The “Crossroads” trailer for Tomb Raider that was showcased at this year’s E3 was one of the most riveting and captivating pieces of promotional video game footage seen in a long time. It was completely cinematic, and it was pretty heavy stuff for interactive entertainment. Simply put, we saw Lara Croft put into situations we never even imagined while playing her previous adventures. Lara was beaten and bruised, she was captured and tortured, and she was damn near raped to boot.

Speaking to Kotaku, Tomb Raider Executive Producer Ron Rosenberg discussed this new vision for Croft, saying that players will want to cheer her on after seeing the hell she goes through. Additionally, she won’t just be a character that the player is controlling — she’s going to be a protagonist that the player is protecting.

“The ability to see her as a human is even more enticing to me than the more sexualized version of yesteryear,” explained Rosenberg. “She literally goes from zero to hero … we’re sort of building her up and just when she gets confident, we break her down again. She is literally turned into a cornered animal. It’s a huge step in her evolution: she’s forced to either fight back or die.”

Rosenberg went on to say that this iteration of Croft is more human, and that developer Crystal Dynamics is attempting to tell a compelling story. From the trailers we’ve seen thus far, it would be hard to argue otherwise. Tomb Raider already looks incredible, and it has rightfully made its way to the top of many gamers’ “most wanted games of 2013” lists.

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