Longest Tomb Raider Games

The Tomb Raider series first hit stores in 1996 and has since become the 38th highest-grossing video game franchise of all time. The IP is universally recognized for its Indiana Jones-like adventures and for having one of the most iconic female protagonists in all media. Square Enix's franchise has remained successful for over 20 years thanks to the consistently high quality of Lara Croft's adventures, including the recent reboot trilogy, which featured some of the English archeologist's best games yet.

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Shadow of the Tomb Raider was released in 2018 and marked the end of Lara's rebooted origin trilogy; the franchise will almost certainly return in the future, though there has been no concrete word of a new main series game yet. For this reason, many people may be looking to revisit some of Lara's past adventures to keep them busy in the meantime. To help such people out, we have ranked every main series Tomb Raider game by their Main Story completion time on howlongtobeat.com.

Updated October 13, 2023 by Mark Sammut: This article of the longest Tomb Raider games has been updated to include each title's specifications.

20 Tomb Raider Reloaded

The idea of a free-to-play Tomb Raider game doesn't really sound all that great, and it's a shame that Tomb Raider Reloaded didn't manage to prove people wrong at all. The title features so much grinding that most players will drop this game the moment they reach Level 4 unless they decide to pay for the microtransactions everyone hates.

Tomb Raider Reloaded feels like a generic action game with arcade elements that had the series' identity slapped onto it in a lazy bid to market the game. While playing this game out on a platform like Netflix does serve as a novelty in its own right, it's far from a convincing reason to check this game out. HowLongToBeat doesn't even have any data relating to this title, which proves just how forgettable this title really is.

19 Lara Croft Go

Lara Croft Go is the perfect game to kick off this updated list, as it exemplifies the previous point about the series trying new and exciting things. Lara Croft Go is a turn-based puzzle game from Square Enix and is a spiritual successor to Hitman Go from the same company.

As one would expect from the game that finishes last on this list, some people were disappointed by Lara Croft Go's short runtime of just 3.5 hours. Despite this setback, many fans and critics were full of praise for the game, and it even won Mobile Game of the Year from IGN.

18 Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was developed by Crystal Dynamics and released in December 2014 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, and Nintendo Switch. The game is the sequel to Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light and features a similar, arcade-inspired brand of action-adventure gameplay with a fixed isometric camera.

Like its predecessor, the game's main strength is its cooperative play, with up to four players being able to join in on the action.

17 Tomb Raider: The Prophecy — 5.5 Hours

Tomb Raider: The Prophecy was released in November 2002 on the Game Boy Advance. Unlike the Game Boy Color games that came before it and had a side-scrolling perspective, The Prophecy offered an isometric viewpoint that gave the impression of a 3-dimensional space.

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Unfortunately, the game struggled to impress, particularly because of how simple and repetitive its gameplay was — especially for such a short runtime.

16 Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light was first released in August 2010 as an Xbox 360 Arcade title, four years prior to its aforementioned sequel, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.

Like Temple of Osiris, 2010's Guardian of Light features non-linear, arcade-inspired gameplay; though only two people can play cooperatively, as opposed to Temple of Osiris' four-player co-op. Guardian of the Light was warmly received by fans and critics, exemplified by its 85 critic score and 8.4 user score on Metacritic.

15 Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword

It's fair to say that the Game Boy Color isn't the most natural home for a Tomb Raider game, but Core Design and THQ teamed up to release a game on the system nonetheless, which was actually their second Tomb Raider release on the handheld device.

To Core Design's credit, the June 2001 release was well-received. The game featured some of the most impressive animations on the system at the time.

14 Tomb Raider: Legend

Tomb Raider: Legend was released in 2006 by Square Enix Europe under their previous name, Eidos Interactive. The game was the first in the series to be developed by Crystal Dynamics, following the disappointment over Core Design's Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.

In hopes of revitalizing the series, Crystal Dynamics opted for a quality-over-quantity approach and consequently made Tomb Raider: Legend significantly shorter than The Angel of Darkness. The risk paid off, as despite the game only having eight levels, Tomb Raider: Legend was well-received both critically and commercially.

13 Lara Croft: Relic Run

Relic Run's core gameplay is similar to the hit 2011 game Temple Run, though Simutronics tried to go above and beyond Imangi Studios' game in 2015 by offering more detailed environments, engaging vehicle sections, and even boss fights.

Ultimately, Lara Croft: Relic Run is nothing too amazing, but it is a fun enough free-to-play option with decent visuals and action. The game fits the overall Tomb Raider franchise, especially as a stylistic throwback to the older entries.

12 Tomb Raider: Underworld

Tomb Raider: Underworld was the third entry in Crystal Dynamics' Legend trilogy, following the release of Tomb Raider: Anniversary the year prior. The game took a noticeably more modern approach to its gameplay, with destructible environments, more open levels, and an intricate weather system all implemented.

The game didn't perform as well as its two predecessors critically. However, it still received respectable Metascores, which fell between 70 and 80 across its multiple releases.

11 Tomb Raider Chronicles

via Tomb Raider: Chronicles (2000)

Tomb Raider Chronicles' announcement was somewhat of a surprise, as the previous main series game ended with Lara appearing to be killed after part of a temple came crashing down. However, the franchise's success meant that Eidos Interactive didn't want Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation to be the final main series game. Hence, Tomb Raider Chronicles hit stores almost exactly one year later.

Tomb Raider Chronicles begins with Lara's friends reminiscing over her presumed death, with their stories becoming the playable levels.