The 15 Best Tomb Raider Games

With the release of a new Tomb Raider film, we wanted to take a look back at the video game series that inspired Lara Croft's cinematic adventures. With more than two dozen games under her utility belt, Lara's had no shortage of escapades. The raids listed here stand out above the rest, however, as they're memorable for all the right reasons — mostly.

Credit: Square Enix

The Game Boy Color (GBC) was about as limited as hardware could be in 2001, but that didn't stop Activision and Eidos from teaming up on this sequel to the original GBC Tomb Raider. While Curse of the Sword didn't have nearly as many tombs to raid as its predecessor did, this follow-up was still one of the best pre-smartphone Tomb Raiders you could play on the go. Considering that the game was hamstrung by having only two buttons and a D-pad, it's amazing how strong an effort Curse of the Sword was for the time.

Credit: Activision

After Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation implied that Lara Croft was dead, Core Design turned to an anthology-style game, which explored the hidden gaps in Lara's history prior to her alleged demise. As a result, there was an abundance of diverse locales, although their relation to one another was tenuous, at best. Chronicles was the beginning of the end for Lara's time at Core Design, and the company wrung every last bit of juice out of a rapidly aging game engine. Still, Chronicles had enough of the classic formula at its heart to be memorable.

Credit: Eidos Interactive

Unlike the more original Lara Croft Go, Lara Croft: Relic Run exists to take advantage of mobile hit Temple Run's success. What made Relic Run enjoyable, aside from the Tomb Raider branding, were the ease of play and that it was free (albeit with microtransactions). Simply tapping the screen made for a more enjoyable mobile Tomb Raider experience than just about every previous effort, including the mobile ports of Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider II. Just a few short months later, Lara Croft Go would best Relic Run, but it was good fun while it lasted.

Credit: Square Enix

Though Tomb Raider: Anniversary was Crystal Dynamics' second effort as the new shepherd of the franchise, Underworld was the true sequel to Tomb Raider: Legend. Underworld was also the first Tomb Raider game to exist in a post-Uncharted world, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing in the grand scheme of Tomb Raider. The action was solid, if unspectacular, but the story was still mired in outdated tropes. Underworld didn't quite live up to the franchise's action-archaeology pedigree, though, which eventually led to the franchise going on hiatus until the 2013 reboot.

Credit: Warner Bros.

Upping the player count from two to four, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was the evolution of the arcade/action hit Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light. The world was a bit larger and encouraged players to revisit previous areas of the game world once they unlocked new abilities. Solving puzzles was still a major focus, but since Square Enix built the game around cooperative play, embarking on this adventure alone wasn't quite as enjoyable. Still, with a clever loot system and simple controls, Temple of Osiris made for an enjoyable party game.

Credit: Square Enix

Forget about the arduous swimming sections and focus on the good elements: Adventures of Lara Croft was Core Dynamics' third good Tomb Raider in as many years. The renewed focus on puzzles was great for adventurous players who had missed those elements in the more action-centric Tomb Raider II. The game's slight deviations from linear design were solid, though the subsequent Last Revelation was the entry that truly went above and beyond in that area. While this sequel started showing the age of Core's engine, it's still a game worthy of Lara's lineage.

Credit: Eidos Interactive

After successfully relaunching Tomb Raider with Legend, Crystal Dynamics applied everything it learned in its first effort to a modernized take on the original Tomb Raider game. While it's not a direct remake of the 1996 adventure, Tomb Raider: Anniversary re-created Lara's first appearance, right down to the locales and iconic outfit. The developer created new puzzles and environments to make better use of its improved engine, which breathed new life into concepts that were more than a decade old.

Credit: Eidos Interactive