Let’s be real for a second. When Aspyr dropped the first trilogy of remasters, it was a nostalgia bomb that actually landed. People loved it. But honestly? The announcement of Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is a much bigger deal for the series’ legacy, even if The Angel of Darkness still gives some fans actual nightmares. We’re moving away from the "pixel-perfect" grid systems of the nineties and into the era where Core Design was trying to figure out what a "modern" Lara Croft looked like before the studio unfortunately imploded.
This isn't just a texture pack. It's a rescue mission.
You’ve got The Last Revelation, Chronicles, and the infamous Angel of Darkness all bundled together. If you played these back in the day, you know the vibe shifted. Gone were the colorful globetrotting adventures of the first three games. Instead, we got a deep, obsessed dive into Egyptian mythology, a weirdly experimental anthology, and then a moody, Parisian goth-thriller that almost killed the franchise. It’s a wild ride.
The Last Revelation is the Peak of Classic Tomb Raider
Most people don’t give The Last Revelation (Tomb Raider IV) the credit it deserves. It’s basically the longest game in the original run. It’s huge.
Unlike the previous games that jumped from Peru to Venice to Nevada, IV stays almost entirely in Egypt. You might think that gets boring. It doesn't. Aspyr’s work on Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered means we finally get to see the complex geometry of the Karnak Temple and the Great Pyramid without the heavy "PS1 fog" that used to hide the draw distance. The lighting in the original was already atmospheric, but seeing those baked shadows updated with modern global illumination makes a massive difference in how scary those tombs actually feel.
Lara is younger here too—well, in the prologue. We see her at 16 with her mentor Werner Von Croy. This was the first time Core Design really tried to give Lara a character arc that wasn't just "go here, get the thing." She messes up. She triggers an apocalypse. It’s personal.
The gameplay in IV introduced the ability to climb ropes and swing, which sounds simple now but was a technical nightmare back then. In the remaster, the "Modern Controls" toggle is going to be the deciding factor for many. If you’ve tried playing the original PC ports lately, you know the tank controls haven't aged gracefully for everyone. Having a camera that actually moves with your right stick changes the entire flow of the platforming.
Chronicles: The Weird Middle Child
Then we have Tomb Raider: Chronicles.
It’s a bit of an oddity. Lara is presumed dead after the events of the fourth game. Her friends are sitting around a fireplace drinking tea and reminiscing about her "lost" adventures. This gave the developers an excuse to create four mini-stories that don't really have anything to do with each other.
One minute you're in Rome, the next you're a teenager on a spooky haunted island with no weapons, and then suddenly you're in a high-tech skyscraper wearing a catsuit and using a headset. It’s experimental. It’s also where the engine started to buckle under its own weight.
What's cool about seeing this in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is the visual consistency. In the 2000s, these games looked slightly different because of changing tech. Now, they feel like a cohesive trilogy. The "VCI" levels in Chronicles—the stealthy ones in the office building—were notoriously buggy and frustrating. With the updated engine and potential bug fixes included in this remaster, these levels might finally be playable in the way the designers intended. Or at least, they won't crash your console every twenty minutes.
The Redemption of The Angel of Darkness
Okay, we have to talk about the elephant in the room. The Angel of Darkness (AoD).
This game is legendary for all the wrong reasons. It was rushed to meet the release of the second Angelina Jolie movie. It was unfinished. It was broken. It moved Lara to a "darker" urban setting in Paris and Prague, introduced RPG elements like "strengthening" your legs by pushing crates (yes, really), and added a second playable character named Kurtis Trent.
But here is the thing: the story is actually the best in the series.
It’s a dark, occult murder mystery. It has a vibe that no other Tomb Raider has ever touched. Fans have been modding the PC version for twenty years just to make it functional. By including AoD in Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, Aspyr is giving this "black sheep" a second chance.
- Visual Overhaul: The character models in AoD were actually pretty high-poly for 2003, but the environments were often drab. The remaster brings out the neon grit of the Parisian backstreets and the dusty gold of the Louvre.
- The Controls: This is the big one. In the original, Lara moved like she was underwater. Every jump felt like a suggestion rather than a command. If the remaster fixes the input lag and integrates the modern control scheme properly, it will fundamentally change how the game feels.
- The Soundtrack: Peter Connelly’s score for these three games, especially AoD, is orchestral gold. Hearing it cleaned up is worth the price of admission alone.
Technical Improvements and Modern Features
Aspyr isn't just upping the resolution.
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Like the previous collection, you can toggle between the original low-poly graphics and the new "remastered" visuals at any time. It's a trip to see how your brain remembers the games looking vs. how they actually looked.
They’ve also added a Photo Mode. This might seem like a fluff feature, but for the Tomb Raider community, it’s huge. People have spent decades trying to get the perfect screenshot of Lara in the Great Pyramid or the Streets of Paris. Now, you can actually adjust the field of view, change Lara’s pose, and get those high-res shots without needing a dozen third-party mods.
Trophy and Achievement support is another layer. The first trilogy had some truly diabolical trophies (looking at you, "don't use a medipack"). Expect more of the same here. It adds a reason to go back and actually master the mechanics rather than just breezing through with save states.
And yes, there are save states—or at least, the "save anywhere" functionality that made the original PC versions so much more bearable than the PlayStation versions with their limited "save crystals."
Why the "Dark Age" of Tomb Raider is Worth Revisiting
There’s a segment of the fanbase that stopped playing after Tomb Raider III. They felt the games got too hard or too weird.
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They’re missing out.
The IV-VI era represents a studio trying to evolve. They were bored of just "raiding tombs." They wanted to tell stories about betrayal, ancient curses that actually felt dangerous, and a world that was bigger than just Lara. The Last Revelation is a masterpiece of level design. Chronicles is a fun, albeit short, curiosity. The Angel of Darkness is a flawed work of art that was ahead of its time in terms of tone.
Putting them all in one package like Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered allows you to see the transition. You see the end of the 90s era and the painful birth of the 2000s era. It’s gaming history, warts and all.
Actionable Steps for New and Returning Players
If you’re planning on diving into this collection, don't play them like modern games. Even with the new controls, the logic is different.
- Don't skip the tutorials. Especially in The Last Revelation. The game assumes you know how the grid works. If you don't understand how many squares Lara jumps, you're going to die. A lot.
- Experiment with the "Classic" controls. It sounds crazy, but the level design was built for the "tank" movement. Sometimes, for precision jumps, the old-school D-pad movement is actually more reliable than an analog stick.
- Read the manuals and lore. These games were from an era where the story wasn't always shoved in your face via cutscenes. Check the inventory items. Look at the artifacts. The world-building in IV and VI is incredibly dense if you look for it.
- Give Angel of Darkness a fair shake. Don't go in expecting Uncharted. Go in expecting a slow-burn supernatural thriller. Be patient with the "strength" mechanics. Once you get past the initial clunkiness, the atmosphere is unmatched.
- Use the toggle. When you get to a new area, hit that button to switch to the old graphics. It gives you a massive appreciation for how much work went into the new lighting and textures. It also helps you spot switches and levers that might be hidden in the higher-detail environments.
The release of this collection basically completes the "classic" Lara Croft timeline on modern hardware. It’s the definitive way to experience the downfall and attempted resurrection of a gaming icon. Whether you're here for the nostalgia or seeing these levels for the first time, there is a grit and a challenge here that modern AAA games rarely touch. Prepare to save often.