Crystal Dynamics has announced their Tomb Raider reboot has been delayed into next year.

With a delay of around six months -- having been originally scheduled for a fall 2012 launch -- Tomb Raider will now release during the first quarter of 2013, which begins in January and ends in March.

Studio head Darrell Gallagher said in a statement that one of the reasons of the delay is the game's new direction:

"We’re doing things that are completely new to Tomb Raider in this game and the additional development time will allow us to put the finishing touches into the game and polish it to a level that you deserve. Our priority now is to make sure we fully deliver the very highest quality game. In order to do this, we have decided to move the game’s release date by a few months.

"We truly believe that we have something very special on our hands and we can’t wait to share it with you. We believe this is the right choice and I guarantee it will be worth the wait. The game is looking amazing and we can’t wait to show it to everyone at E3 in a few weeks."

He then said the development team has two specific goals with the reboot. The first is to "surprise and excite" players with a "modern" Tomb Raider installment, with the second goal being to "make this the best game of our careers, something we would be really proud to be a part of".

A new screenshot has also been released for Tomb Raider, which stems from its E3 2012 showing, as seen below.