Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was a massive collection of some of the densest puzzle-box level designs, wrought with traps, mutants, demons, and all kinds of pointy shit that would snag your shoulder. It was a veritable all-you-can-eat buffet of 90s-era, methodical tank-controlled exploration where you could switch between classic PlayStation polygons or remade curves and post-processing effects.
This great collection improved as the developer smoothed out a few kinks and gamers rediscovered what made the Tomb Raider series such a juggernaut for PlayStation in the 90s. Lara Croft was so big, that she was the secondary unofficial mascot for PlayStation under the likes of Crash Bandicoot. Naturally, Lara couldn’t be contained in a trilogy; her games became a hexaology.
The second trio of Tomb Raider games is a bit of a mixed bag compared to the first. This is when the yearly release schedule began to take its toll on Core Design and franchise fatigue took hold. Does The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness hold up? Find out our Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered review!
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
Developer: Core Design, Saber Interactive, Aspyr, Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Aspyr
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 (reviewed)
Release Date: February 14, 2025
Price: $29.99
Unlike the first HD collection, IV-VI has an overarching story that connects them. Everything begins with The Last Revelation (IV), where the story opens with teen Lara and her mentor, Werner Von Croy exploring some ruins. This broke the tradition of the Croft manor serving as an optional tutorial area, but since this entry leans more into its story, it became necessary to make it mandatory.
After getting reacquainted with Lara’s abilities and handling, players are set loose in Egypt. Unlike prior entries, The Last Revelation isn’t a globetrotting adventure, but rather a horrific odyssey into Egyptian crypts. It is like being trapped in a massive super dungeon with minor non-linear metroidvania elements – a first for the series.
The fourth game is tough, but nowhere near as cruel as Tomb Raider III. The Last Revelation ended up becoming my favorite entry made by Core Design. Lara’s control and range of abilities feel their most refined and the level design is a pitch-perfect balance of platforming, puzzles, and just enough combat where it doesn’t overwhelm.
Being set entirely in Egyptian tombs might lead you to think that The Last Revelation would have the least variety, but the execution turned out better than one would expect. There is a cohesive vision where areas tie into one another and puzzles affect distant areas in meaningful ways. It couldn’t be possible if it were done like in past games.
The Last Revelation is the ultimate classic Tomb Raider experience and packs over 30 areas, not counting the tutorial. It’s bursting with creativity and inventive challenges that veer off into horror territory later in the game. It is easier to enjoy now more than ever thanks to the modern control options, but be prepared for some godforsaken gunplay.
Lara’s movement prioritizes animation and every step or jump has a fixed distance and height. For a lot of modern gamers today, this will feel very slow and stiff to play, but it has a purpose because the environments are built around this system.
The PSX Tomb Raider games are all designed on a three-dimensional grid, where each piece of level geometry is a block. Lara can jump a set number of blocks depending on the type of jump she performs, and falling from a certain number of blocks will cause her to take fall damage or die, depending on the height.
Modern control settings break Lara out of the grid’s limits which leads to unexpected results. Certain abilities, like the side jump become impossible, and keeping enemies targeted with her guns drawn is much harder. This was a problem in the last collection and it has unfortunately stayed in this one too.
Chronicles is the fifth Tomb Raider game and is the least interesting entry in the franchise. The developers intended The Last Revelation to be Lara’s final adventure but found themselves rushing this one out the door to meet a deadline.
The story focuses on Lara’s acquaintances recounting her past adventures, making this entry a semi-anthology game. There are four arcs set in different times of her life and different settings: modern-day Rome, a Russian base, a haunted Irish island, and modern-day New York City. It’s a shame that this idea was so poorly executed because it had promise.
Chronicles‘ levels are uncreative and boring. Lara’s new ability to tightrope walk proves to be unnecessary and too slow. Most of the gameplay involves unruly trial-and-error situations that seem like they were not play-tested. To make matters worse, Chronicles is the shortest and smallest game in the series; clocking in around ten hours – about half as long as The Last Revelation.
Chronicles may be dull and uninspired, but it merely trips up where The Angel of Darkness horrifically faceplants itself. The sixth Tomb Raider was so bad for its time, that Paramount blamed it for the second Tomb Raider film bombing at the box office. The damage done by The Angel of Darkness was so great, that it led to the franchise being retired until it got rebooted about a decade later.
There was initially a lot of ambition for Lara’s first PlayStation 2 game, but the new game engine and spreading the dev team’s talents too thin resulted in an unfocused slog that tries to do too many things. It’s not only a hassle to play, but it’s unbelievably glitchy.
The grid design philosophy has been exchanged for more organic level design, but Lara’s movements and controls still feel stuck in the 90s. All movements and animations are too slow and some savant thought it would be fun to give her a stamina bar. There was an attempt to mix things up with a new playable character, but he just sucks.
Out of all six Tomb Raider games, The Angel of Darkness always seemed like the most obvious candidate for salvation. Bizarrely, the remaster is also unfinished. Several instances of PlayStation 2 character models are left in the updated graphics mode and the game is prone to breaking.
The updated controls do go a long way in making The Angel of Darkness more playable, but it is not enough to endure some unbelievably sluggish controls. Lara’s controls have always been somewhat measured and deliberate, but her animations in this game are beyond the pale of what is acceptable.
The Angel of Darkness has some inane game design choices that don’t pan out. The RPG elements make no sense, the currency system is useless, and increasing Lara’s stats is tied to pushing, pulling, or doing particular actions at very specific objects. They’re utterly tacked on and clash with the open-ended design ethos that the developers tried to implement.
By far the most perplexing addition is the stamina bar. The idea itself isn’t so bad, but the problem is how unfairly strict it is. When climbing and exploring, Lara barely has any time to climb anything at all.
The number one cause of death will be falling and breaking her neck because there are so few chances to fight due to all of the stealth. Expect to horde tons of candy bars and health kits from never using them because most of the time the only damage is from an instant death fall because of the buggy jumping and grabbing.
Throughout Lara’s stint as a fugitive, she’ll get to make choices that minorly affect the game’s flow. This was a nice touch and could add replay value if you care enough. The hub areas that function like a half-assed open world are rotten with sudden and jarring load screens. This was something that Aspyr and Saber should have addressed, but like so many other things in The Angel of Darkness, it’s a grandfathered flaw.
The first trilogy collection was a solid release of nothing but hits with minor roughness to the remaster. It got patched up and became better and hopefully, that might be the case for IV-VI, because it does not seem finished yet. Having retro graphics run at 60 fps is a wonderful option to have and the photo mode is still lots of fun. Even the alternate controls are an interesting way to replay these.
The Last Revelation is easily the best classic Tomb Raider, but the trade-off is getting a middling entry and one that is agonizingly frustrating to play. The collection is worth it for that game alone and Chronicles can be best seen as a DLC mission pack. The Angel of Darkness might get fixed up eventually after a few patches, but the foundation is so rotten that it might need a more dramatic, full-on remake than anything else.
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered was reviewed on a PlayStation 5 using a code provided by Aspyr. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is now available for PC (via Steam), Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
