Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered

After Tomb Raider I-III Remastered came out, I honestly never thought they would dare do this. I thought that was it. They remastered the first three games, gave them such a beautiful visual upgrade, let you switch between the classic and remastered graphics, and I figured that was probably going to be the end of the Classic era remasters. And then, one year later, they announced Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered. I genuinely could not believe they were actually going to touch The Angel of Darkness. The first three games already looked beautiful in the remaster. The environments, lighting, textures and everything around Lara got such a huge upgrade while still preserving the original games underneath. But one of the biggest things for me was Lara herself. Konrad absolutely gave it his all. Lara already looked gorgeous in the first remaster, but they somehow managed to make her look even better in this second trilogy. The Last Revelation and Chronicles get their upgraded versions of the classic Lara model, while The Angel of Darkness has its own completely different Lara model, and Konrad did an incredible job upgrading that one too. The Angel of Darkness Lara model has always been one of the most beloved Lara designs in the entire franchise, and I love that they clearly understood how important she is to people. They made sure to present her in the best possible way. And underneath all of that, these are still the same Classic Tomb Raider games we know. The Last Revelation is such an interesting adventure because of how much of it takes place in Egypt. Lara accidentally unleashes Set after taking the Amulet of Horus, and the entire game becomes this huge race to undo the damage she's caused. Instead of Lara simply finding an artifact and moving on, she's forced to deal with the consequences of her own actions. I really like that. It also gives the game such a beautiful atmosphere. The Egyptian environments, temples, tombs and huge archaeological spaces are gorgeous, and I love that the game stays in one general setting for so long instead of constantly jumping around the world. And Lara is so much fun here. She's witty, confident and has so much personality. Even though the developers famously wanted to end Lara's story at the time because of the exhaustion of producing Tomb Raider games year after year, The Last Revelation itself doesn't feel like a game made because they hated Lara. It still feels like a proper adventure and a really interesting chapter in her life. Then we get Chronicles. The idea behind this game is so interesting. Lara is presumed dead after the events of The Last Revelation, and while her friends gather at her memorial at Croft Manor, they reminisce about different adventures from throughout her life. That gives us four completely different stories and settings instead of one continuous adventure. And I really enjoy that structure. You get Rome and the Philosopher's Stone, Russia and the Spear of Destiny, Ireland with a much younger Lara, and then the high-tech VCI section where Lara is basically playing spy while trying to recover the Iris. Every chapter feels different, and getting to see these completely different moments from Lara's life makes the game feel almost like opening random pages from her history. Young Lara in Ireland is especially cool to me. Seeing her before she became the Lara Croft we know, thrown into this creepy supernatural adventure, is such a fun little glimpse into her past. And then there's The Angel of Darkness. This game has always been so fascinating to me. Core Design had so many ambitions for where Tomb Raider could go, and The Angel of Darkness was supposed to be this huge transition into a new era. Instead, it became one of the most infamous failures in gaming history and marked Lara's transition to the PlayStation 2 in a way that obviously didn't go the way anyone hoped. But this is exactly why I'm so happy this remaster exists. At its core, this is still a remaster, not a remake. They weren't going to completely rebuild the game from the ground up and magically fix everything that went wrong with the original. But it still feels better to play, and they made some changes that genuinely improve the experience. And if you're familiar with Angel of Darkness, this is absolutely a game for the fans. Not for the streets. For the fans. Because underneath all the problems, there is such a fascinating Tomb Raider game here. The story was by far the most ambitious Tomb Raider story at the time. Lara is accused of murdering Werner Von Croy and becomes a fugitive while trying to uncover what actually happened. She gets pulled into this massive conspiracy involving the Cabal, the Obscura Paintings, Eckhardt, the Lux Veritatis and the Nephilim. There are so many ideas here. The murder mystery. The Cabal. The Obscura Paintings. The ancient conspiracies. The supernatural elements. Kurtis Trent. The plot twists. The whole idea of Lara having to investigate Von Croy's death while being hunted herself. And exploring Paris is such a huge part of why I love this game. The Louvre sections especially are fantastic. There is something about Lara running around Paris, investigating these strange locations and slowly uncovering this bizarre conspiracy that gives Angel of Darkness such a unique identity. It's also fascinating knowing that this was supposed to be the beginning of a much bigger direction for Lara. The Angel of Darkness was intended to be the start of a new trilogy, but after the game's failure, those plans were scrapped. Core Design ultimately lost the Tomb Raider franchise, and that led to the Legend soft reboot and the next era of Lara. And despite everything, I still love it. I think that's what this entire remaster collection means to me. I'm extremely grateful they decided to do it. Obviously, there was drama around patches and some of the issues surrounding the release, and this was never some gigantic AAA remake with an unlimited budget. But considering what this actually is, I think they did an amazing job. They took three games that could very easily have been left behind and made them widely available again on modern platforms. I can play them on my XBOX and PlayStation now, instead of needing the original hardware, while still having the original versions available on PC. That's important. It's preservation. These games are part of Tomb Raider's history. They deserve to remain accessible, and now people who never got to experience them originally can actually play them without hunting down old hardware. And seeing Lara's Classic adventures continue to be preserved like this makes me genuinely happy. The first three remasters were already a surprise. Getting The Last Revelation, Chronicles and especially The Angel of Darkness was something I genuinely never expected. And now we have all six Classic Tomb Raider games preserved in remastered form. I couldn't have asked for more. I love these games, I love this version of Lara, and I'm so happy they decided to bring this entire era back.