A Far-Too-Long Script About Tomb Raider (Patreon)

Intro:

When you hear the name Lara Croft, who do you envision? Most likely, a sarcastic English lady wielding dual pistols, stealing ancient artifacts, and eradicating endangered species for funzies. Either the epitome of the male gaze, or a feminist icon beloved by the male gays (and probably the sapphics too).

Originally debuting in the 1996 action platformer game Tomb Raider, Lara Croft has become a household name known to even the filthy non-gaming casuals. She may not wield the same recognition she did at the height of her fame, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that for a video game character, her presence in pop culture echoed more of a real celebrity.

Even so, her most recognizable incarnation is the one from the classic series. Tomb Raider as a series has gone through two reboots, the more recent one being far more drastic of a change, but both served more as a reminder for the public to revisit Classic Lara, whose sardonic wit and classy sass continue to age like a fine wine. Probably one Lara herself would raid from a sunken pirate ship, then sip from a goblet she stole from Caesar’s grave.

Being born in the limbo between beige-loving millennials and short-form-junky zoomers, I do have memories of playing through a couple Tomb Raider games as a child. Namely a bit of Tomb Raider 3. I never finished it to my knowledge, but I do recall being mauled by piranhas and drowning in quicksand.

I didn’t really get to know Lara properly until the Legend trilogy, playing the collection on PS3, and then having another reintroduction via the 2013 reboot, Tomb Raider: Are We Uncharted Yet?

I definitely had an appreciation for Lara’s wit and tenacity, and always had a curiosity for the older games I’d never given a chance. Especially Angel of Darkness. I couldn’t help but be taken by the dark, somber tone, and horrifying eldritch abominations I’d find in cutscenes of the game on YouTube - definitely not another thing which fueled my modern-day weirdness.

A lot of times, if a game catches my interest, but I don’t think it’ll be up my alley, I’ll do a deep dive on all the cutscenes, let’s plays, and video essays I can get my hands on. Learning about it almost as a means of making up for the fact I’d rather cut my hands off than play it, especially if it makes for good background noise. Have I played a Pokemon game to completion since Red on the GameBoy? Fuck no, but I do have opinions on region design ala Internet Pitstop.

And for Tomb Raider, that definitely came in the form of Steve of Warr’s retrospective series on each game in the franchise. If you’re a Tomb Raider fan, or even someone just curious about the games, I highly recommend his content, as it’s what convinced me to dive into the series after years of observation.

Ultimately, what tipped my casual enjoyment of the series over to a stronger, genuine appreciation was playing through the original Tomb Raider on my PS Vita. Mostly because aside from Gravity Rush, that poor bastard had no games, and if my only excuse to use it was going to be Lara Croft and Sly Cooper, so be it.

And I fell in love with it. The atmosphere, the platforming, the puzzles? All of it was utterly engrossing, and recently, I’ve been playing through the Legend trilogy again on my Steam Deck, and enjoying the recent remasters of the classic series. I have a lot of thoughts, and at this point, I realize that videos are basically a condensed way to yell about things I enjoy at people en masse. So let’s fuckin’ go, I guess.

Today, we’re gonna talk about the Tomb Raider franchise. This isn’t comprehensive by any means, but I’ll be doing my best to go over the series’ history, explaining how it’s changed over the years, and how Lara’s character has shifted. And best believe I will be rambling about my microwavable hot takes.

Whomst Is Lara Croft?:

Created by English animator Toby Gard, Lara was actually a later reimagining of a male adventurer envisioned to helm the nascent 3D-platformer genre. Part of the Derby-based game studio Core Design, Gard pitched the idea of a hat-having, whip-wielding cool dude plundering ancient ruins, and transitioning gamers into the new era of 3D games. To which studio founder Jeremy Heath Smith said, “We will be sued.”

There was a brief interim where they considered having the option for either a male or female player avatar, but deciding that this protagonist should be a fully fleshed-out character in their own right, they instead opted for a woman, as having a leading lady would help this imagined property to immediately stand out in the sea of muscly macho men… and also because male gaze.

Initially, the character of Lara Cruz (or Laura Cruz, depending on who you ask, though they hated how Americans would say “Laura”) was a Latina mercenary from… “some unknown Latin American country.” Gurl, don’t let the Latina girlies hear you say that, cuz that’s got the same fighting-words ring as saying all the European girlies are interchangeable. If you told Lara Croft that the English and French were the same, she’d shoot you point blank, and she’d have every right to.

However, Core Design decided they wanted an English lady to head their game, and looking through the phone book, landed on the name Lara Croft.

Born to Lord Henshingly and Lady Nameless Croft, Lara grew up in the lavish comforts of British aristocracy. However, she always had a desire to venture beyond those confines, taking up interests in athletics and archeology. At one point, she’d even accompanied her mentor, renowned archeologist Werner Von Croy, into a Cambodian temple, which totally didn’t end badly. Nope. Definitely not.

But for the most part, Lara very much remained on the path to becoming a proper lady, even getting engaged to the Earl of Farrington. Returning from a ski trip, their plane crashed in the Himalayas, with Lara, only 21 at the time, emerging the sole survivor. Whether the Earl accompanied her and died depends on the version, but Lara was left to fend for herself for two whole weeks before finding her way to a small village to find help.

Following this incident, Lara became unable to suffer the stuffy trappings of her old life, and so, used her family funds to go on various adventures across the world. She’d gone full adrenaline junkie, only able to feel alive through the thrill of courting death. This earned her the mantle of a renowned adventurer, publishing books and journals detailing her escapades, and even speaking at universities and seminars. Still, it was that feeling of isolation, far removed from modern life, which became her reason to live.

Unable to accept her new lifestyle, her parents disowned her. Thankfully, Lara was close with her aunt, a teacher who’d tutored her and taken her to see various European castles and historical sites (of course, with Lara repeatedly running off on her own). And so her aunt stepped in, passing down Croft Manor to her. By the time we meet her in the first game, she’s been at the tomb raiding game for a long while at this point. If we assume it takes place in the year it came out, 1996, Lara would be 28 years old, having been an adventurer for seven.

Now, a lot of this isn’t communicated in the classic games, at least from what I’ve seen and played. Up until each of the reboot eras, Tomb Raider is less about Lara herself, and more about her adventures, using Lara as a player avatar with more going on than the average main character. As such, most of the details of her backstory are kept to supplemental material. You wouldn’t know it unless you went hunting for it.

And because of that, coupled with how the publisher Eidos handled Lara as a brand (more on that later), Lara winds up becoming less of a character in pop culture, and more of an icon. People love the idea of Lara more than Lara herself. And I find that a shame, because her character is so unique. From her youth, she’s been finding little ways to exert her freedom, and in the fallout of a horrific, traumatic event, built a new life for herself. A career. One that undoubtedly gave her joy and helped her spread her wings, but equally one which isolated her. Which fed her need for action and danger, all the while leaving the seething resentments and fears festering beneath.

And granted, a lot of that comes from fanon readings of her, namely in the fan novelization of The Angel of Darkness by JR Milward. We’ll talk about that project later, but the insight it gives into Lara’s psyche is SO. FUCKING. GOOD.

But that’s Classic Lara. A lot of this backstory, as well her personality, gets radically changed with each reboot, and each time, she loses more of what makes her unique. More of her edge, her wit, and her agency. There are still glimmers of what I love about her present, but it’s not the Lara Croft I’ve come to know and love. But for now, let’s enjoy Classic Lara, beginning with… well, not her first adventure, but our first adventure with her.

Tomb Raider 1:

Our story begins with Lara, already a seasoned adventurer, receiving a request from Jacqueline Natla, CEO of Natla Technologies, to retrieve an ancient artifact known as the Scion. Immediately, you’re thrown into lonely, icy caves in the mountains of Peru, uncovering forgotten ruins deeper within, along with a lush valley filled with… dinosaurs. Welp, time to finish what the comet started.

While there is a story here, it’s primarily an excuse to explore these locales. Our three stops are Peru, Greece, and Egypt, with each housing a piece of the Scion, and each being broken up into individual levels. What really sells this game is its atmosphere. Venturing into spaces that have lay untouched for ages, it feels like you’re entering another world entirely. One divorced from all the tedious mundanity of modern daily life. In that sense, you are inhabiting the character of Lara, who no doubt shares the sentiment.

And yet for all these abandoned locales, I’m always surprised by how vibrant they all are. Granted, Peru’s earlier levels feature a lot of gray and brown, but the later levels show off some lush greens, along with eye-catching oranges and reds in the ruins’ textures. Greece likewise is filled with beautiful golds, and Egypt? Egypt is stunning with all the jade and turquoise.

Make fun of the blocky graphics all you want, but the art design still stands the test of time. The Remastered games updated the models and texturing, allowing you to switch between them at any time, which I appreciate. Especially in the Lost Valley, when I want that ominous darkness from the lack of a skybox.

There’s no objective the game hands you. Instead, you’re plopped right into the level and left to explore and figure things out for yourself. Which again, does make you feel more like you’re a proper explorer trying to find your way through undiscovered, dangerous territory.

While there are a few human enemies throughout the game, they’re left as either bosses or occasional nuisances, with the majority of enemies being animals, fantastical creatures, or the levels themselves. Still, Tomb Raider 1 is more focused on platforming and puzzles than combat. You’re expected to be motivated by your desire to see what lies below, and the old tank controls will definitely punish you if you’re the impatient type.

Tank controls, like the name suggests, have you operate your character like a tank. Instead of relying on the camera to decide which direction you’ll run in, you can only run forward. If you wanna turn, you have to hit either left or right and slowly pivot, or hit the roll button to immediately turn around. It takes a lot of getting used to, and is largely a consequence of developers trying to figure out how controls should work in 3D space.

However, the level of precision this allows means that when you die, nine times out of ten, it’s your own fault. You’re the one with complete control over Lara. She won’t even grab ledges automatically. You have to hold down the button to tell her when to grab the ledge, but that means there’s no worrying about accidentally being gravitated in the wrong direction, or the automatic grab failing you and letting you plummet to your death. Looking at you, Legend trilogy.

Thankfully, the patient are rewarded once more, as if you hold down the walk button, it will always keep Lara from falling off a ledge, which is nice if you wanna ensure you’re not going to be entombed yourself.

The save system though? That’s a whole other beast. Depending on the version, you have to use Save Crystals, which are scattered throughout the levels. They’re consumable items, which means you can only save a finite amount of times. I suppose it does raise the stakes and force you to be more aware of your surroundings, but it feels unnecessarily harsh. Thankfully, other versions - including the Remasters - instead opt for the “save anywhere” system.

Now, assumedly for the sake of new players accustomed to more modern control schemes, the Remasters introduced “Modern Controls.” With these, Lara’s orientation is tethered to the camera, making it far more intuitive. There’s been a lot of criticism levied towards this feature, namely the fact it takes away a lot of the control players have with the Tank Controls.

Because you can run in any direction now, it eliminates backflips, side steps, and side jumps, which were genuinely useful once you got the hang of things. These have occasionally given me problems, but the real menace is never knowing if Lara will grab the ledge after walking off a platform, or if she'll choose to fall to her death. I seem to have circumvented this by holding the grab button when I run off a ledge, but I still have trust issues.

Admittedly, while I did get accustomed to Tank Controls when playing the Vita version, I do genuinely enjoy the Modern Controls (most of the time), and lowkey see them as a reward for my efforts. You can always switch between control schemes, so it’s basically up to what you prefer. We live for player choice.

Unfortunately, the combat’s not that impressive. It doesn’t have to be since it isn’t the main attraction, but it’s by far my least favorite part of the game. Because you’re encouraged to take your time and be thoughtful with your movements, it comes into conflict with frantic action, especially against the stronger, flying enemies you see in the later levels of Egypt, and DOUBLE ESPECIALLY in the Atlantis levels. On the bright side, you get to fight a T-rex. I shall call him… Tevin.

My favorite levels tend to be the ones heaviest on puzzle solving. Saint Francis Folly features this insanely tall room with a pillar in the middle, which you use to access four rooms with puzzles based around Greek gods, such as… Thor? And Neptune? Okay. Palace Midas is a bit more sprawling, requiring you to find lead bars that you can turn to gold with the Midas statue, which will open the exit. Or… you can turn Lara to gold, in case you hate yourself.

And then… the Cistern. Yeah if you couldn’t tell, me like the Greek levels. Funnily enough, the Cistern is considered one of the more… hated levels of the series? And I get why. If you hate the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, this is its predecessor. You have to raise and lower the water levels in what amounts to a giant ancient toilet to find keys, but I enjoy this one for all its platforming, and how more than any other level, it forces you to take your time. I find this one incredibly relaxing to revisit.

Once you beat Egypt and acquire the third piece of the Scion, you discover that not only was Atlantis real, but Natla - the lady who tried to hire you and then kill you for said Scion - was its queen. Well, one of three rulers known as the Triumvirate, the other two being Qualopec and Tihocan, whose tombs are featured at the end of the Peru and Greece stages respectively.

In its heyday, Atlantis was a utopia. And Natla hated that. Being the original social Darwinist loser, she believed peace bred complacency, and so decided to use the Scion to create a race of powerful, bloodthirsty mutants to, in the wise words of Kesha, raise some hell in the hopes of forcing the Atlanteans to evolve at a rapid pace. Naturally, Atlantis was destroyed as a result, and Qualopec and Tihocan locked her crazy ass in cryostasis. I support women's rights, I support women's wrongs, but most importantly, I support women's failures.

Naturally, she was unintentionally freed thanks to nuclear testing in present day New Mexico, and since then has built a business empire for herself in order to find the scattered pieces of the Scion and finish what she started. After Natla steals the fully forned Scion following the Egypt level, Lara hitches a ride on her yacht - somehow going unnoticed - and discovers that she’s actually the star of a fucking survival horror game.

The Atlantis levels not only take place inside a volcano, but feature entire structures made of bone, muscle, and… blood vessels? Oh that is nasty. And oddly, the low-poly graphics lend to that unsettling, uncanny energy. It’s gross as hell, and I’m here for it.

Anyhow, we kill Natla, swipe the Scion, shut down her mutant factory, and save the day or whatever. It’s a simple story, but I do very much enjoy how the game begins quiet and grounded, and ends this apocalyptic fantasy nightmare. I suppose that’s the natural result of heading into unexplored territory that no human has seen in thousands of years, and maybe should never see again.

And let me tell you, this game did gangbusters. No one at Eidos or Core Design expected this game to do well, let alone become a global phenomenon (or should we say, a “Femininomenon”?). As of April 2009, Tomb Raider 1 has sold over seven-million units. Granted, I haven’t been able to find how much it sold initially, but Tomb Raider was a real unexpected success… which in the long run, ironically sealed Lara’s fate.

The Classic Core Design Era:

When you have a popular IP in your hands, there’s only one thing to do under capitalism: milk it for all it’s fucking worth. And so, Eidos did what any sensible publisher would - demanded Core Design develop and release a new Tomb Raider game. EVERY. SINGLE. FUCKING. YEAR.

Sure, yeah, it’s not like video games in particular are incredibly complex projects that only get more difficult to develop as technology continues to advance, in addition to having to weave that into engaging stories every single year without running out of ideas on the conveyor belt of suffering. I’m sure this won’t end badly!

Now, at the time of writing this script, I haven’t fully played through Tomb Raiders 2 and 3, nor the rest of the classic series, but I am familiar with their stories, gameplay changes, and fan consensus (again, thank Horus for Steve of Warr). So we’re basically gonna go on a magical highlight reel to talk about the classic series’ prime, and later fall from grace.

Tomb Raider 2 released in 1997, and was more focused on action and combat than its predecessor. And maybe my thoughts will change when I give it a shot on the Remastered copy, but uh… as someone whose least favorite part of Classic was its combat, no fucking thank you. But it’s important to recognize that Core Design did genuinely try to expand upon the original’s foundation.

Tomb Raider 2’s focus on action could be argued to be a focus on spectacle in order to hold gamers’ interest. You wouldn’t wanna risk boring them with more eerie, isolated tombs, would you? There are still tombs here, though, and mystical elements, but you’ve got way more human enemies. In this case, a crime organization led by Italian loser Marco Bartoli, whose name is very easy to make fun of, and as Italian trash, I grant y’all permission to do so.

These losers are after the mythical Dagger of Xian, a Chinese relic that, when stabbed into the wielder’s heart, will transform them into a mighty, fearsome dragon. Good for Lara! She can add dragons to the list of endangered species she’s wiped off the map! Oh, also Lara gets more gun types, and access to vehicles. Because that’s what we all love in games - vehicles. I do respect this game for trying something new, even if it’s definitely not up my alley.

Tomb Raider 3, released against its will in 1998, followed Lara tracking down relics from a meteorite scattered across the globe, allowing you to even choose the order of levels (outside the beginning and ending ones, of course). From Indian temples to the London underground, even to the infamous Area 51! Yeah, it was starting to get whacky here. We’ve also got… cannibalistic South Pacific tribes… not touchin’ that with a ten-foot pole.

On the bright side, you can sprint now? Sprint far, far away from that yikes! It was clear that Core was really putting the final polish on Lara’s mechanics.

In both games, you also get to visit Lara’s home. Croft Manor is its own fully explorable level, with a treasure room in the basement, a hedge maze, a quad bike track, and a freezer to lock your butler Winston in because he keeps creepily following you around the manor. Alternatively, you can shoot him, leaving him with only a tray to defend himself. True billionaire behavior.

As of April 2009, Tomb Raider 2 has sold nearly 7-million units, and 3 has sold nearly 6 million. By this point, Lara Croft was at the height of her relevance. And unfortunately, Eidos ironically got far greedier than the treasure-hunting heroine. They were ALLEGEDLY protective of her brand image at first, but quickly used her sex appeal as a means of not only promoting the games, but making Lara the face of irrelevant products.

You’ve got full 3D-renders of Lara in bikinis, and even ones where she’s only covered up by towels and a convenient pose. The games themselves didn’t really lean into this until the fourth entry, The Last Revelation, with Lara’s model being updated to emphasize her… assets.

This deeply upset Lara’s creator, Toby Gard, who left Core Design after the first game to focus on other projects. His creation was no longer his. She wasn’t even Core’s. She was Eidos’ now, and they were gonna use her for all she was worth. Gard admitted that Lara’s design featuring exaggerated proportions was intentional, but as a means of stylization rather than outright exploitation.

While many argue that Lara, and any female character, should be allowed to “be conventionally attractive,” I agree with Gard that Lara herself wouldn’t ever flaunt her body around the way she does in Eidos’ marketing. She doesn’t seem to care at all for sex or romance, reading to me personally as aro-ace. Ironic, given her birthday is Valentine’s Day, but good for her. I assume she shot Cupid with his own arrow, then promptly locked it in another display case in her manor, before mounting his wings above her fireplace mantel as a trophy.

Still, the franchise went on without its creator, picking up more and more steam as it went on. They even made the most successful video-game film adaptation of all time in 2001, starring Angelina Jolie as Lara. Pitch-perfect casting, if I do say so myself.

I’ve yet to see it, but from all I’ve seen, it’s a campy delight. However, it did make some changes to Lara’s backstory that would eventually be canonized into each of the reboot trilogies, which um… I do not appreciate.

Yet for all this success, the developers at Core Design came to know the bane of every creator’s existence: utterly loathing the thing which people know you for, and gave you your success in the first place. For details on the development history, including details about the team and engine, I recommend Michael Large’s video on the subject.

Suffice to say, the amount of work that had to go into creating each game, and doing that year-in, year-out, nevermind any other games Core Design was working on, it’s no wonder the team grew exhausted. Sacrificing mental health, friendships, and relationships for The Grindtm, Lara was basically a golden ball and chain dragging their souls to the bottom of Scrooge McDuck’s vault. Sure, you’re drowning in gold, but you’re still drowning.

Large’s video goes into depth not only on the revolutionary tools used to create the games, but also stories of how members of the team were affected by this strenuous schedule. And it’s fucking harrowing. Even more so when you realize that nothing has really changed in the games industry.

If anything, it’s just gotten worse, especially with many gamers themselves weirdly siding with money-hungry corporate publishers and conglomerates, and lambasting developers for… a list of mind-numbingly stupid non-issues. Like, how many times have games featured greedy corporations as villains? The writing's on the wall, guys.

This all culminated in the fourth game, The Last Revelation. Released in 1999, this one’s a lot more story-heavy than the previous games. Remember that mentor I mentioned earlier? Werner Von Croy? Yeah well, he’s back now, and possessed by the Egyptian God of Chaos, Set, and Lara nearly ends the world in a fiery apocalypse by stealing the Amulet of Horus. Whoopsie!

It was quite ambitious for its time, even linking levels together as a complex world rather than having you progress one level at a time. And fun fact: this game’s engine, the Tomb Raider Level Editor, was released to the public alongside the fifth entry, and since then has been used by fans to create entire games of their own. Steve of Warr has a series on this, and I just felt the need to mention it, given I’m always here for fans taking what they love, and using their creativity to put their own spin on it.

But what really matters about The Last Revelation is how it ends. You see, because Core wanted to be free of Tomb Raider , and Lara Croft IS Tomb Raider, Core Design got an idea. An awful idea. Core Design got a wonderful, awful idea. Kill. Lara. Croft.

At the end of The Last Revelation, Lara is unable to escape as a pyramid collapses with her still inside, and she’s presumed dead. And somehow, Core had managed to hide this from Eidos until the game was released. And uh… it’s not too hard to imagine how Eidos would’ve reacted to this. (cue the “WHERE? IS? MY? MOTHER? Scene, but it’s, “WHERE? IS? MY? LARA?”)

Unfortunately, greed is an unstoppable monster, and Core was still expected to release a fifth Tomb Raider the next year as usual, death be damned. I imagine Eidos was looking to bury them under the pyramid with Lara if they didn’t comply.

And so, Tomb Raider: Chronicles follows four unrelated stories of Lara’s past adventures, told by a bunch of sad old men who knew her because apparently the bitch had no friends. Not the pitch for the fifth entry of your most iconic series being the plot of a goddamn direct-to-video Disney sequel. This one didn’t sell nearly as well. The series had already seen a gradual fall-off in sales, with Last Revelation having sold 4.7 million copies as of April 2009, while Chronicles has only managed barely over 1 million.

Things were getting stale. Fans wanted more Lara, but were getting tired of the same kinda adventure over and over, and critics were likewise dragging the series for a lack of innovation. And so… it was time for some change. To take some creative risks. Alas, not all risks pay off… 

FORESHADOWING IS A NARRATIVE DEVICE--

Angel of Darkness:

While one team at Core worked on Chronicles, another was working on a project that would transition the series over to the next-generation console of the day: the PlayStation 2. Heralding Lara’s return with a massive shift from the classic games, accompanied with overhauled graphics and presumably new gameplay, The Angel of Darkness was planned as the first in a new trilogy. Sadly, the other two entries would never see the light of day.

From the get-go, Angel of Darkness’ development was fraught with issues. The already exhausted, jaded team at Core not only had to divide their team for the sake of also working on Chronicles, and still struggled with impossible deadlines as Eidos breathed down their necks, but also had to deal with the added challenge of learning to develop for the PS2.

Oddly enough, veteran developers worked on Chronicles, while newbies were put in charge of Angel of Darkness. By the time Chronicles was released, the established leadership took one look at the fresh meat’s work thus far, loudly yelled, “What in the fuck is that?”, and scrapped everything, forcing the team to start from scratch. It’s not hard to see why they wound up missing so many deadlines. Eidos was likely hoping to keep the annual releases going strong, but while Chronicles had released in 2000, Angel of Darkness wouldn’t hit store shelves until 2003.

Raidercast, a Tomb Raider fan podcast, has conducted interviews with members of Core Design, along with the game’s writer Murti Schofield, and I highly recommend them for the insight they provide into the absolute torment and chaos that was Angel of Darkness’ development. To paint you a picture, everyone had grand ambitions for this game, but unfortunately, bringing that to fruition proved difficult when everyone was running around like headless chickens with no clue what the fuck was happening.

Set two years after The Last Revelation, Lara Croft is still alive, but since her last escapade, has become a recluse. Having been freed from Set’s control, Werner invites her to Paris, which is currently in a panic due to an active serial killer known as the Monstrum, who steals the organs of their victims.

Once they meet up, Werner requests Lara’s help in retrieving an artifact for a client by the name of Eckhardt. Lara, pissed off, chews out Werner, blaming him for her falling into the pyramid. A struggle ensues, where Werner yells, a gun is shot, and Lara blacks out. When she comes to, she finds Werner lying in a pool of his own blood, dead. There’s blood on Lara’s hands… and the walls. In lovely ritualistic symbols, to boot!

Unsure of whether she or someone else killed her old mentor, Lara is now on the run from authorities, desperate to find the truth. She’s quickly swept up in a centuries-long shadow war, discovering that Werner’s client, Pieter Van Eckhardt, is not only the Monstrum, but also the infamous, immortal Black Alchemist, who’s trying to resurrect the nephilim: a biblical race of human-angel hybrids.

Like The Last Revelation, Angel of Darkness has an incredibly ambitious story, arguably even more so. And the vibes? Immaculate. I’m living for this gothic murder mystery, using grungy urban settings as the backdrop for occult-inspired horror. It’s new, but still feels in line with Tomb Raider, and especially works for how burnt-out Lara - and Core Design - would be after her near-death experience.

And Lara’s snark is at its absolute peak here. There’s been quite a lot of critiques over the years with just how sharp-tongued she is in this game, but given all she’s been through… I don’t exactly blame her. And it makes for iconic insults that make for an excellent meme factory.

Unfortunately, the story fell victim to the game’s troubled development. Crucial details, such as how Lara survived her ordeal in the first place, fell to the cutting room floor. After emerging from the pyramid, Lara was found by a healer by the name of Putai, who nursed her back to health and brought her to live amongst her people, the Bantiwa Tribe. This would incite not only Lara’s physical healing, but a new spiritual journey which would continue into the Angel of Darkness trilogy. In the finished product, Putai’s name is never once uttered.

Many other new characters sadly never got the chance to leave much of an impression, especially the villains. Most notably is Joachim Karel, Eckhardt’s right-hand man and the true antagonist of the trilogy. Karel himself is secretly a nephilim, stringing Eckhardt along to resurrect his people and enslave mankind. Able to shapeshift, Karel is the one who killed Von Croy, posing as Eckhardt in the hopes of stringing Lara along as well. Many of these nuances, however, are barely present in the actual game, or go unsung.

The game only takes place in two locales: Paris and Prague. Paris was originally going to be a sort of freeform hub you could explore at your own pace, but inevitably changed into the same-old approach of linear levels. The Hall of Seasons ruin is genuinely gorgeous, though. We were also meant to visit Eckhardt’s castle in Germany, as well as the city of Cappadocia in Turkey, where the nephilim Eckhardt is hoping to revive - the Sleeper - was originally found, but both were cut for time.

Still, the story has enough going for it that it’s still plenty enjoyable. What really killed Angel of Darkness on arrival was its botched gameplay. You’ve got your expected glitches and hiccups due to troubled development; the kind you couldn’t just fix in patches back in those days. But fundamentally, it seems the team couldn’t decide whether to keep Lara on the grid system, or grant her a proper, modern control scheme.

See, the classic series’ Tank Controls were perfect for the grid-based system the levels were built upon. You always knew exactly where Lara would land with either standing or running jumps, usually measured in tiles. So even though she moved like a damn forklift, you could still rely on those controls once you got the hang of them.

Angel of Darkness, however, eliminated that grid system without eliminating Lara’s tank controls. She’s still a damn forklift, awkwardly ambling around levels at the speed of a sickly tortoise. You could argue her slower speed, and the new stamina meter, are the result of Lara being out of shape due to being out of the game for so long, but it’s not particularly enjoyable when you’re actually playing. The Modern Controls in Remastered do alleviate some of this, but movement and platforming still feels far clunkier compared to the previous games.

You’ve also got a few new, half-baked mechanics, such as stealth you never need to use. Why bother taking five years to take out museum guards and police when you could just shoot them? Gotta clear your name of murder quickly and all. There’s also a dialogue choice mechanic that changes nothing, aside from Old Lady Carvier refusing to give you a notebook if you’re too mean, and Parisian crime boss Bouchard shooting you if you read him for filth.

These aren’t additions that fundamentally change the gameplay or story. They’re just stapled on for the sake of looking like fundamental changes. And that’s not even touching on the strength mechanic. In addition to the new stamina bar, which limits how long you can hang onto ledges, Lara will be unable to perform certain actions like opening a door, or pulling a lever. She’ll say, “I’m not strong enough.”

The game will require you to go do some other random task, which it won’t inform you of. You’ll only know by her saying, “I feel stronger now,” at which point you can probably go back and do that thing you couldn’t manage before. Because that makes sense. It isn’t the kind of level progression in other games where you’re getting better at playing, or being rewarded for your efforts, but a random way to block your progress if you don’t do things the way the game wants you to.

And to make matters worse, Lara has a pseudo-love interest now! Sure, why not? Kurtis Trent, a member of a group opposing Eckhardt, initially stalks Lara on her journey, then later joins forces with her and has a few playable levels to himself. And… he plays exactly the same as Lara. He was originally going to have special abilities based around his psychic powers, such as the ability to see visions of other areas he can’t physically access, or a fancy ninja star he can control with his mind, but again, these were cut for time.

And personality wise? Yeah, he just feels incredibly sleazy, especially with the creepy way he properly meets Lara in the Louvre. There’s this feeling where the game thinks he’s the hot, edgy bad boi who’s perfect for our broody leading lady, but he’s giving that he smells like weed and should be on a registry.

When the game finally dropped, it managed to sell over 2 million copies, but that fell far below Eidos’ expectations. And to make matters worse, audience and critical reception were bad. Like, abysmally bad. Tomb Raider had already begun decaying in the public eye, and this was the death knell. So much so that when the second Angelina Jolie movie, The Cradle of Life, bombed in 2003, production company Paramount blamed its failure on Angel of Darkness souring the brand name. Though from what I’m aware of in regards to fan consensus, Cradle of Life was its own disaster.

On the bright side, the soundtrack slays. I’ve enjoyed the music of the classic series, but it’s usually been quite understated. More focused on creating an immersive atmosphere, with you often left in silence. Angel of Darkness, meanwhile, has a gorgeously melancholic score that even incorporated the London Symphony Orchestra. Shoutout to Peter Connely and Martin Iveson for their compositional work.

And as usual, the fans come in clutch to salvage this forsaken franchise. Angel of Darkness has a fan novelization by JR Milward, which I have adored and occasionally revisited over the years but how well it fleshes out the existing story. Milward voices Lara herself in the audiobook version, and her acting, and the use of the game’s score, make for a lovely experience.

For me personally, it’s the definitive way to experience Angel of Darkness. Especially in the way it focuses on Lara’s personal journey of reckoning with the trauma that she not only experienced in Egypt, but that she’s been carrying since she began her career as a tomb raider.

She’s even written a sequel, titled the Path of the Black Alchemist, which received the blessing of the game’s writer, who himself has given the story a lot of thought in his own time. Angel of Darkness may be a broken mess, but it’s also a passion project. I’ve yet to read Path of the Black Alchemist, and in truth am lowkey waiting for an audio drama adaptation.

Sadly, while Angel of Darkness has become a cult classic in the fandom, Eidos did not give a single shit about that. I’d argue it’s Eidos’ fault in the first place, their own greed and demands leading us to this God-awful situation, but hey, they’re the ones who hold the rights. And so, they told Core to go fuck themselves, took Tomb Raider away from them, and gave it to another of their studios: Crystal Dynamics. And to throw salt in the wound, they were an American studio too. Bloody yankees.

From there, Core Design was basically left to wither on the vine. Founder Jeremy Heath Smith founded his own company, Circle Studio, and most of the existing team at Core jumped ship with him. Core, meanwhile, was later acquired by Rebellion Developments in 2006, being transformed into Rebellion Derby before finally being put out of its misery in 2010.

So, uh… a pretty miserable ending, I’d say. Developing one of the most beloved franchises of all time, only to slowly be driven mad by your greedy publisher and public demand, so much so you take it out on your own goddamn character, and finally finding yourself kicked to the curb when your attempt at evolving the series goes awry.

And Classic Lara herself received quite the ambiguous ending. Though she defeated her enemies, and presumably avenged Von Croy, her name hasn’t been cleared. At the end of The Angel of Darkness, finding a pool of Kurtis’ blood and his dumb ninja star, she heads off into the darkness, never to be seen again. For you see, Crystal Dynamics didn’t bring this Lara back - they replaced her.

Legend:

Bringing Lara Croft back from the ashes would be no easy task. Crystal Dynamics got right to work, setting out to modernize the franchise, and reassert Lara Croft as a cultural icon. To this end, Toby Gard was brought back onboard for consultation, assisting with the story, as well as redesigning Lara.

Released in 2006 for every fucking console under the sun, Tomb Raider: Legend is a soft reboot. We’ve officially entered a new continuity, but it’s superficially similar enough to the classic series to not totally overwhelm filthy casuals and the general public. Lara is still an archeologist and adventurer, but her backstory has been completely changed, and is more in line with the backstory she has in the Angelina Jolie movies.

Here, her parents are Richard and Amelia Croft. Oh look, her mom got an actual name! Not that it’ll save her. Richard was an archeologist, taking Lara on numerous expeditions. So now, instead of Lara being a rebel whose lifestyle was at odds with what was expected of her, she now is following in her father’s footsteps. Which… I’m not gonna lie, I hate it.

It’s not too in your face here. Just wait ‘til the third trilogy for it to get on your damn nerves. But to me, this robs Lara of her agency, taking away her hints of rebelliousness to where she decided to embrace an unconventional lifestyle. It’s giving that one Caitlin Reilly video about women in sci-fi movies, where women have to have some paternal lineage to justify their interest in science or adventure.

This Lara is still quite sassy, but her personality is far softer. She’s way more amicable, less of a lone wolf, having friends all across the globe, and even in her ear. To accompany her adventure, she has two pals helping from Croft Manor: Zip, a tech nerd who originated in Chronicles, and Alister, a history nerd who won’t shut up about trivial things no one cares about.

These two are quite… unpopular. Because Tomb Raider had always been a very isolating, lonely game, people weren’t fond of the constant chattering with these two that you could never shut off. Personally, I don’t mind their presence. I actually really enjoy Lara having other personalities to work off of, and to me, it always shows she’s a more experienced, seasoned adventurer with a team behind her. It kinda gives Sly 3, with the Cooper Gang expanding to include new members with useful specialties.

I do understand why people don’t enjoy them, and I do wish you could choose to turn their commentary off. But it’s not entirely unexpected, given Legend is far more lighthearted and campy than the classic series. More action, more cinematic edge, a more conventional story, and Lara herself even becoming more of a conventional action heroine. All the edges have been sanded off to make Legend as mainstream-friendly as possible. And as its own beast… I admittedly enjoy it quite a bit. It’s a fun time, even if it lacks the atmosphere and broodiness of the classic series. It’s that new damn Lara backstory I can’t forgive.

Thankfully, Lara herself is still a lovable character, and that’s helped by Keeley Hawes’ performance. Out of all the voice actresses, she’s my second-favorite Lara, delivering the perfect amount of both class and wit.

In terms of gameplay, Legend features full 360-degree movement. There’s no more grid system. Lara’s movement is more fluid than ever, and there’s also no more manual grab, as she’ll automatically grab ledges for you… sometimes even moving toward them like a magnet. And while this style is more palatable to modern audiences, and enjoyable, it does lack the level of precise control the classic series had.

Level design has also been streamlined. Gone are complex levels with multiple branching rooms and paths, leaving you to figure out your next step yourself. Legend will practically scream your goals at you, with the only way to go being forward,and with most of the puzzles being physics-based. Again, I don’t particularly mind that, but I can see why that feels like a betrayal to the series’ original essence. Oh, but I can’t forgive the fucking quick-time events. These aren’t challenging, or fun, they’re a nuisance. Well, it is fun seeing all the Dumb Ways to Die!

Anyhow, onto the story. Instead of surviving a plane crash in the Himalayas at 21 with her faceless fiancé, Lara instead survived one at 9 with her mother! Yay! Having stumbled into an ancient ruin, Lara came across a dais with a sword in the stone. Accidentally activating it, Amelia wound up pulling the sword out in fear, disappearing in a flash of green light. Lara then shambled her way to a nearby village, somehow not fucking dying in the treacherous, icy terrain, and politely rang her father asking her to pick her up. Provided it wasn’t too inconvenient, of course.

Lara’s father died at 18 under mysterious circumstances, but for the most part, Lara went on to become a well-adjusted Tomb Raider. We catch up with her in the present as she visits a ruin in Bolivia currently being plundered by mercenaries, led by the nepo-baby fuckboi James Rutland. There’s a dais here identical to the one that took Lara’s mother away, and Rutland mentions an old friend of Lara’s assumed to be dead by the name of Amanda.

From here, Lara’s quest is to figure out what really happened to Amanda, and how it’s connected to these identical ruins and swords all across the world. And it’s… fine enough. I do enjoy getting tidbits about various myths from different cultures, and seeing how the story ties them together through fictional ancient civilizations.

It’s nothing groundbreaking, but it works well enough for a lighthearted, globetrotting adventure. And the mystery of what happened to Lara’s mother is probably enough for most casual audiences to keep them hooked. I personally couldn’t give less of a fuck, but you do you, Lara.

Personally, my main issue with the story is Amanda, the real main antagonist of this game, and an overarching antagonist of this trilogy. She was a fellow researcher and friend of Lara who presumably died while they were exploring a site in Paraiso, with pretty much everyone being mauled by this shadow demon the fandom collectively named Fluffy.

Turns out, Amanda survived, nabbing an artifact called the Wraith Stone which allowed her to tame and control Fluffy. She’s pissy she was assumed dead, and since then, has stayed off the radar while pursuing the secrets of the dais. Not sure where she got all the resources she uses throughout the series, but maybe she got Rutland to put her in his will.

Her hatred of Lara is very dull, and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact we don’t really know much about Amanda to begin with. Without the benchmark of what she and Lara’s friendship looked like initially, and who Amanda is as a person, it leaves you more annoyed at her dark turn than hurt.

She doesn’t have much of a presence either, not properly entering the story until Level 5 in Kazakhstan… of 8. Personally, I would’ve introduced her in Level 2 when Lara goes back to Paraiso. Not only would she have made her presence known as soon as possible, but it would also be in the same place where, in her eyes, Lara abandoned her.

She’s functional as an antagonist here, but I bring all this up cuz it’s gonna become an even bigger problem later on in the trilogy. The game ends with Lara getting Excalibur, kicking ass, and having quite possibly one of the most badass moments in video game history where she questions Amanda about her mother.

With this new knowledge, Lara has the slightest hope that her mother is still out there, alive and waiting for her, and she heads off to find the mythical land of Avalon.

Legend was a massive success, selling over 6-million copies as of 2009, and resurrecting public interest in Tomb Raider. While it’s garnered a lot of pushback since its release from fans of the classic series, and I have plenty of issues with it, I still very much enjoy Legend for its campy vibes. It makes for an easy gateway into the series for newbies before they venture back to the classics.

Unfortunately, Eidos learned nothing from their folly, and with dollar signs in their eyes, commanded Crystal Dynamics to release this new trilogy in yearly installments. And I’m sure it didn’t go horribly wrong… oh God… 

Anniversary:

So instead of continuing on from Legend, the middle of this trilogy, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, is instead a remake of Tomb Raider 1, rewritten to fit into the new canon. Ironically, Core Design was hoping to remake the first game themselves after Angel of Darkness, but Eidos swiped Lara from them before they could manage it, and Crystal Dynamics was all, “Ooo, cool idea! Mind if we give it a go?” Cue the sad cries of Core Design as they wail unheard into the night.

While Anniversary, released in 2007, uses the same engine and mechanics of Legend, it’s way less campy in tone. More ambience in each level, and no quippy commentary from Zip and Alister. In terms of vibes, it’s very much in line with Tomb Raider 1, but vibes only go so far. While I do appreciate the more intuitive controls, they’re nowhere as precise as those of the original.

Anniversary’s automatic ledge grabbing has failed me on more than one occasion, to the point I have developed severe trust issues. It doesn’t help that at times, Lara will nearly lose her grip unless you press a button to secure your grip (the FIRMLY GRASP IT button). This becomes a nightmare in platforming gauntlets where timing and speed are key.

This goes doubly for pillars Lara has to balance on, as half the time, she’s guaranteed to nearly lose her balance, locking you in place and keeping you from jumping forward before you’re crushed to death by the walls. Oh, and more quick-time events! Yay! Even the goddamn T-rex is introduced in a quick-time event, instead of letting you encounter it on your own while exploring. Gurl, this isn’t a movie, it’s a game. Let me play the game.

I do enjoy seeing the ways they’ve adapted the original areas to work with the new control scheme, but half the time, I prefer how they were handled in the original. Saint Francis Folly is arguably the pinnacle of this. I find the new versions of the Thor and Neptune challenges (now properly named Hephaestus and Poseidon) more enjoyable, but I prefer the layout of the original main room.

But truthfully, my real problem with these redesigns isn’t the new puzzles, or even the new corridors used to connect them, but the lack of color. Seriously, where did all the color go?! This was in the era where games, in trying to look more realistic, felt the need to feature such lovely colors as mud, diarrhea, and dirt. Oh, and everyone’s favorite… soulless beige.

The bright reds and oranges of the Tomb of Qualopec are now just dull grays and browns, the alluring golds of the Greek levels are all a dusty beige, and Egypt? Egypt was MASSACRED. The golden walls and statues, the turquoise walls and jade floors? IT’S MORE BEIGE. Who put millennial mothers in charge of the art direction?!

Even the Atlantis levels are so much worse looking. The Atlantean creatures themselves are still muscular freaks of nature, but the architecture isn’t. It doesn’t look like the structures themselves were organically grown by the Scion, but like the temple is just… regular volcanic rock. Cool.

Lara herself is… fine. We’re again fixating on the daddy issues, with Natla having recruited the man to find her the Scion. Whatever. More interesting is Lara’s arc of realizing the violence she’s capable of to achieve her goals. She’s routinely saddened by the death around her, even those of the enemies trying to kill her. And when she’s horrified of having to kill Natla’s goons, Natla uses this to try swaying Lara to her side, saying that her ruthlessness makes her strong, even using it to try and psyche Lara out.

It’s nothing revolutionary, but I appreciate it. Strangely, this would’ve worked so much better with Classic Lara, who’s personality is way more in line with the whole “killing people to get what I want” thing. I’d love seeing how that Lara deals with this Natla calling her out for her callousness.

At least Natla’s a way more interesting antagonist this time around, with far more presence, no doubt aided by the illustrious Grey DeLisle lending her performance. Admittedly, Natla’s goal is less about an evolution jumpstart, and more, “Ra-ra, Seventh Age, ra-ra, cryptic bullshit! Hey Lara, remember your daddy issues?” But I do enjoy her chewing the scenery. The way I would KILL to put this version of Natla in a room with Classic Lara.

So Anniversary is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s not bad by any means, and in terms of remakes, I do appreciate the creative liberties they were willing to take to modernize the gameplay… for the most part. But the way they drained the original of all its color, and Lara becoming a far less compelling character, even when she technically has more of an arc here than she did before, keep Anniversary from surpassing its original.

I’m also not sure why, but this game sold way less than Legend, moving just barely over 1-million copies as of 2009. I’d assume it’s from a lack of marketing, but in truth, I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it’s a remake, and people were like, “Gurl, just finish the Legend story”? But Anniversary’s inclusion of Natla would prove to be required reading for the final installment in this trilogy.

Underworld:

This one… this one’s weird. Released in 2008 as the conclusion to this trilogy, Tomb Raider: Underworld… should’ve really been called Tomb Raider: Underwhelm. It marked another next-gen entry trying to make use of the technological jump between console generations, and was… at least less disastrous than Angel of Darkness? Yet strangely, far more disappointing, at least to me.

Much like Angel of Darkness, Underworld’s development suffered not only from the whole “one game a year” thing, but also having Crystal Dynamic trying to work on both this and Anniversary at the same time with two separate teams.

Underworld features quite a few bugs, but nothing too gamebreaking. Most of the jankiness lies in Lara’s new animations. Recruiting Olympic gymnast Heidi Moneymaker, as well as stuntwoman Helena Barrett, the team used motion capture to try and create more realistic animations for Lara. And uh… they fell face-first into the uncanny valley.

Human movement is so precise and particular, that the more realistic you try to aim for while recreating it, the more… wrong it’s going to look, because those minute details are vital. Lara’s movements have gone from impressive and smooth to… very jittery and jerky. Her flips don’t carry her as far, her jumps don’t go as high, and her movements ironically lack the weight they did in Legend and Anniversary.

But that jank isn’t the reason Underworld vexes me. In fact, there’s a lot I like about this game, and has ironically made it the entry in this trilogy I’ve been revisiting most often. See, Underworld’s ambition lies in its graphics, its level design, and its atmosphere.

Of this trilogy, Underworld is the most similar to the classic series, particularly Tomb Raider 1. From the depths of the Mediterranean sea, to the gorgeous jungles of coastal Thailand, to the rainswept, shadowy rainforests of southern Mexico, you’re left to explore these massive stages with no one but yourself. Zip and Alister only check in during cutscenes at the beginning and end of levels, with Lara just talking to herself, taking video diaries as she comments on her observations.

Granted, it’s still quite linear. Far more than Tomb Raider 1. But it’s at least a nice middle-ground between the handholding of Legend and the obtuse puzzles of the classic series. And like the name suggests, its tone is incredibly broody. Not nearly to the same level as Angel of Darkness, but still enough to make my inner emo sing with glee.

But for all that, Underworld is incredibly short, with only… well, technically seven levels, but it’s really five, given how short the visit to the crypt beneath Croft Manor is, and how much of a nothing level the return to Amanda’s ship is.

And that’s probably because the story is incredibly bare bones, so they’re already struggling to drag it out for the existing number of levels. To quote Milward, the plot is as “dull as ditchwater.” (Well, Lara says that about archeology in the Angel of Darkness audiobook, but it still applies, okay?)

While Legend focused on Arthurian lore, Underworld’s focus is on Norse mythology, with Lara’s quest being to find Thor’s belt, gauntlet, and hammer in order to find and access Avalon, and finally find the truth of what happened to her mother. It’s essentially the same plot as Tomb Raider 1, but replace the Scion with Mjolgnir, and add a dash of mommy issues. Oh, and that’s made way more apt by Natla’s return.

Yeah, Natla survived Anniversary, and presumably was dug up and held captive by Amanda as an “Encyclopedia Atlantica.” Problem is that both Natla and Amanda have barely any presence here, only being featured in the first, penultimate, and final levels. Natla’s again trying to get Lara to do her dirty work for her, but you could remove her from the story and have nothing change.

Amanda’s more boring as well. She doesn’t actually confront Lara ‘til the end of the game, and even the illusion of her bitterness is gone, reducing her to a stock standard edgy Hot Topic gal. Most of her evil at the start of the game is done by faceless mercenaries.

Lara herself has also lost a lot of what’s made her interesting. She makes discoveries about her father, even learning that Natla’s the one who killed him, but it lands with all the dramatic weight of a wet paper towel.

The closest thing she gets to an arc is accepting the death of her mother. I do appreciate its subtlety, but at the same time, I do wish it was more prominent given it’s the entire reason Lara’s willing to nearly end the world. Oh, yeah, Lara’s journey here is what Natla needs to end the world. I see we’re also taking a page out of Last Revelation’s playbook.

Present also is an evil doppelganger, created by Natla to burn down Croft Manor to retrieve Amanda’s Wraith Stone. And… yeah, in cinematics, she’s cool, and I do appreciate the nods in her design to Classic Lara, particularly her Angel of Darkness design. But like her creators, she barely has any presence, and you don’t even get to fight her in gameplay. Interactions with her are locked to cutscenes.

Anyhow, the doppelganger burns down the manor and kills Alister, and I feel nothing, mostly cuz I’m not all that attached to Alister’s character. I feel like I’m playing the pitch of a movie instead of an actual game. We get a couple more levels, get the hammer, and descend into hell… or, Helheim, or Avalon, whatever the Helheim you wanna call it.

We discover that Mama Croft has been turned into a thrall: a zombie created by this blue lava called Eitr. I do adore this moment, contrived as it may be, because the iconography is simply too delicious to despise. Still doesn’t make me care about this though, especially given Lara quickly goes from shock to acceptance before having to save the world.

The final boss isn’t even a boss fight, but instead is a giant platforming puzzle, with Natla just throwing fireballs at you every now and then trying to swat you away like a gnat. She’s trying to end the world with a giant device, we stop her and drown her in Eitr, and we find a dais to get ourselves and Amanda outta dodge. Yeah, we trust Amanda I guess. Sure. I don’t care anymore.

I do enjoy the quiet ending of this game, where Lara finally says goodbye to her mother before leaving. Thank Odin they cut that bullshit alternate ending of Amanda trying to kill Lara before being shot and left for dead in a blizzard. It’s just so frustrating how empty this story feels. The atmosphere is perfect, but there’s just nothing really going on here. You have all the pieces for an epic tale, and just… do the bare minimum with them.

In a way, this feels like the Anti-Angel of Darkness. Sure, Underworld is more competent on a technical level, but while Angel of Darkness had ambition for both its technical aspects and story, Underworld seems to view its story as an afterthought. They’re like… inverted twins, and maybe that’s why it compels me as much as Angel of Darkness does?

There were some cut story elements, but nothing that I think would’ve saved it. Eddington, a friend of Richard Croft, originally requested Lara’s help in saving his niece, Jessica, from a relic possessing her known as the Eye of Odin. The design is genuinely sick as fuck. It’s this metal staff that slithers onto the body of its wielder, going up along their spine and ending in a circlet.

The team thought this would be too complex to add into the story, and truthfully, I don’t see what the fuck it has to do with the current story of Lara’s mom. There’s also concept art for Rutland’s father, a senator from the States, but I can’t see what they were gonna do with him. Maybe bankrolling Amanda to try and avenge his son? But like, who cares about this dude? I barely cared about his dumb son.

There is a bit more to the story through DLC chapters, but they were exclusive to the Xbox 360 version. What a great consumer practice! I’m not sure if the 360 still has its storefront to access the chapters, but to my knowledge, you can emulate the 360 version of Underworld to play them. But from all I’ve seen… I don’t really care?

There’s one chapter expanding on the crypts beneath Croft Manor, where Lara’s going through her father’s items, and another where you get to play as the Doppelganger. Lara, channeling her love for Disney’s Aladdin, frees the Doppelganger from Natla’s control and grants it free will. Naturally, the Doppelganger watches Natla drown in Eitr. No clue what happens to her or this version of Lara after this, but imma be so real… I don’t care.

It’s just so sad, seeing this trilogy open with a bang, only to peter out this way. It’s especially strange seeing public interest, and lowkey my own interest, wane the more similar the games got to the classic series. Underworld managed to move 3 millions copies, which admittedly seems impressive since that’s of 2009, just a year after its initial release.

Still, Underworld is a mixed bag in its own right, and much like Angel of Darkness, saw the end of this era of Tomb Raider, and this incarnation of Lara Croft. While this trilogy has its highlight, its on the whole far less memorable than the classic series, arguably because it’s so busy trying to play things safe that there’s hardly anything worth keeping the public’s attention.

When people think of this Lara, she’s just… Classic Lara, but less. And arguably, this Lara being so similar to Classic Lara, while still having this new father-centric backstory, is probably the reason why it’s become her definitive backstory at this point, which I most certainly do not appreciate. It leaves me with a love-hate relationship with this era of the games. They’re not terrible, but they’re a far cry from what they could’ve been.

To many, Underworld was the last true Tomb Raider game. Because the next time Lara would return… she would again be replaced, but far more drastically this time.

The Reboot Era:

It’s the 2010s, and you know what that means: time for a dark, gritty, edgy reboot! And by dark, we of course mean excessive violence and gore in lieu of actual maturity, and gratuitous torture of our leading lady in place of personality. Because trauma equals character development, I guess?

Oh, if you’re wondering why Square Enix’s name is all over this one, it’s cuz in 2009, Square acquired Eidos, becoming Crystal Dynamics’ new publisher.

Crystal Dynamics actually decided to reboot Lara again immediately after Underworld, this time going back to her roots to create an origin story of how she became… the Tomb Raider. Which does mean she has to start naive and inexperienced, but even once she’s truly Lara Croft, she never feels like Lara Croft. She’s… a shadow of her former self, you could say.

She’s still an archeology nerd, and she’s admittedly a bit sassy, but she lacks the grit, wit, and steadfastness of her previous incarnations. They tried hard to make her more realistic, because realism equals good I guess. That means no more quippy, iconic snark, no more exaggerated proportions, and no more dual pistols… I hate it here.

Yeah, if it’s not clear yet, I don’t really care for this era. Principally, I’m so over this obsession with high-poly realism, especially as it sucks all the fun and fantasy out of storytelling. The campy energy of even the classic series is gone, as these games insist on being as serious as possible.

I do have fond memories of the 2013 reboot as a baby gamer, especially playing it with friends, given this game was fucking everywhere at the time. And the story’s pretty decent as well. Lara, joined by a team of pals and researchers (including her maybe girlfriend maybe roommate Sam), ventures to the Dragon’s Triangle, the Japanese equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, so you know it’s way scarier.

Their ship sinks in a storm, and in the ensuing chaos, Lara finds herself on the forgotten island of Yamatai, which is filled with bloodthirsty cultists. They make a big deal of her learning to survive and struggling to not only hunt for food (which you only have to do once), but also to kill in self-defense. Insert tangent about ludonarrative dissonance here.

The island, turns out, is super mega cursed by this ancient mean lady named Himiko. Sam is her descendant, and Himiko wants to possess her so she can walk the Earth, and until that happens, her storms will prevent anyone from leaving. The cultists, as a result, want to sacrifice Sam to her, and Lara’s not about to let that happen.

The characters are, for the most part, very one-type and archetypal, but it functions decently enough for mass appeal. On the whole, it’s a fine game, but to me, it’s not a Tomb Raider game. Especially since the majority of tombs are kept as simple, optional puzzles off the beaten path.

More attention is given to the constant combat Lara finds herself in. And granted, a lot of work was put into the combat system here, with Lara using a bow and arrow, along with a climbing axe, to fight back against the cultists. But like I said with Tomb Raider 2, I am not here for combat. I am here for tombs and snark and vibes. Tomb Raider 2013 lacks all of that for me.

And the dual pistol thing? Yeah, Lara only uses them in the final boss fight, and then never again. She goes right back to her bow and axe. Are those cool? Sure. But Lara Croft has been toting dual pistols as part of her iconic silhouette since the ‘90s. I may be a filthy socialist who believes in gun control, but you’re taking Lara Croft’s dual pistols over my dead, gay body.

While I haven’t played Rise or Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I have sat through their cutscenes, and had their stories enter and promptly exit my brain. I have no desire to lose hours of my life to sitting through more of this mess. Especially as we get a rehash of the dead, neglectful archeologist dad schtick, but way worse.

If you enjoy this era of Lara, more power to you. Genuinely, I’m so happy for you, but this shit is not for me. Not in the slightest. The only joy I find is how sapphic Lara is… well, at least in the first game, before they forget Sam exists.

I mean, at least there were no publisher-imposed yearly releases this time? Mostly cuz developing a game at this point takes half a fucking decade just to make sure you can see every goddamn pore on every background character’s nose. After the reboot, the sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, released in 2015… as an Xbox One exclusive. Oh joy, anti-consumer practices, you return!

And then this trilogy mercifully ended with Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018, with Lara once again starting the apocalypse. Third time’s the charm, I guess. Oddly enough, Crystal Dynamics didn’t develop this one. Instead, Eidos-Montreal helmed the project… okay then? Apparently Crystal Dynamics was busy working on Marvel’s Avengers.

There is a movie loosely based on the 2013 game, as well as a Netflix series. I haven’t seen the movie, and I’ve only seen a bit of the show, and I will say that so far, the Netflix series is interesting. I’m still not a fan of using 2013 Lara as a foundation, but she at least has some sardonic glimmers of Classic Lara. Always, Fruity Zip is best Zip.

I understand wanting a more realistic, vulnerable character, but realism ain’t everything, and you don’t have to sacrifice fun or camp to get vulnerability. Truthfully, the Carmen Sandiego reboot feels more in line with Tomb Raider than anything to do with this era.

This era of Tomb Raider feels so alien to me, especially after diving into the previous eras. It reminds me of Fate: The Winx Saga, taking the Winx Club I’ve known all my life, and twisting it into something not only entirely different, but something far more generic. That eliminates every quirk, every unique aspect, every idiosyncrasy, and boils it down until it’s the definition of derivative.

There’s so many jokes about how this era is trying desperately hard to mimic Uncharted, and while I’ve only played a bit of those games, from what I’ve gleaned of their gameplay and vibe, I have to agree. It feels like the team is trying hard to make Lara Croft into something she’s not for the sake of mass-market appeal.

And uh… unfortunately, it looks like that worked. These entries have sold more than any other era in the series. Tomb Raider 2013 sold 14.5 million copies as of October 2021, Rise sold 11.8 million, and Shadow sold nearly 9 million. The cynical part of me assumes it’s cuz dumbing shit down to appeal to the masses works, as much as I hate it. Bow down to the almighty dollar, I guess. Another part assumes it’s due to aggressive marketing campaigns that overshadow (lol) the marketing of previous eras.

But truthfully, part of me wonders if it’s more related to gaming becoming a far more common hobby since the 2010s. While gaming has been artificially constructed as the realm of young straight bois, more and more people have been getting in on the hobby, and I can’t help but wonder if that larger audience explains these numbers. I’ve yet to find data on the Remasters, but they seem to have sold incredibly well.

Examining The Ruins:

Tomb Raider is a series that has always struggled under the weight of its own success, as has Lara herself. It began as an unexpected success born from a desire to not only innovate, but pioneer an entirely new genre of game, and heralded an unexpected female protagonist that most studios would’ve written off immediately.

But to me, the root of this evil - the original sin that would routinely spell doom for each age of the franchise - is the greed of publishers. The moment Tomb Raider 1 succeeded, Lara Croft became a money-making machine to Eidos. They were why her marketing was so overly sexualized, why Lara’s creator left in the first place, and why annual releases burnt out and eventually destroyed Core Design.

Crystal Dynamics could be argued to have made plenty of mistakes of their own, but given Eidos’ track record, and their position as the ones with all the power, I’m still inclined to pin the majority of blame in the Legend trilogy was on them. As for the Survivor Trilogy… yeah, not sure how much of that is on publisher versus developer, but whatever the case, the desire to water down the series for mass-market appeal is still clear.

Everyone - be it publishers, developers, or the general public - seems to have a different idea as to what Tomb Raider is, and who Lara Croft is. And all this leads to an incohesive confusion as to the series’ identity. Lara’s ever-shifting identity doesn’t much help with that either. I can’t help but feel part of her losing herself has been the consequence of trying to make her more… likable?

Getting rid of the harsher, more “problematic” parts of her character to make her more palatable, more relatable, and more conventional of a protagonist. But even as official media loses sight of who she is, the fact that her original iconography from the classic series remains so strong I think says a lot about her timelessness. About how we do enjoy flawed, messy protagonists, and I hope that more people can appreciate her character with the Remastered collections.

Now, as for my personal favorites of the series, I have a few, each I enjoy for vastly different series. Tomb Raider 1 for its lonely atmosphere, engaging puzzle, and challenging platforming, obviously. This one’s always a joy to revisit. Angel of Darkness may be a nuisance to play, but I adore its story and vibe, and Milward’s audiobook will likely remain something I routinely revisit.

Legend may be overly streamlined and cheesy, but hey, I enjoy cheese. It’s a fun time for a bit of casual gaming, and I’m here for that. And as much as Underworld’s lazy-ass lack of story bothers me, I still utterly adore its atmosphere, and is probably the closest thing we have to a modern version of the original game… weird it’s more of that than Anniversary was, but I digress.