E3 and which over a million people have now seen in our recent trailer entitled 'Crossroads'," Gallagher wrote. "This is where Lara is forced to kill another human for the first time. In this particular selection, while there is a threatening undertone in the sequence and surrounding drama, it never goes any further than the scenes that we have already shown publicly.
"Sexual assault of any kind is categorically not a theme that we cover in this game."
This directly contradicts a statement made from Crystal Dynamics Executive Producer Ron Rosenberg to Kotaku last week in Los Angeles. Here's the relevant transcript from that interview:
RON: "And then what happens is her best friend gets kidnapped, she gets taken prisoner by scavengers on the island. They try to rape her, and-"
KOTAKU: "They try to rape her?"
RON: "She's literally turned into a cornered animal. And that's a huge step in her evolution: she's either forced to fight back or die and that's what we're showing today."
Here's a YouTube clip of the scene in question: