A brief teaser image at the end of the latest issue of Game Informer has many a gamer speculating over what the picture could be referencing. Carrying the tagline “A Survivor is born” over an image of a wrecked freighter, many sources have begun to tout this as a potential reveal for the next Tomb Raider game.

Adding more credibility to the Raider connection is the fact that the image itself is credited to Square Enix, the publisher into which Eidos (Tomb Raider’s original home) was absorbed. While we won’t know for sure whether or not the game is indeed the next Tomb Raider until some time early in December when the latest Game Informer releases, all of the signs pointing toward Lara Croft are fairly credible.

Taking a rather staunch turn in a new direction, the tentatively titled Tomb Raider 9 is rumored to be set within a completely traversable open world, ala Grand Theft Auto, the idea being that mission levels would seamlessly blend with the central game world -- a definite change of pace for Lara Croft. On top of that, Tomb Raider 9 is supposedly going to be making a backwards leap in time to explore the early years of Lara Croft, a detail that could easily be supported by the “Survivor is born” tagline.

After a successful downloadable game in Guardian of Light, Lara Croft has come the closest she has been to the forefront of gamers’ minds in a long time. The title might not have been without problems (check out our review) but those never took away from the fact that Tomb Raider still had an audience.

A new Tomb Raider title would obviously be a great surprise for the large fan base clamoring for some solid action adventure, but there is still the possibility of the teaser being for a completely different game. For confirmation on the Tomb Raider title or what the teaser image turned out to be related to, check back to Game Rant some time around December 6, 2010.

Do you think that the teaser image is for the next Tomb Raider game or do you have another theory? Give us your ideas in the comments below.

Source: Tomb Raider Biz