Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered starring Lara Croft is a collection of lovingly restored artefacts that show why millions of people fell in love with Lara Croft. It’s also a revelation about the countless ways games have improved and evolved over the past 25 years, and the impact of quality-of-life features we now take for granted.
Developers Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have revamped the first three Tomb Raider games, released between 1996 and 1998. Improvements include upscaled high-definition textures, new lighting effects and improved character models. Lara herself looks more lifelike and expressive, with her new model striking a balance between her original in-game appearance and the pre-rendered version that appears on the games’ box art and advertisements. In terms of gameplay, little has changed; Lara still moves and shoots like she did in the late ’90s, and the games’ original maps are blocky and blocky.
But many modern concessions have been made Tomb Raider 1-3 remastered. Players can choose from the vintage tank-style controls, which fit well with Tomb Raider’s level designs but now feel incredibly clunky, or brand new, “modern” 3D controls. The modernized controls work quite well and make handling Lara and conquering some previously difficult platform segments quite easy. Better yet, the remastered collection lets you customize the modernized controls to your liking, with sensitivity, deadband adjustments, and remappable buttons.
Image: Aspyr/Crystal Dynamics via Polygon
Tomb Raider 1-3 remastered is still stuck with some of the problematic camera issues from the original games. When you walk along walls, navigate corners or swim, the camera can turn in wild directions. I became disoriented a few times while playing the first and third games, but keep reminding myself that this is an authentic experience every time I accidentally lead Lara off an edge to her death.
Visually the game is a treat. Although the levels are still constructed with sharp angles and perfect cubes, Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have dressed the games with pleasant visual effects, such as snow, flowing waterfalls and organic-looking vegetation. Levels have been updated somewhat, and mostly only where it makes sense; As players plunder underground caverns, they can sometimes look up and see openings in the ceiling that offer views of a cloudy sky and let in natural light.
In anytime Tomb Raider 1-3 remastered – even during cutscenes and in menus – players can switch to the game’s original graphics. That classic presentation exposes the original blocky, low-resolution textures and pixelated CGI videos that players enjoyed in the late ’90s. It’s quite a shock to go back to those ancient-looking graphics, but also strangely poignant. At the touch of a button, you can quickly appreciate the visual care that Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have applied Remasteredwhich goes just far enough to make these old games feel fresh again.
Some things haven’t aged well, though, and the opening moments of Tomb Raider 1-3 remastered remind players that these games were made in a different time. Yes, Lara is a privileged British explorer who loots ancient artifacts and kills plenty of wildlife along the way. But it’s the racist portrayals of characters, especially in Grave robber 3which are much less fun to watch again. Remastered prepares you for the role of South Pacific islanders in the third game, presented as cannibalistic primitive warriors, with the following content warning:
The games in this collection contain offensive depictions of people and cultures that are rooted in racial and ethnic prejudice. These stereotypes are deeply harmful, inexcusable and do not align with our values at Crystal Dynamics.
Rather than remove this content, we have chosen to present it here in its original form and unchanged, in the hope that we recognize and learn from its harmful effects.
Image: Aspyr/Crystal Dynamics via Polygon
Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics’ choice to keep that racially and ethnically insensitive part of the game shows that the developer Remastered smart collecting. Rather than avoiding this outdated idea of Core Design’s original, the collection keeps a record of it. It serves as just one of many reminders of the progress games have made over the decades.
Newcomers to the Tomb Raider games who haven’t experienced the original trilogy will feel that progression the most. The first three Tomb Raider games have very little hand-holding or tutorials. The games put you in the middle of the action, without a map or breadcrumb trail, sometimes in a fight for your life against tigers and pits full of spikes. They are challenging, sometimes brutal games.
But these early games have a wonderful meditative quality. They encourage you to explore at your own pace and with your own eyes, finding secrets and hidden exits. The first Tomb Raider It’s mostly full of quiet moments, where all you hear is the sound of Lara herself running, straining to climb walls, and jumping from ledge to dangerous ledge. Music only comes into action during the games’ more action-oriented moments – which unfortunately often consist of Lara clumsily unloading on wolves, bats and giant spiders, round after round.
With the exception of Tomb Raider’s famous dinosaur encounters, these action moments aren’t the highlights of the early games. It’s the adventure, discovery and Lara’s fun acrobatics through these well-designed but archaic play areas where Tomb Raider shines.
Tomb Raider 1-3 remasteredThe game’s developers understand this very well, making the original trilogy accessible to a modern audience without too much fuss. New additions like a fun photo mode and expansions to the trilogy only enhance this classic experience. There’s still a lot to love about these old games, which are worth returning to until Lara Croft comes out of hiding for her next big adventure.
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered starring Lara Croft will be released on February 14 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X. The game was played on PS5 using a pre-release download code from Aspyr. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.