Celebrating the recent release of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, I’m continuing with my look back at the Tomb Raider series. Here are my favourite six titles, ranked in order. Don’t forget you can catch the first part containing my least favourite titles in my post from yesterday. So let’s continue.
6. Tomb Raider: Legend (2006)
Following on from the dismal Angel of Darkness, development duties were passed over to Crystal Dynamics. The result was Legend, a streamlined 7-hour adventure that introduced improved graphics, modern controls, and a greater focus on puzzle solving. Whilst it was a different kind of experience to the original trilogy, the success of Legend spawned two sequels over the next two years and cemented the new developer at the heart of the series.
5. Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (2018)
It’s hard to believe it’s been over five years since the last Tomb Raider game, and it’s one that I may never have played following my experience with the demo. The first hour culminated with a spectacular, but extremely frustrating set piece that made me cancel my pre-order and wait another 18 months. Ultimately the game got better the more you progressed, and the challenge tombs were fantastic, but it was simply far too combat-orientated. The jungle setting also became boring and lacked the variety of the previous two games, and the game structure felt too similar to what had come before.
4. Tomb Raider (1996)
There’s not much more to say about the original Tomb Raider game that hasn’t already been said. Yes, the original trilogy hasn’t aged particularly well, and the control system is extremely clunky and dated, but it’s still fun to play – as the 2024 Remastered edition has proven.
3. Tomb Raider 2 (1997)
A contentious one this. Was the sequel better than the original? There’s definitely some bias here on my part as it was the game that introduced me to the series. Plus it looked absolutely spectacular on my brand new PC with my brand new Voodoo graphics card at the time. The story was better, vehicles were introduced, and levels seemed to be more distinct and varied. The downside was the increased level of combat, but the series has never really nailed that.
2. Tomb Raider (2013)
The first game in the Survivor series was a brand new reboot featuring a much younger Lara, before she became the tomb-raiding expert we know and love. Cinematic, and obviously inspired by the Uncharted franchise, the game returned to a single-setting format on an island but still featured a decent amount of level variety. The game was a dark and gritty origin story with interesting puzzles, and a new survival mechanic, meaning you had to salvage scrap and fashion upgrades.
1. Rise Of The Tomb Raider (2016)
Building on everything that worked in the 2013 game, Rise introduced more puzzles, more challenge tombs, and gave us a bigger and better environment. It does what very few sequels do – it did a Godfather. It did a Star Wars. It did a Mad Max. Even the DLC was great. However, by the time the credits roll, your time with the Survivor series will probably be done, which is another reason its sequel is down to 5th place in my list.
The next Tomb Raider title is still a fair way off, but I’m ready for something new, and dare I say it, something a bit more linear and focused. Perhaps with more varied environments – we haven’t had a truly globe-trotting affair for quite some time, and Uncharted has left a big space in this genre.
