Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was one of the biggest ‘retro’ releases of 2024, so we weren’t entirely surprised to see Aspyr taking on IV-VI next (though we did have some burning questions). Now, the second volume of this collection has finally arrived, and I was lucky enough to spend some time revisiting The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness ahead of the February 14 launch.
Yes, these three games aren’t nearly as good as the first trilogy, but they’re still part of the long-running series’ history and key to understanding why and how the transition into the ‘Crystal Dynamics era’ of the franchise happened. As you all know, three more mainline games (if you consider the Anniversary remake one of them) were released before a full reboot that was far gnarlier. Whether Aspyr will get to that trio following these entries remains a mystery for now.
It’s understandable to read about some fans who are choosing to sit this one out. After all, The Last Revelation shows signs of fatigue, Chronicles is Lara Croft’s strange Lost Levels moment, and The Angel of Darkness was a shoddy, largely unfinished transition to PS2. However, this second set of remastered games should at the very least be the best way to experience this chunk of Lara’s history, and there’s a lot of value in there for both completionists and people interested in learning about the action-adventure genre and how it became (years before Nathan Drake’s arrival) what it is today.
I’m happy to admit that I’m not as familiar with IV-VI as I was with the first three games. At some point during my childhood, Tomb Raider games on PS1 blurred together and I just began not to give a s**t until the 2013 reboot. Digging into The Last Revelation reminded me, however, that I’d actually played a decent amount of the game back in the day. My brain had totally suppressed the young Lara model for reasons unknown, and the race for fun against her mentor Werner Von Croy was another surprise after all these years even though it felt familiar.
Things quickly get crazy in the fourth game, and I’d even say it has a better initial narrative hook than some of the previous entries. Moreover, the controls, even when using the original ‘tank’ ones (for science, as I don’t want to put myself through that ever again) immediately feel snappier than I-III’s. Mind you, Lara’s notably elaborate animations for the time and more complex moves remain tough to fully adjust to; most of the difficulty in these old games comes from the controls, no matter how much Aspyr tinkers with them.
The developers’ commitment to fidelity and keeping the original games as intact as possible (also seen in recent Star Wars remasters such as Jedi Power Battles) continues to be a double-edged sword: These are polished iterations of the games as they were with some much-needed tweaks and even restored content, but if you found them brutal back then, chances are you won’t feel differently nowadays. It’s abundantly clear by now that Aspyr has committed to this vision for their remastering efforts (no matter the IP), and so far, it has an audience.
Chronicles is an odd one. On the one hand, it was clearly a side project while a bigger team worked on The Angel of Darkness. On the other hand, the graphical and playable improvements are noticeable (as a reminder, you can switch with one button between the old and remastered presentations). Its biggest sin was not iterating enough on the formula, but looking back, it feels like an alright way to consume more old-school Lara Croft action and loopy exploration without worrying about the half-baked innovations seen later. That first Rome level alone (seen above) has some sweet layout design going on, so if anything, it’s an interesting look at how Core Design continued to improve and try new things on that front.
The elephant in the room, of course, is The Angel of Darkness, the game that killed Core Design’s renewed plans for the series and made it end up with Crystal Dynamics. I’m not gonna lie: It’s still pretty bad. Aspyr has clearly put a lot of effort into this one, making it somewhat bearable, but when even getting out of a room early on is troublesome, you know this one is only for the sickos.
The premise (which I won’t spoil here) is an enticing one though, and things get very weird plot-wise very fast, at least during the early hours, so it’s not surprising to see diehards encouraging doubters to this day to give it a fair shake and power through the worst bits to find some gold. I don’t think I’ll do so, at least not right now, but I’m always into ‘black sheep’ getting a second chance, so perhaps we’ll see some interesting writing and video essays done around this sixth entry in the near future.
Overall, I’ve had a fun time with Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered so far because they sort of feel like odd, ancient artifacts that Lara would find in some godforsaken temple; they’re hard to fully understand if you didn’t play through them when they first released, but it’s obvious from the get-go they’re needed to complete the history behind one of gaming’s most enduring legacies. Lots of patience are required not to bounce off almost instantly, but researchers and aspiring archaeologists shouldn’t skip this one.
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is now available on PC (Steam, Epic Games, and GOG), PS4/5, Xbox Series X/S plus One, and Nintendo Switch.