Tomb Raider Remastered is the kind of update we need more of because it preserves the past, flaws and all

Playing the first three Tomb Raider games in 2024, even in their remastered form, feels like visiting old ruins adapted for safe visits.

It's not every month we get an update of an old title (or several in this case) that is simply content with easing new and old players alike into rusty mechanics, systems, and control schemes. As much as I love straight-up re-releases and ambitious remakes, I'm more and more convinced every day that remasters like Tomb Raider I-III Remastered strike the perfect balance between old and new.

Aspyr is no stranger to giving old titles a new lick of paint and much-needed QoL changes. Personally, I've loved all the work they've put over the years into bringing back retro Star Wars games like Knights of the Old Republic and Republic Commando. This Tomb Raider Remastered project, however, was a bit more ambitious, with a full-blown rework of Lara Croft's first three games' visuals that retained the feeling of the original art style and pretty much played the same.

After a few hours with these remasters, I'm happy to report they're more of a perfect conservation effort of the classic games than a reinterpretation. While the first game already had a pretty solid remake in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, it's not rare to hear about younger players who want to experience Croft's original adventures and see how they eventually led to newer series like Uncharted. Flaws and all, I think this Remastered collection excels at letting players, old and new, experience the original trilogy without losing their minds in the process.

Game conservation is a hot topic, mostly because the industry genuinely sucks at it. Remasters and remakes are becoming increasingly common because of their recurring success, but forgetting about old games always feels like a massive defeat and something that keeps holding the medium back. Mind you, that hasn't been a problem with the old Tomb Raider titles, but it's hard to talk the new generations into checking out retro games when many feel like crap to play at this point.

As impressive as the level design in the three OG Tomb Raider adventures is, Lara was always a bit painful to control. Likewise, the immersive UI lacked a lot of information that would've been really helpful, and navigating the most complex sections often felt like an exercise in patience. The remasters don't fully fix any of those issues out of respect for the original visions for the games, but do just enough to make them enjoyable in 2024. The extra graphics are just an extra.

While Lara still likes to awkwardly jump up with delay and the camera goes bananas in tight spaces, tank controls can be swapped with more modern bindings. The shiny presentation also makes some puzzles and confusing rooms easier to read. The list of changes is long, but most of them don't pop out. They still feel like the good ol' games, simply made more welcoming.

I'm still interested in simple re-releases for the sake of easy conservation and huge remakes that rebuild big legends of the medium and even dare alter entire plots, but I wish more oldies received this type of treatment (one perfected by Halo: The Master Chief Collection). Stuff like switching between old and modern graphics on the fly and grabbing screens from previously impossible angles thanks to the photo mode is simply perfect for anyone looking to closely study relics such as these.