The 15 Best Tomb Raider Games
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
Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword
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
Tomb Raider Chronicles
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
Lara Croft: Relic Run
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
Tomb Raider: Underworld
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.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
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
Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft
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
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
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
Lara Croft Go
Publisher Square Enix had some success with the puzzle-based mobile game Hitman Go and brought those same sensibilities to Tomb Raider with a Go entry for that franchise. On mobile, Lara Croft Go is a tremendous exercise in adapting an action-focused series into a bite-size strategy game. This game brings out the best in fans who loved the puzzle elements of Tomb Raider, which arguably suited the Go series better than other Square Enix IPs like Hitman and Deus Ex. If you missed Lara Croft Go when it launched, it's still affordable and easy to find on mobile app stores.
Credit: Square Enix
Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation
As the fourth Tomb Raider game in as many years, The Last Revelation may have been too much Lara, too quickly. However, despite having fewer tombs to raid than its predecessors, Last Revelation was the first series entry to abandon linear maps. Offering multiple paths through a given level was a great new feature, as was the new character model that presented Lara as a complete human rather than cobbled-together parts of human anatomy. It's almost a shame Lara apparently died at the end … or did she?
Credit: Eidos Interactive
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Before launching 2013's reboot, Crystal Dynamics took Lara out of her familiar third-person action format and dropped her into an isometric twin-stick shooter. The arcade adventure Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was a drastic departure for the series, but it worked. Playing Tomb Raider with friends wasn't possible in the past, but this bold new take on the series gave players a way to enjoy all the excitement with their buddies. This title is not quite a full-fledged Tomb Raider game, but Guardian of the Light still managed to be an enjoyable escapade, which demonstrated that Lara was more than a one-trick archaeologist.
Credit: Eidos Interactive
Tomb Raider (1996)
The Sega Saturn and original PlayStation debuts of Tomb Raider launched one of the most successful gaming franchises in video game history. Over the last two decades, Lara Croft has been through some amazing highs and crushing lows, but she's endured all of that thanks in large part to Eidos and Core releasing this iconic introduction to the character. By modern standards, Tomb Raider is incredibly dated and punishing, but it did have a Tyrannosaurus rex to fight. That's more than worth the price of dealing with those simplistic and wonky controls.
Credit: Eidos Interactive
Tomb Raider: Legend
After the dismal failure that was Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, Eidos took the series from Core over to Crystal Dynamics. What followed was the first of two dramatic overhauls of the Tomb Raider brand. Crystal's first effort, Legend, introduced a number of elements that gave fans a reason to enjoy Lara's journeys once more. In addition to the awesome grappling line, we also got physics-based puzzles for the first time, which made tomb-raiding more absorbing than it had been in years.
Credit: Eidos Interactive
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The sequel to the 2013 reboot, Rise of the Tomb Raider took everything that made Lara's new direction fantastic, then ramped it up even more. There were more tombs to raid, more crafting elements to master and more interesting environments to explore. It also had some of the most beautiful snowscapes and vistas we've ever seen in the franchise. Rise additionally offered 4K and HDR support on consoles, making this game one of the most visually spectacular entries in Tomb Raider history. We don't know how Crystal Dynamics plans to top this title, but we can't wait to find out.
Credit: Microsoft
Tomb Raider II
The original Tomb Raider may have introduced the world to the British archaeologist we all know, but 1997's Tomb Raider II is where we fell in love with the franchise. Yes, there was a larger emphasis on gunplay, but the world seemed more authentic, in part because the game rendered actual skies. We could also drive vehicles for the first time, instead of just watching Lara go mobile in cutscenes. Most importantly, Tomb Raider II let us explore all of Croft Manor to uncover secrets and learn how to get the most out of the (now-primitive) controls.
Credit: Eidos Interactive
Tomb Raider (2013)
The reboot of Tomb Raider in 2013 was the smartest move that Crystal Dynamics has made with the franchise since taking it over from Core Designs in 2004. Getting Lara Croft back to her roots as a youthful explorer — one attempting to live up to her family's legacy while forging a path all her own — was a brilliant move. Coupled with incredible gameplay and cleverly punishing tomb puzzles, 2013's Tomb Raider reignited not just the light inside Lara, but the fan base as well. There's a reason the new film takes so much inspiration from this game.
Credit: Square Enix