Aspyr has constructed a formidable resume of basic action-adventure remasters over the previous couple of years. The masters of the remaster have beforehand given pleasant fashionable refreshes to the primary three Tomb Raider video games and delivered a seminal replace to 2 glorious Soul Reaver titles, and now the Texas-based studio has returned its consideration to the unique Lara Croft timeline.
Overview information
Platform reviewed: PC through Steam and PS5
Out there on: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Collection X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Swap
Launch date: February 14, 2025
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered brings 1999’s The Final Revelation, 2000’s Chronicles, and 2003’s The Angel of Darkness to PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch and PC with a treasure trove of visible enhancements. Cleansing these Core Design developed titles up after twenty-five years and getting them to look this contemporary is nothing in need of wizardry at this level.
The Final Revelation, for instance, charts Lara’s adventures in Egypt as she works to beat an historic curse that she by chance set in movement, and the extent of polish and fashionable graphical thrives impress all through. A brand new lighting engine sees shafts of daylight penetrating forgotten temples and gives atmospheric heat and illumination from fireplace pits and torches.
Character fashions have elevated ranges of element whereas retaining the attraction and character of the unique releases and the assorted Egyptian tombs profit from dramatic rejuvenation that begs you to discover them. Easy flat textures have been changed with detailed geometrically fascinating property in some spots, creating a way that these environments may really exist and aren’t simply flat painted bins anymore.
A graphical revelation
As soon as once more making use of the unique supply code because the framework for these remasters, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered allows gamers to immediately swap between the shiny newness and the basic visuals with the push of a button. The Final Revelation and Chronicles, which each debuted on the unique PlayStation, see the largest leap in total constancy, and whereas The Angel of Darkness nonetheless receives a noticeable enchancment over its PlayStation 2 origin, its revamp isn’t as impactful.
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered isn’t pixel-perfect in its execution, nevertheless. Chronicles, which acts as an anthology of types for beforehand untold Croft escapades, suffers from some occasional clipping on the edges and corners of buildings. It’s a minor gripe for positive however one which does pop up all through Tomb Raider V and does show distracting at any time when it seems.
Likewise, all the unique cutscenes are preserved and reused right here with none visible enhancements or enhancements, however the low-res FMV (full movement video) sequences of yesteryear are temporary and have a attraction of their very own.
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Bothersome buttons
Mirroring the remasters of Tomb Raider I-III, Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered introduces a brand new fashionable management scheme for every sport aimed to offer an accessible expertise for brand spanking new gamers unfamiliar with the unique video games and their basic tank controls. It’s unsurprising then, if not a bit disappointing that, identical to Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, this newest assortment fails to introduce a dependable, fashionable management scheme.
Earlier than delving into what does and doesn’t work with the fashionable scheme although, I’d wish to take a second to have fun the tank controls. Tank controls, the marginally clumpy but purposeful really feel once you get used to them, and inputs from the unique releases, undoubtedly stay my favourite approach to expertise these video games. Basic Tomb Raider all the time required exact traversal and, whereas not essentially the most pure methodology of controlling a personality, tank controls allowed simply that.
Regardless of the precision of the unique tank controls, gamers would nonetheless sometimes make unintended slip-ups, inflicting our pony-tailed heroine to plummet to her demise. Aspyr has launched a few new strikes for Lara that, whereas actually not thrilling on paper, do take away a few of these irritating pratfalls of previous.
For starters a brand new slide-to-run animation, a beforehand minimize motion from the unique video games, permits Lara to maintain her momentum after disembarking a sloped floor. There are additionally two new animations for hanging on ledges as effectively, with the additional actions designed to stop an premature demise no matter whether or not Lara is dealing with towards or away from a drop.
The aforementioned new animations can be found in each tank and fashionable management schemes, with a model new ‘flip round in place’ motion that’s unique to the fashionable scheme and spins Lara a neat 180 levels on the spot.
Coming into a brand new space and flicking between the remastered graphics and the unique visuals and appreciating the astonishing work and artistry of the crew at Asypr. Removed from a easy decision bump, each decaying tomb, claustrophobic cave, or industrial cityscape has clearly acquired a variety of love in its modernization.
The brand new additions are good in concept, even when their implementation into Lara’s ever-increasing moveset leaves quite a bit to be desired. The turn-around-in-place transfer, as an example, requires the finger dexterity of a double-jointed gymnast to carry out, with the default enter requiring two opposing face buttons to be pressed concurrently. I discovered myself adopting a claw grip like one may use when taking part in a combating sport, at any time when the state of affairs required a decent turnaround.
It is right here that the cracks within the fashionable management scheme begin to present. The default management structure doesn’t mesh effectively with in-game instructions. At the beginning of The Final Revelation, when an adolescent Lara is navigating a Cambodian temple with mentor Werner Von Croy, Von Croy will typically dole out directions as a part of the tutorial stage. After diving right into a pool, the puffed-up archaeologist suggests we “use ‘Motion’ to climb out of the water”, besides, with fashionable controls, Lara does nothing however bobs up and down staring on the fringe of the pool. By means of a lot trial and error, I found that a wholly completely different button makes Lara climb out of swimming pools, and even worse, seize ledges mid-fall.
The Motion button debacle isn’t an remoted occasion both with a number of context-sensitive inputs not aligning with their in-game directions. Whereas the fashionable management scheme does have some perks together with fluid horizontal motion, it requires some in depth tinkering and remapping of the controls inside the choices to make it remotely usable.
One other side that might use refinement is the weapon system, though the brand new on-screen ammo counter is a blessing. Switching between the weapons in Lara’s arsenal requires gamers to pause the sport and scroll by means of the out there armaments. There’s a new shortcut system in place, requiring gamers to carry the touchpad and press one of many face/shoulder buttons to carry up particular person weapons nevertheless it feels pointless and clumsy. A weapon wheel would have been a a lot less complicated refinement and labored effectively for equally revamped video games similar to Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy: The Definitive Version.
Lights, digicam, motion
One fashionable addition I completely adore is the returning and expanded picture mode. Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered builds on the already good picture mode of Tomb Raider I-III Remastered by letting gamers toy round with Lara’s stances, facial expressions, costumes, and weapons and even shifting her freely across the scene.
Aspyr has gone past the usual picture mode in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered and included a brand new flyby digicam mode, and let me let you know, it’s unbelievable. The flyby digicam mode permits gamers to place as much as twenty completely different cameras round any scene in The Final Revelation and Chronicles, tweak varied settings like area of view and roll, after which press play to witness a cinematic flyby of their customized scene.
Flyby mode is so easy and so highly effective. I used to be creating dynamic, professional-looking animations instantly. The chances are actually infinite and if you happen to love Tomb Raider, you’ll positively get a kick out of exploring every stage utilizing flyby mode.
Sadly, the function presently seems to be absent from The Angel of Darkness. The sixth mainline Tomb Raider sport, the place Lara goes all Jason Bourne round Europe in a supernatural homicide thriller, is a notoriously sullen affair so it is smart that The Angel of Darkness doesn’t presently assist the brilliantly enjoyable flyby mode simply but. It’s a disgrace as The Angel of Darkness appears to be like implausible right here and exploring Paris or Prague with the brand new Flyby digicam would make an entertaining distraction from all the brooding.
The flyby digicam is a mind-blowing toolkit for followers of the collection and a function I hope Aspyr retrofits into Tomb Raider I-III Remastered, and that each 3D sport incorporates and iterates on it from right here on out.
Ought to I play Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered?
Play it if…
Do not play it if…
Accessibility
Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered gives only some, fundamental accessibility choices for gamers. Subtitles are enabled by default in all three video games and are clear to learn with a refined gray background to them. Controller settings will be tweaked with elective vibrations and adjustable stick sensitivity.
All three titles do a poor job of introducing gamers to controls with no onscreen button prompts or tutorials. Voice strains and subtitles will sometimes information gamers on what to do however the directions typically don’t correlate with the default management schemes, making sure sections impassible with out a lot trial and error.
High quality-of-life enhancements such because the inclusion of boss well being bars, ammo counters, and cutscene skippers are all welcome additions.
How I reviewed Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered
I performed by means of the campaigns of all three titles whereas commonly switching between fashionable and tank controls, testing Lara’s newly added animations in every. I spent a few hours fiddling round in picture mode all through my playthrough, taking time to experiment with varied poses and outfits and producing enjoyable flyby pictures.
I performed Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered on my gaming PC which runs a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti on a Dell U2415 Monitor. I used my EasySMX D05 controller and my Sony Gold Wi-fi Headset. I additionally examined the gathering on PS5 on a 4K Sony Bravia TV, with my DualSense wi-fi controller and my PS5 Pulse 3D Wireless Headset for essentially the most half, and sometimes by means of the built-in TV audio system.
Previous to taking part in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remaster, I additionally selected to revisit the unique video games on the unique PlayStation and PlayStation 2, enabling me to understand the variations in controls, visuals and playability to the brand new remaster.
First reviewed February 2025