Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis Seems to be Changing a Lot from the Original

The existence of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is an odd one; this is not the first time the now-iconic first adventure of Lara Croft’s has been remade, with 2007’s Tomb Raider Anniversary being a fantastic take on the original. So, you can understand my trepidation at this latest attempt at the original Tomb Raider.

Fortunately, I got the opportunity to attend a hands-off presentation on Legacy of Atlantis at Gamescom, and what I saw wasn’t as encouraging as I’d have liked.

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Tomb Raider looks graphically fantastic for the most part, adding to the atmosphere.

A Visit to Greece

Our presentation picked up as Lara heads to St. Francis’ Folly in Greece, where fans of the original will remember the trial of Damocles and the famous falling swords. Before we got to that section, however, we were shown a bit of exploration and some of the game’s systems.

To start with, the game does look graphically great, and there’s plenty of detail across the temple, helping it feel more alive. The reveal of the city at the end of the presentation especially looked impressive, and the whole setting in general felt far grander. Another plus was that there wasn’t any sign of the infamous yellow paint marking where you needed to go and climb, making it all feel a bit more authentic.

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There is no yellow paint here to direct you on where you need to go.

Lara looks the part, too, sporting her iconic dual pistols and outfit from before. While you’re raiding tombs throughout the adventure, you can find hidden relics that unlock outfits for Lara to wear based on her other adventures, and the developers told us there would be a large collection to choose from.

I also liked the look of Damocles’ trial itself, with the swords having far more of a menacing presence, causing massive rumbles as each sword slams into the ground around you. The puzzle has been expanded here a little, and I feel, based on what little I saw of it, it works for this new vision.

Sanded Down

I was far less optimistic about the rest of the systems on display in this presentation, however. To start with, Lara is far more talkative as she roams about the temple, a feature I wasn’t particularly fond of in titles such as the Horizon series. There were also many new systems in place that felt like they may be in there for the sake of accessibility, but on first impressions, it looks more like sanding down the experience.

To start with, Lara has two new tools at her disposal, the first being the scanner. This will allow you to scan locked doors or other puzzle-related objects, giving you some hints on how to solve this particular puzzle. This immediately takes away from a massive part of the Tomb Raider experience, even if the developers did say that this can be turned off or not used. The other, a grapple, is less intrusive, but will change the level design a fair bit, adding more verticality to Lara’s movement. It was also used to pull on a lever to temporarily raise a door, to which Lara then slid under before it slammed shut.

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Lara can now craft consumables to aid her in her tomb raiding.

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The scanner will reveal hints on how to solve puzzles.

Perhaps the biggest offender, for me, personally, is the addition of the crafting system. This had already been announced, and it was something I was worried about, and seeing it in action hasn’t got me any less concerned. Not only can you craft healing consumables, but you can also craft trap resistance items so that you take less damage if you happen to get caught by some spikes or other trap-related obstacle. Add to this the addition of skill points, and all of a sudden, Legacy of Atlantis begins to take a far different tone from the original Tomb Raider adventure. I suspect these gameplay systems will feel far more at home in 2028’s Tomb Raider: Catalyst, but for a remake of one of Lara’s memorable adventures, it feels extremely out of place.

Ultimately, I still haven’t seen enough of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis; I want to keep an open mind to these new systems as a big fan of the series, and there were some parts of the presentation that show plenty of promise. For now, I’m keeping an open mind about what to expect from this remake.