CURSED ARTIFACTS

A second Tomb Raider Remastered trilogy tries to redeem LARA'S CURSED ADVENTURE

- Dominic Tarason

While every game should be preserved, not even a masterful team can turn fool’s gold into true buried treasure. That seems a fair takeaway from the second Tomb Raider Remastered trilogy, released in February, and featuring the less-loved latter three of Core Design’s Tomb Raider games, including Angel Of Darkness.

I asked Jordan Reese, product manager at Aspyr, whether remastering all six games was the initial plan, especially considering how Lara’s reputation began to crumble a bit after her third outing. He confirmed that they were in for the long-haul from the start. “Remastering the entire collection of classic Tomb Raider games was our goal from the start, so we're really happy with where we’ve gone with Tomb Raider I-VI Remastered,” he said.

It’s a fine plan on paper, but he does undersell the challenge in redeeming Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness, one of the most famous flops in gaming history, and very nearly the death of one of the best-known franchises.

Aspyr’s long-term commitment shows in the work done on the fourth and fifth games. If you've played the previous remaster trilogy, you'll know exactly what to expect; the same familiar, time-worn games, wrapped Master Chief Collection-style in a glossy new graphical layer that can be toggled on or off freely. The same criticism and praise leveled at the first three applies here too. While the new graphics are impressive and feel authentic for the most part, they do shift Lara’s look away from PS1-era stylization (especially in its iridescent water and light effects), and more towards PS2-era pseudo-realism. A little more muted, a little more coherent.