Nathan McCree not involved with Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Original Tomb Raider (1996), Tomb Raider II (1997) & Tomb Raider III (1998) composer Nathan McCree has not been approached by publisher Aspyr nor developer Sabre Interactive to contribute to Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, a restored compilation of the first three entries in the franchise starring Lara Croft. Tomb Raider I-III Remastered publishes on February 14th, 2024 in an unprecedented updating of the classic titles.

Ah you have misunderstood. The re-recorded/remastered soundtracks I am releasing have nothing to do with the remastered games which Aspyr are releasing. I do not know what their plans are for the music/audio in the Remastered Games. I have nothing to do with that.

— Nathan McCree (@nrpmccree) January 18, 2024

There has been no official word on how the games' existing music may be considered in this trilogy of remasters, as with other contemporary re-releases featuring full re-orchestrations (e.g. Halo Anniversaries or Age of Empires Definitive Editions) or at minimum a remastering process of the audio. MoTR did however receive a press preview copy of the game(s) and can confirm following embargo(s) today that the original soundtracks are indeed intact (and, if anything, tidied up a little).

Aside, McCree, following numerous mentions over the years, reportedly still plans to finally release remastered soundtrack albums for each of the original games. This, separately, could be as soon as this month. Again, however, this material will not feature in Tomb Raider I-III Remastered. This is an unequivocal missed opportunity, not only for the presentation of the music in these modernised releases, but also in the interest of preservation.

My release is a new recording, using the original MIDI files i created back in '96 with the same synths I used back then. The new recordings have been newly mixed and mastered at 96kHz 24bit. The musical content is unchanged. And I've isolated the music from the video sequences.

— Nathan McCree (@nrpmccree) January 19, 2024

To date, none of the original music tracks from McCree's Tomb Raider games have been published officially in a dedicated standalone capacity. Including, as the composer alludes, score to the cutscenes and FMV sequences in its isolated form. McCree procured the rights prior to a 2017 Kickstarter, which ultimately resulted in the Tomb Raider Suite (2018) material medleys & the accompanying Synth Mixes (2021), the latter being the closest representation to original soundtrack albums - these being promised in original stretch goals.

Conversely, Peter Connelly (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Chronicles & Angel of Darkness) followed suit in 2019 with The Dark Angel Symphony project (& accompanying MIDI Demos in 2021) which actually featured the original soundtracks to his titles remastered. As soon as the Tomb Raider I-III original soundtracks see the light of day, MoTR will be sure to include these in our commercial discography catalogue.