Tomb Raider Becomes Cute Raider for National Dog Day

The final game of Lara Croft’s origin story is going to be intense—really intense. To give fans some light moments, game developer Square Enix and its agency Barkley offers an alternative: Cute Raider. The newest Tomb Raider trailer takes fans from eww to aww with a scene-by-scene reenactment of the original trailer, but with all the roles played by dogs and cats.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider arrives September 14th, and is the biggest release in the history of the franchise. Previously released trailers feature Lara mastering a deadly jungle, overcoming terrifying tombs, and persevering through her darkest hour. Just to watch the trailer, you have to click past a “This video may be inappropriate for some users” warning. 

The new video painstakingly recreates the original trailer but with an Australian shepherd Lara Croft who battles yarn chasing jungle combatants and dashes off to save a puppy from a hairless feline version of the evil High Priest, who wants to...groom it. While the villains are distracted by laser pointers, the High Priest is dispatched by a cat’s greatest enemy: the vacuum cleaner.

“This game trailer is intense, so we wanted to counterbalance that with cuteness. Plus, we all know the internet loves puppies”, says Katy Hornaday, EVP/Executive Creative Director at Barkley.