Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered: Things That Need To Be Improved

Following the success of the remastered Tomb Raider trilogy, Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics will now be following suit by remastering Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. It has been announced that Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered will arrive on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on Feb. 14, 2025, but there are a few things the developers need to get right to polish up the next few chapters in Lara Croft's globe-trotting adventures.

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Tomb Raider 4 feels like it fits right at home with the original trilogy, but Tomb Raider 5 serves as one big flashback to the events of the previous installment, and Tomb Raider 6 (viewed more favorably nowadays) received a lot of criticism upon release for being a stylish entry but lacking true substance compared to its predecessors. None of them are perfect games, even if Tomb Raider 4 is arguably the more beloved of the three, and there's still plenty to iron out to make these titles a more enjoyable experience.

7 Rework The Egyptian Theme

Introduce Some Variations To The Egyptian Setting

One of Tomb Raider 4's biggest selling points also happens to be one of its biggest drawbacks. The Last Revelation feels like everything one would expect from the original Tomb Raider trilogy, but that's precisely why it can get quite repetitive. The level design is still superior, as the setting really translates as being a faithful rendition of Egypt, but the levels are less diverse than some of the older games.

Everything takes place in Egypt, which is a great deviation from the norm, but it also means that jumping from Karnak to Cairo and Giza doesn't offer much variation. For the remaster, Tomb Raider 4 would definitely benefit from a rework that creates a distinctive visual separation between each Egyptian environment so that every area feels fresh and not just a rehashed version of the previous major Egyptian city.

6 Make The Rope Swings Less Trifling

Avoid Several Unintentional Deaths Due To Unreliable Mechanics

Just like Spider-Man's web shooters, many games benefit from inventive travel mechanics that make the environment feel more interactive. As Lara Croft traverses Rome, the coast of Russia, an island off the coast of Ireland, famous Egyptian landmarks, and good old NYC, it's important that she has viable means of getting around. But, there were a lot of complaints as to Lara's rope-swinging escapades, especially in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation and Tomb Raider: Chronicles. In fact, players were finding it so troublesome to swing from platform to platform that they found themselves crying out for help in online threads.

For reference, here's how to properly swing on the ropes in Tomb Raider 4 and Tomb Raider 5:

• Go all the way to the bottom, line yourself up, hold sprint, and then press jump at the end of the swing.

Although it all sounds fairly straightforward, it would be so much easier for Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics to rework the rope swing system altogether and make it less clunky and more intuitive, especially since it would save Lara Croft from several embarrassing deaths.

5 Make Tightrope Walking Faster

Renowned Archeologist Lara Croft Can Move Faster Than That

As if rope swings weren't bad enough, there's also the matter of tightropes in Tomb Raider: Chronicles. Granted, it makes sense that Lara Croft doesn't move across a tightrope like a superhuman, but it's also off-putting to watch her dawdle across the tightrope as if she isn't an archeologist renowned for her intelligence and athleticism.

Aside from the fact that the tightrope walk seems to take way too long, the controls aren't the smoothest either. It's a real process to get Lara walking forward, and when she starts to wobble as if she might fall off, the trick is to press the directional arrows opposite to whichever way she's leaning. This is one of the trickiest parts of the Rome level, despite there being no real threat, so it wouldn't hurt to make the whole motion more fluid and adapt it to incorporate modern PS4/PS5 controls.

4 Fix All Bugs

Many Bugs Make The Game Less Challenging

As with the remastered Tomb Raider trilogy, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr have some prominent bugs to fix for all three games (T he Last Revelation, Chronicles, and The Angel of Darkness), which would make the gameplay experience more enjoyable overall. These bugs pertain to Lara glitching inside of walls and leaping all the way up to higher platforms, triggering enemies and cutscenes from inside said walls, falling through floors, Lara keeping her gun in hand while climbing, and in the case of Tomb Raider 6 — the game simply crashing.

Here are some of the known bugs from Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness:

• Corner Bug - Standing right next to the corner, turning 45 degrees to face away from the wall, and then jumping can glitch Lara to the top of a ledge.
• Flare Bug - While facing a wall and turned slightly to the left, drop a flare, roll, crawl, and then grab the flare again; Lara will teleport to the top of the platform.
• Trigger Bug - Start off by performing a corner bug or flare bug, and when inside the wall, start jumping up to potentially trigger an event, such as spawning an enemy or activating a cutscene.
• Falling Through The Floor Bug - Position Lara in front of a slope, press roll, then press roll again, and Lara will fall through the wall into the next level.
• Holding Weapon While Climbing Bug - Draw a weapon, jump up, go to the inventory in midair, then select a different weapon.
• The Mickey Mouse Voice Bug - Occurs randomly when Lara talks faster than normal.
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness crashing unexpectedly.

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3 Shorten Loading Times Between Zones

Long Loading Times Can Be Disorienting

In Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, some of the loading screens dragged on for an indeterminate amount of time between new levels/zones. While it's easy to appreciate the architecture inside the tombs — and even the hieroglyphic markings that feel true to the time period — it's a little disorienting to wait so long between new locations, especially after beating a particularly jarring puzzle.

After completing one level, players are often itching to move on and get their bearings again, so waiting too long to load in can feel tedious. It might not be realistic to remove loading screens altogether, especially as the developers are using the original game's same engine and code, but it might be more feasible to shorten the loading times, or at least insert a notification instead to let players know which zone they're entering.

2 Make Cutscenes Skippable

Seasoned Players Want To Jump Right Into The Action

It might sound blasphemous to even consider skipping cutscenes as Tomb Raider: Chronicles is packed with backstory pertaining to Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation. However, since the game is mainly one big flashback, it isn't entirely necessary for seasoned players to watch all the events unfold as they recall them.

If anything, newer players would benefit from the cutscenes, but veterans can just coast by and enjoy the scenery rather than investing too heavily in a story they will likely remember all too well. It wouldn't necessarily take away from Tomb Raider: Chronicles to make the cutscenes skippable, but it would fix the same issue as the loading screen argument and make the game flow more seamlessly.

1 Fix Overall Gameplay Flow

Bring Back The Original Controls

There was a whole debacle over the control scheme of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness upon its release, particularly as the original controls were made identical to the PS1, utilizing the D-pad primarily for movement and leaving out the analogue sticks altogether. At that time, most PS2 games were utilizing the analog stick as a sort of experimental way forward. Sony wasn't really happy with the Tomb Raider premiere on the PS2 not featuring the complete controller, so Sony told Core Design to change it. All of this happened when the game was already well behind schedule, so Core Design had time constraints and couldn't work it out.

This setback resulted in clunky controls for Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, especially on PC, as none of the original controls would transfer properly on other platforms. The remaster should fix the control issue as a given, which it almost certainly will, but Angel of Darkness should take out (or rework) its silly strength system (from where the "I feel stronger now" meme originated) and also polish the introductory and Kurtis levels, which both had unfinished/unreachable areas.

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Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered

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Developer(s)

Crystal Dynamics

Publisher(s)

Aspyr

Franchise

Tomb Raider

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Platform(s)

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC

Genre(s)

Action

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