We join Lara Croft in St Francis’ Folly – inspired by the Unesco-listed monasteries of Meteora in Greece – as the light shines through the cracked ceiling and a flock of bats glide across the vast ruins below. When Lara leaps down to the monastery’s crumbling pillared courtyard, it becomes clear that these screeching, leathery creatures aren’t just set dressing. As they lurch towards her with unpredictable movements, she dispatches the swarm with a flurry of gun fire and panicked punches.
It’s a suitably cinematic reintroduction to our heroine and her very first adventure. Co-developed by longtime Lara custodians Crystal Dynamics and Polish studio Flying Wild Hog, Legacy of Atlantis is a reimagining of the classic 1996 game Tomb Raider, and this familiar cliffside location is now brimming with new life and believable detail. Yet while our reunion gets off to an auspicious start, I have my concerns.
It feels like reconnecting with an old friend at the pub, only for them to begin spouting conspiracy theories two pints in. Where the ’96 original forced players to rely on their wits – or a pricey strategy guide – to figure out what to do, Lara can now straight-up cheat. She’s equipped with an environmental scanner, so a button tap reveals extra environmental lore or simply the solution to a puzzle.
It’s a change that feels somewhat sacrilegious, and may detract from the eerily isolating atmosphere that made the original so beloved. When I replayed Tomb Raider, my initial memory was the exact same. What we are trying to do now is build environments – like the spaces in Greece – where you feel as if you are the first person discovering them in centuries, entering places that have been left untouched.” Lara now crafts balms from a menu rather than finding anachronous first aid kits in centuries-old untouched tombs.
Somewhat less believably, she can also pause her adventure to whip up stat-boosting stews, Breath of the Wild-style. These additions are among a slew of modern flourishes that I feel unsure about. Is the original really improved by giving Lara a grappling hook, RPG-esque stats, skill trees and quick time events?
One area that Flying Wild Hog – the maker of Hard Reset and Shadow Warrior – knows well is combat. As Lara delves deeper into the dingy ruins of the Damocles chamber, she is ambushed by a familiar foe: a leopard. But this roaring beast now moves with convincing agility.
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