I’ve never been a big Tomb Raider fan. My intro to the series was the mediocre Alicia Vikander movie, which is hardly a great jumping on point. It did inspire me to try the second game, the original PC version of Tomb Raider 2, but after being thrown into a cave with a hungry tiger, I spent more time as prey than I did exploring old ruins. So I gave up pretty quickly. Tomb Raider was before my time, and the Survivor trilogy designed to bring in newcomers like me was overshadowed by Uncharted. Born too early to explore tombs, born too late to explore tombs.
Then came the remastered trilogy last year, and the stars finally aligned. With built-in Steam Deck support, I was able to laze about on the sofa with Lara Croft. The first game was a brilliant introduction that eased me into the controls, thankfully without a tiger chomping at my ankles, and I found myself enamoured with the platforming that turned every tomb into a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Finally, I was a Tomb Raider fan, so this review comes from someone who wanted to like these games, but had never played them. Will I, looking back with a fresh pair of eyes — and without the sheer anticipation Tomb Raider fans from decades past felt — see Angel of Darkness as the masterpiece it truly is? No, no I will not. It’s still bad.
Angel Of Darkness Is As Bad As People Say
There have been some tweaks to movement, bug fixes, and restored cut content to Angel of Darkness. I don’t know firsthand what the original game was like, but the movement in the remaster feels closer to the last trilogy. It still takes some getting used to the awkward tank controls as you shimmy against ledges to perfectly line a jump, but it’s not noticeably worse (or better) than The Last Revelation and Chronicles. It’s old-school Tomb Raider.
The movement in the remaster feels closer to the last trilogy.
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Well, sort of. It still has a few unique mechanics that make the whole experience fundamentally flawed. The strength meter feels out of place in a platformer and obnoxiously superficial, as you’re forced to crash through a door to get stronger so that you can push a… tiny crate? Lara Croft has fought dinosaurs, come on now. The stealth segments are incredibly simple, and slow the pace down to a crawl. The semi-open world with branching, RPG-style dialogue sees you stumble through unending loading screens so that you can talk to generic NPCs.
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I have a hard time believing cut content or even better movement could’ve ever saved this game — the foundations are shaky at best. That’s plain to see even as a newcomer, and I suspect the nostalgia will wear off quickly for seasoned fans. Its inclusion here makes 4-6 an undeniably worse bundle than the last. Frankly, after playing through a few hours of each game, I can’t fathom why Aspyr didn’t just release The Last Revelation as part of the first collection and call it a quadrilogy.
The Last Revelation Is The Only One I’m Motivated To Play
Tomb Raider 4, AKA The Last Revelation, continues the superb form of the original trilogy (of which it should be considered part), paying homage to the first game in all the ways that matter. It’s less action-oriented, the intricate puzzles are once again satisfying to master, and platforming takes centre stage. There are some slight annoyances, like the tedious rope swings, while the Egyptian setting gets a bit tired after a while, but on the whole, it’s up there with the best and feels right at home with the original trilogy.
I was worried when the game opened with a painfully on-a-rails tutorial that saw Lara Croft’s mentor literally spell out game mechanics in what were the most jarring cutscenes in the series, but once Tomb Raider 4 gets going, it’s a treat. In just a week, while also chipping away at the other two games, I managed to get over halfway through, and I’m desperate to load up my Steam Deck and dive back in as I sit here writing this. It’s the same fervour I felt for the first two games and would’ve been an incredible way to cap off the original story.
Chronicles (Tomb Raider 5 in this strange 4-6 marketing of games never identified by their numbers), while not as egregiously bad as Angel of Darkness, still hasn’t sunk its teeth into me like that god-forsaken tiger in Tomb Raider 2. The levels feel oddly simplistic, losing a lot of that satisfying puzzle platforming, but at the same time incredibly opaque. Putting your hand through a wall to open a door earlier in the level isn’t at all conveyed to you, so it just leads to tired backtracking through bland corridors. It’s tedious, even with the photo mode saving some of the legwork. By Chronicles, the formula feels exhausted, and no level has come close to the first four games yet.
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These are still great ports, at least, making the old games run far better on modern hardware. And I don’t doubt that the fans who love Chronicles and Angel of Darkness against all the odds will be pleased to see them given a new lick of paint. But for those who were welcomed into the series with open arms thanks to the last trilogy of remasters, 4-6 doesn’t exactly keep the momentum going. It’s more like hurtling face-first into a brick wall.
The ‘Modern’ Elements Still Feel Jarring…
I say that they’re great ports, and not great remasters, because the modern updates are still disappointing. Again, the optional new movement scheme doesn’t fit well with the original levels, which were clearly designed with tank controls in mind. But worse than that, it often feels like they just don’t work. Even after remapping the action key several times, I couldn’t get Lara to hang onto the ropes.
The sheer lack of graphical options doesn’t help. You only have two — Retro FPS and Pickup Highlight. You can’t change brightness or use the more legible modern text with the classic graphics.
As for the updated graphics, while areas do look more dynamic, I’d hesitate to say that they look ‘better’. Vibrant colours are often dulled in favour of placid, realistic greys, and the deeper shadows obscure pathways. Solving puzzles is a lot harder when you can’t see the puzzle. It also reminds me of the GTA Trilogy, in that everything looks uncomfortably smooth, with new character models that look ripped out of a CG Barbie movie.
…But It’s A Really Good Port
However, these are minor niggles in the grand scheme of things. Tomb Raider 4-6 faithfully brings three retro games to modern platforms, and they work exceptionally well out of the box. As with any game over two decades old, you’ll find countless forum threads finagling how to get the original versions running on up-to-date OS systems, which is like fiddling with a dodgy aux cable that only plays audio at just the right angle.
FPS unlock for the classic graphics also makes them play far smoother than the originals.
Even if two out of the three games aren’t great, these ports do a wonderful job at preserving the history of one of gaming’s most iconic series, the downfall that led to Crystal Dynamics taking the reins. It’s fascinating, if frustrating, to walk through the halls that are Chronicles and Angel of Darkness and see that collapse played out so succinctly. Aspyr has made doing that far easier than ever before as, like the trilogy before it, this collection has no major bugs or hiccups. The optional bells and whistles piled on top don’t always click, but you can ignore them entirely for a truly authentic experience.
The Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered collection is the easiest way to play these games, even if only one is worth playing. I’m still not sure retrofitting Chronicles and Angel of Darkness into what feels like a tight, connected quadrilogy makes sense, but Aspyr has made experiencing The Last Revelation on modern hardware so much more intuitive, while also preserving the very dominoes that led to Core Design losing the keys to the kingdom. This is Tomb Raider’s legacy, warts and all.
Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered
- Great ports that make it easier than ever to play these games.
- Photo mode continues to be a unique way to easily explore levels and find the right path.
- Experiencing the downfall of Tomb Raider firsthand is fascinating, if frustrating.
- Lack of graphical options.
- Updated visuals are far too dark.
- Angel of Darkness is still bad, and Chronicles is still mediocre.