Aspyr are on fire with their remasters at the moment, just dropping Legacy of Kain over Christmas, then Jedi Power Battles last month, now it’s time for Tomb Raider!

This one, by far, may be their best work – and I was super impressed with the work they did on Legacy of Kain. But these Tomb Raider games are notoriously tricky and often considered the forgotten trilogy. While Tomb Raider 4 follows much of the staples of the original trilogy and would easily be regarded as the best of the bunch, the other two have different kinds of reputation.

Angel of Darkness, in particular, is seen by many as the worst of all the Tomb Raider games.

But this collection really does make these games shine as they never have been. Visually, they’re a treat and we’ll get into that shortly on each game, but it’s the same with the controls. They all handle much better than ever before and in many cases are playable to the end, though still not entirely with faults.

On top of that, you’ve got a lot of options to customise by changing Lara’s attire, her character model, adding shades on and being able to seamlessly switch between retro and new at the tap of the button, same as always.

But even going down to finite detail on hit markers, health overlays, and, if you’re feeling particularly masochistic, playing with tank controls.

We’ll break down each game in the trilogy so you can see how they fare…

Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

Let’s start with Tomb Raider The Last Revelation. This one feels like a throwback to the first two Tomb Raider games following the divisive third instalment and begins interestingly enough with a very young Lara Croft getting her feet wet tomb raiding.

This was an interesting moment for the series as, on the one hand, this was the best of a franchise that was in full production flow. Core and Eidos had learned a lot by doing annual releases, they had a cadence and rhythm to these games and were really preparing for the next generation of systems following the PlayStation 1 and moving onto the likes of the Dreamcast.

Not least because the exclusivity that Sony had on the franchise was also beginning to slip and Tomb Raider as a franchise was growing in popularity.

It was also the start of a brand new trilogy of games but on the other hand, you could tell there was a fatigue starting to set in here. Ideas and motivation were running a little low and this game, in particular, is one of the worst for difficulty. It’s possible to miss key items and get lost, so you’ll need to try and back track, only that can be extremely difficult if you drop into an area and can’t find a way back up.

In fact, I had a similar issue to another reviewer getting past the very first section of The Last Revelation where you need to jump between pillars had me stuck for ages! This is mainly due to the controls, which I’ll get into in a bit.

It also doesn’t save automatically, so you’ll also have to make sure you do that, otherwise you’re going to be pretty darn mad. This game is really challenging and is especially full of sneaky tricks and traps and enemies that will catch you off guard. So you’ll need to keep paying attention.

But it is the most beautiful of the Tomb Raider games to that date and the slickest, especially with the upgraded visuals in this remaster. The difference is enormous, frankly, to the point of it almost feeling like a remake. The faces, in particular make for an extraordinary redo. A quick tap of the start button and you can see just how much work Aspyr have put into this.

The Last Revelation is set primarily in Egypt and so while you sometimes don’t get to see the full scale and quality of the visuals, the layers of detail that have been put in, even to background textures and features will really impress. Everything from hierogliphics, to statues to water and enemies. Though one thing I found paricularly interesting, due to the setting and how dark and dreary it is, I actually found myself switching to the retro mode because of the lighting.

This helped me see in some of the really dark caves, enabling me to navigate and orient myself a bit better when the game screen was literally pitch black. But don’t get me wrong, for the most part, the remastered visuals get it very right. Collectible skulls which were practically invisible before now gleam like gold and are so much easier to spot.

But on a base level, The Last Revelation isn’t a drastic evolution from the other Tomb Raider games, though Lara does have a few different moves here and there. Its the focus on story and visuals that drive this and some really tricky puzzles that really befit the setting.

Controls do let this down a bit, though, as well as the difficulty. The tank controls, while it’s nice they’ve been included, are just nauseatingly dated and really difficult to go back to. Then the modern controls, while a lot better, almost don’t seem to offer the same level of precision as the tank. At least, so it seems at first.

Once you get the hang of them, of course, you’ll feel more comfortable, but in the case of jumping that pillar in a tutorial…it really shone a light on a lack of dexterity. Still The Last Revelation is a good old fashioned Tomb Raider adventure that looks better than ever and offers a surprisingly interesting story with some classic cutscenes. Just remember to keep saving, yeah?

Tomb Raider Chronicles

Without going into great detail, the game starts assuming Lara Croft is dead. It’s a direction continuation of the ending of The Last Revelation, and interestingly, focuses on The Philosopher Stone and one of Lara’s early conquests. What the game is, however, is an adaptation of Lara’s earlier adventures and works as a series of flashbacks. Randomly sewn together.

An interesting premise, for sure, and this remaster definitely gives the game a new lease on life. At the time, it was deemed somewhat of a throwaway project as another team worked on a true sequel to The Last Revelation and so this was more of a way of releasing yet another Tomb Raider game in the annual cycle to hit quotas and targets.

Still, this one at least mixes up environments unlike TLR which was solely focused in Egypt and sees Lara travel the world in search of various artifacts. In that regard, it’s very Tomb Raider 2, seeing you go from Russia to New York, Rome and even Ireland. And the game does a great job of making each feel distinct.

As with all these older Tomb Raider titles, the camera angles are really frustrating, either getting in too close to Lara or caught in a wall so you can’t see the full area. Combine that with the not-entirely straight forward controls – the awkward ways you have to jump or move.

All that said, Chronicles feels smoother than The Last Revelation. Lara performs actions more quickly, like the crouch is less stunted and you can roam freely through the water using analogs. Though walking tight ropes is …. not much fun and really frustrates right up until the end.

The maps definitely pay homage to The Last Revelation as well, feeling more wide spread and open, with it not always being clear where to turn next and how to proceed. They’re very maze-like and surprisingly quiet in moments, action packed in others, but there’s certainly a heavier focus on puzzles now.

I feel this remaster helps this game shine a lot more as upon first release many saw this as a ‘game too far’ for Lara but the updated visuals, playing these games in isolation side by side, and updating the control scheme somewhat, in an era where puzzle games are once again more regarded, Chronicles has something of a new lease of life, though it’s not Croft’s finest outing due to all feeling a little bit…random.

Angel of Darkness

This feels quite different from the other two, as it should. While a direct sequel to The Last Revelation, this was built with PS2 in mind, using a new engine, and so therefore sees updated visuals, gameplay and mechanics.

It’s more graphic, to start. Where other Tomb Raider games have tried for as broad appeal as possible, Lara begins the adventure with blood over her hands and seemingly under suspicision for murder. Core definitely wanted to take a darker approach here from the typical excavations we’re used to it and it shows.

Still, this is often regarded as the worst of the Tomb Raider games, it was certainly divisive and much more ambitious than Chronicles as the team tried new things to capitalise on mechanics in other games. To some degree in works – and definitely better than it did before – but some areas remain tedious.

Dragging barrels and crates is…painful. It keeps interupting itself and forcing you to start over again. Same can be said for dialogue passes that just stop the action dead and force you to read them through. Then there’s the same lack of manoeruvablility that seems to have tormented all of these games, even with the brand new updated controls.

But here’s the thing – this game shouldn’t have made this collection. It’s a game that could quite easily have been lost to history – some might argue it should have been – but it’s an important part in Lara’s journey, being the final game made by Core before everything was transfered to Crystal Dynamics. It also was the first Tomb Raider game for PS2 and the plan was for it to begin yet another new trilogy. Which never happened, of course.

But tonally it’s also impactful in the way it tried to cast Lara into a more gritty, street level mystery where she’s on the run and is on a detective esque mission while still doing her usual acrobatics and wild stunts across rooftops and tight ledges.

Angel of Darkness is not perfect, but this – alongside the other two games – is now the absolute best way to play it. Previously, the existing version on Steam barely ran save for a ton of mods and even when it did, it still maintained those old tank controls and a scheme which really sullied enjoyment

Not at least you have options here and Angel of Darkness does play a lot better, even if it probably benefits the least from the remastering techniques Aspyr have done such an incredible job with. In fact, you could argue some of the scenes look better with the older visuals.

Regardess, it’s some small miracle this game even exists in this collection, that Aspyr have actually created the set and made sure that this game still stands the test of time and has the opportunity to be remembered. It’s not a given in this day and age and there’s some great ideas that really make this worth playing.

Lara’s journal, for instance, that autofills during your adventure and spending money to upgrade certain elements. Even powering up your strength to increase your stamina bar. In many ways, the game set trends for the future but just didn’t excercise its ideas to the full.

There’s even some restored and cut content here like voice lines, updates to the inventory, and improved controls for the Kurtis sections to make it feel a bit easier to manage.

So yeah, AOD is janky and players shouldn’t come into this thinking it’s been restored to its true potential, I don’t think that was ever on the cards here. What has been done is to make it look and play better, adding in some previously removed content and preserve a title in a way that hopefully wins over some new fans or at least lets others play a game they’ve long thought they’d never see again.

Verdict

T0mb Raider IV-VI Remastered is easily the best way to play all three of these games. They’ve never looked better, never played better, and in the case of Angel of Darkness, are manageable now and even have cut content. But all these games are brutal, tough challenges that will punish and frustrate. They’re not always fun, they’re definitely pretty rough, and don’t quite have the same standard of quality as the early trilogy. Still, Aspyr have done an incredible job with the games – better than the last time out – the price of history is well worth it, and they’ve somehow made this forgotten trilogy at least slightly more enjoyable than they were before. One cannot fault the efforts of remastering at all, even if you are at odds with the content. 

Pros

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Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is out now on all formats.

Played on PS5

Code Kindly Provided by Aspyr for review purposes