The reboot that restarted everything
Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, a survivor is born
- Critic score
- 86
- Player rating
- 4.7/5
- Main story
- 11.3 h
- Genre
- Adventure, Action
In 2013 Crystal Dynamics started from scratch: no more invincible adventurer, but a young shipwrecked archaeologist learning to survive. The Definitive Edition, released a year later on PS4, remains the best way to experience that fresh start.
The Endurance sinks off the coast of Japan, in the Dragon's Triangle. Lara Croft, barely out of university, washes up on the island of Yamatai with the rest of the crew. The island is held by a cult that keeps its visitors, and something older stops anyone from leaving.
The game tells how Lara becomes the character we know. The opening hours show her wounded, starving, shaken by her first kill; the bow, found early on, quickly becomes her weapon of choice. The violence is brutal and the staging does not soften it, which sparked some debate at release.
As a game, it is an action adventure built from wide corridors, broken up by open hubs you can revisit. Campfires are where you upgrade skills and weapons, and the tools you pick up (climbing axe, rope arrows, explosives) open new paths. The tombs themselves are optional and short: small physics puzzles that nod to the series' roots.
The Definitive Edition adds all the downloadable content to the original and a visual overhaul built for PS4, including a reworked face for Lara. An online multiplayer mode is on the menu too; it is a side dish, the campaign is the reason to play.
Around twelve hours for the story, a little more if you comb the island. It is also the natural entry point to a trilogy the catalog offers in full, with Rise of the Tomb Raider and Shadow of the Tomb Raider to follow, plus Legend and Anniversary from the PS2 era in the Classics.