I’m not exactly a Tomb Raider superfan—most of my recollections come from playing quite a bit of the original, plus its sequel, during visits to a friend’s place when I was roughly seven to ten years old. I also remember spending way too long trying to get out of the same demo disc level. Still, what I’ve kept hearing from those blurry late-90s days is that a defining trait of classic Tomb Raider is how precise it feels. Jump here without missing. Land cleanly there. Manually push the button to grab the ledge. And if you mess it up, you either end up dead—or, at minimum, thoroughly annoyed.
After wrapping up a demo that ran for about forty minutes at Summer Game Fest, I didn’t come away thinking “classic Tomb Raider” in quite the way I expected. That’s true even though Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis—an upcoming reimagining of the original—has been made by Crystal Dynamics, now working alongside Flying Wild Hog, and it’s being published by Amazon Games.
What Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis does manage to communicate is something lighter and more budget-conscious than you might expect—like a surprisingly loopy take on Uncharted, which feels like an odd fit for this series. There are a number of fairly predictable environmental challenges, some prominent ledges and handholds carved into worn walls, collectibles stashed in vases, grappling hooks, a few snappy lines, and a hint of light shooting. Most notably, though, rather than leaning into strict, unforgiving precision, Lara’s movement comes across as an appealing mix of buoyant motion and rigid control.
That said, it’s not meant as a claim that everything has gone off the rails. Sure, long-time Tomb Raider fans—people with memories clearer than mine—may see it differently. For me, it feels more like a reshaping of what Lara Croft in this version is trying to be. Legacy of Atlantis might look, from a trailer, like an Uncharted-style blockbuster, and that’s probably a reasonable assumption given how central Croft was in her heyday. But this is very much a double-A production. And with that identity comes, at least, a certain amount of character.
The demo takes place in classic jungle ruins. Croft closes in on a waterfall, then studies a wall mural showing three golden gears—prompting the obvious objective: find the missing gear to power a key mechanism and push forward through the jungle. From there, you get lighter platforming sections and some modest environmental puzzle work.
Climbing the side of the ruin, you’re guided by small suggestions for where to grab—nothing like bright yellow paint, but you get the familiar “this looks climbable” emphasis through little bits of commentary. Once I got up there, the pattern followed through: collectibles tucked into old pots, plus a short hidden loop containing a prehistoric creature’s tooth. That triggers an on-screen notice that collecting several of these would grant some kind of upgrade point (though that specific part of the menu wasn’t accessible in the demo). Continuing down a mostly straight route with gentle problem-solving—shoving a crate aside, checking the right direction for an on-screen cue to grapple, and swinging across a river—we eventually reached the upper area.
There: larger gears, including one that seemed—at least from Croft’s perspective—to be a bit too loose. You climb a little more along the side, jump, then use a button prompt to kick the loose gear. It drops into a pool of water (Croft even commented at least three times about how this ancient civilization “bent water to its will,” so it’s fair to call that a central idea of the level). After grabbing it with the grappling hook and moving it out of the way, you clear away more debris using another prompt. The gear then slips down the waterfall to the pool at ground level. From there, you take a different platforming path back down, with Croft performing flips along the way—looping through horizontal poles with confidence, plus a classic swan dive—until you’re back at the lower pool, ready to set the loose cogs into place again.
Next up: combat. A quick fight against velociraptors introduced a new mechanic alongside your familiar dual pistols, whose booming power keeps delivering some of the best sound effects in video games—even though there’s no traditional auto-lock-on. This new feature acts like a focus meter: by building it up through successful dodging, you earn the ability to use something during combat. Your dodge stays a backflip, and if you dodge sideways it turns into a cartwheel-like motion, which is genuinely fun. Once activated, it triggers a slow-motion bullet time sequence, letting you reposition, grab the angle again, and target your dino enemies more easily.
Then comes another PS1-era staple: a run-at-the-camera moment. This time, though, it only lasts a few seconds—part of a chase lasting maybe thirty seconds—featuring a T-Rex. It’s also another example of the game blending different eras in a slightly unusual way: there’s late-00s cinematic flair, including a slow-mo slide between the dinosaur’s legs, paired with a bit of 90s weirdness, where switching into the “run toward the camera” viewpoint from a cutscene can trip you up. If you don’t realize you’re supposed to start running manually right away, you’ll likely get caught and die. In Legacy of Atlantis, you may notice distant echoes of Crash Bandicoot,
tucked away in the deeper corners of your mind may suddenly become handy.
All things considered, it turned out to be a compelling preview of what could be a truly engaging game. In no small part, its lighter tone—particularly when you compare it with the originals—works in its favor. If you’re looking for something more in line with Uncharted, especially the calm glide of lightly guided environmental puzzles and a largely straightforward jungle layout, you’re likely to have a good time here. In fact, during a hectic weekend bouncing between demos under the sweltering Los Angeles sun, I could easily have spent the entire afternoon enjoying the familiar warmth of playing Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis. Of course, that mood may have been helped along by the setup at the booth: a tasteful throwback to the E3 days, complete with artificial plants and misting devices to produce a steamy jungle feel, plus the fact that sitting near the entrance meant catching a gentle spray of cool, refreshing water between the heat.
Still, I’d recommend easing up on your expectations a bit. Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is light, likable, and engaging, Lara Croft’s updated voiceover comes across as polished, and the whole package includes touches that feel pleasantly old-school. That said, it isn’t a high-profile, genuinely modern remake. You’ll run into odd decisions, unexpected takes on movement (especially that new jump—just as light as before, but more linear—it took me a moment to get my head around), a few campy lines of dialogue, and gameplay elements that look familiar from elsewhere. In other words, this is classic, no-frills, double-A Tomb Raider through and through. Even so, within that specific setup, it still has plenty of room to be a great deal of fun.