Egypt, present day. A woman makes her way through the Tomb of Seth accompanied by a silent man holding a burning torch. As the woman collects health packs and shoots scorpions that look a little like lobsters, the man with the torch works methodically, briskly lighting every room they move through. When he moves quickly, something exciting’s going to happen – you can feel it. When he stops, you know that you’re going to have to do something clever or dangerous to get him moving again. That’s just the way it is.
Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered reviewPublisher: Aspyr, Crystal DynamicsDeveloper: AspyrPlatform: Played on PCAvailability: Out 14th February on PC (Steam), PS4/PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
Today – in the present day – there is nothing special about this. When it comes to post-Uncharted 2 action games, we expect these interludes, changes in pace, and moments of theatre. But in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, I remember the impact of this scene. Sure, Tomb Raider 3 had experimented with stuff like this a little bit, but as openings go, The Last Revelation’s is pretty glorious.
I say I remember the impact anyway. Because somehow, over the years, I started to forget about a lot of this. I must have, because it’s coming back to me now and the memories are so fresh, so undisturbed. Every few days it feels like something makes me think of the first Tomb Raider or Tomb Raider 2. They are part of the permanent lens through which I see games in general. But the Tomb of Seth? I last played through this particular tomb on a holiday break in my final year of university. In fact, when I got stuck on a puzzle playing it afresh earlier this week, tracking down the solution brought me back to the similarly stuck person I was back in July 2001. All this has been sealed away under the earth and sand for two decades. Now it’s free again.
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In other words, welcome to the latest of the Tomb Raider remasters, which collects together the fourth, fifth and sixth games in the series, otherwise known as The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness. Historically speaking – and Lara Croft herself is partly a figure from history now – I feel like the verdict on these three games is, by turn: , , and . That doesn’t matter as much as you may think. The remasters are every bit as heartfelt as they were with the first three games, and while the reward for your effort isn’t three all-time classics this time round, it’s something arguably just as interesting. Here are oddities, partial or total misfires, and games that were somewhat in danger of being forgotten.