As a person who grew up on the original Tomb Raider games back on the PS1, I eagerly anticipated the ‘new era’ of Lara Croft promised by publisher Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics for the 2013 reboot. Seemingly inspired by the success of the Uncharted franchise (which itself was inspired by Tomb Raider), the first game in this reinvention strips back the years of character development and delivers a young woman yet to build the skills and charisma her older counterpart emits.
Instead, a young Lara is swept up in a dangerous adventure that lands her marooned on a remote island named Yamatai, and battling both hired goons and the wilderness itself for survival. It’s a little dated now (prepare for lots of QTEs), but back in 2013, this gritty new take on Tomb Raider was a reinvigoration, and thanks to some smart combat changes shamelessly ripped from Nathan Drake’s outings, it still feels fresh today.
Tomb Raider (2013) is a quasi-open-world entry that splits the gameplay between third-person action and platforming to explore. Lara and her team aboard the Endurance find themselves stranded, and quickly Croft is battling not just the elements, but also hoards of mercenaries (and plenty of other enemies) in a desperate struggle to survive and escape. Plus, you’ll also be doing some good-ol’ plundering, with small hidden Tombs littered across the map, not unlike the Shrines in modern Zelda.
The world of Yamatai is surprisingly open, and while the platforming here is nothing like the style of exploration we’d get just a few years later with titles like Breath of the Wild, the playground surrounding Lara is wide enough to feel intimidating.
Stripping the protagonist back to the essentials also makes her vulnerable, and the world surrounding Lara is absolutely out to take advantage of that. We find Croft beaten, bloodied, and generally put through absolute hell, and while it can occasionally feel gratuitous (seriously, those kill screens are wild), it does a fairly good job of showing the very first trials that forged our hero.
Mixing platforming with occasional stealth, sprinkling some light RPG elements with a skill tree, and some basic but satisfying combat, this Tomb Raider is a cocktail that tastes much better than the sum of its parts, largely thanks to execution. Revisiting it for the first time in many years, it’s remarkable that while it certainly does ape the Uncharted formula (and perhaps even a little Resident Evil 4), there’s a cohesion and thrill to the gameplay that makes it impossible to put down.
The third-person action still feels tight, and while your weapon selection isn’t huge, the ways you can improve them are plentiful. Earning XP from combat or scavenging weapon parts slowly unlocks more options, and alongside finding relics and other collectibles, there’s plenty to uncover and many reasons to do so. Even when inspecting some of your pilfered relics, spinning them around to find hidden secrets is a joy and even earns you more XP. Though on Switch, the rumble goes a bit wild when you are looking at these relics and are close to a new clue.
Ultimately, original developer Crystal Dynamics did a good job of helping you care about Lara’s progression and making it feel earned. Whether you’ve played it before or are hoping to finally experience this story, there are dozens of hours to enjoy here if you want to explore everything on this godforsaken island.
Aspyr is responsible for this particular port, bringing this Definitive Edition to our greedy little mitts quite out of the blue. But, while some of the other ‘Definitive Edition’ ports on recent hardware boast gorgeous visuals and lighting effects, instead, this feels like the very original 2013 release given a quick polish.
Everything runs great, but stopping to look at textures or some of the character models reveals that this is a version of the game that has omitted visual fidelity in favour of performance, to quite a dramatic degree. I loaded up my PC copy of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition just to play around and try to find a similar graphical benchmark, and cannot say I was impressed with the results. At a glance, Switch 2 feels comparable to the Normal PC graphics settings, and we’re definitely not getting the advanced TRESSFX for Lara’s hair.
Thankfully, frame rate performs much better, with my tests showing a rock-solid 60fps on Switch 2 in docked mode while visuals were running at 2560×1440, with handheld mode looking to run at a comparable level frame-wise. Gameplay is key here, and this is not an ugly game by any means. A lush jungle is strengthened with dense foliage and inquisitive wildlife. Weather effects and running water add to the immersion and the great sound design. A lit torch and its flickering flames illuminate the dank caves and many tombs you must explore, smartly using shadows and beams of light to great effect.
Meanwhile, a vantage point reveals the large scope of this gorgeous island, as well as the many dangers within. Ideally, the world would also have a greater variety of visual identity, because there’s a lot of PS3-era grey/brown design here, with even an occasional smearing of dirt on the screen. Lara spends the game covered in filth and surrounded by the elements, and the visuals convey that well.
For those picking it up on Switch 2, there are a couple of nice additions to sweeten the deal. One of those promised by Aspyr is gyro controls, and they appear as an option, but seem to only move specific menus instead of your sights with guns or bows. This, if intentional, is a wild choice and a complete waste – we’ve reached out for clarification and will update if/when we hear back. Hopefully, actual motion controls will be implemented with an update in the future.
Faring slightly better are the mouse controls, which at least work, but are very sensitive and a bit wonky. Even when holding the Joy-Con sideways, you have to use ‘ZR’ to pull your arrow, and then ‘R’ on the same Joy-Con to release it. This is just a very weird layout, and doesn’t ever feel comfortable, especially when the controller version of this is the standard ‘ZL’ to pull, and ‘ZR’ to release.
Finally, this Definitive Edition of Tomb Raider also includes a treasure trove of additional content, including concept artwork, character models, and even the return of the surprisingly fun multiplayer. If you ever played the Uncharted 3 online mode, this might be the closest thing we have today.
Conclusion
Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is sadly not as Definitive as the title might imply. While Aspyr has done the work to make a title from 2013 run at a solid 60fps on a handheld, and with 1440p resolution, it seems the cost was graphical fidelity at almost every turn. Not to mention the bizarre implementation (or lack thereof) of motion controls, and unwieldy mouse options.
Thankfully, this entry in the Tomb Raider mythos remains one of the very best, and clever visual design means that your trip through Yamatai is far from ugly, as long as you don’t inspect too closely. Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 reinvention of Lara Croft just might be the best entry in this decades-old franchise, and for the asking price, you’re getting a thrilling action romp that’ll keep you hooked until the credits.
