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Last year, on a bit of a whim, I ended up playing Tomb Raider 1’s superb remaster and Crystal Dynamics’ 2007 remake Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Both, it turns out, are enormously enjoyable - and very different - ways to play Lara Croft’s trailblazing original platform adventure, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. So I can understand why the minds behind Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis might want to do something beyond a slick visual overhaul. But after my latest Gamescom look, I’m not exactly convinced this remake - now due to arrive early next year - is heading the right way.
Unlike Chris’ “strangely double-A” hands-on time with Legacy of Atlantis earlier this year, its Gamescom showing was strictly hands-off; a “first look” at developer Flying Hog Games’ reinterpretation of Greece - a location that comes roughly a quarter of the way into the original game. And for this latest showing, Crystal Dynamics, which is overseeing the project for Amazon, opted to show off an “updated and reimagined” version of the Damocles Room sword puzzle deep beneath St. Francis’ Folly.
And there’s no doubt Legacy of Atlantis’ take captures the original’s spirit: you’ll still navigate the imposingly vertiginous chamber, puzzling your way into four different rooms so you can puzzle your way back out with four different keys (technically gemstones in this version). And there’s no doubt it looks a treat while it’s doing it; shafts of light striking through the ancient darkness, as thick vegetation, rich with colourful bursts of flowers, run wild across stone. And it’s a joy to hear new Lara Croft voice actor Alix Wilton Regan warmly quip her way around the place - immediately, welcomely resetting the tone back to the past, a million miles away from the wretched misery of Crystal Dynamics’ divisive reboot trilogy.
But as Crystal Dynamics experience director Jeff Adams, who’s narrating this alpha gameplay playthrough, reminds us, Legacy of Atlantis goes beyond an audio-visual makeover. “The team seeks to preserve what made these locations so special in the beginning”, he says, “but we want to find new ways to surprise and delight”. The goal is to give newcomers a “sense of awe and wonder”, while old-hands feel like they’ve had their first play experience “reignited”. The level’s bat enemies have, for instance, now been turned into thick undulating swarms with more unpredictable movement patterns. But there’s the other, more controversial stuff Crystal Dynamics is shoving into Legacy of Atlantis, including the reboot era’s RPG-like progression elements - skill trees, crafting, and other faff (not to mention its own dollop of gen-AI).
In this new version, Lara can snaffle up environmental junk - I’m pretty sure I see her swipe a turnip at one point, despite not being a vegetable known to thrive in the ancient half-light - in order to craft the likes of boon-granting foods. Which leads to the comical sight of our demo player scrolling through a list of recipes - an enormous plate of stew, a massive pan of baked beans - which Lara promptly twiddles out of thin air. And after that, it’s onto Legacy of Atlantis’ other big new feature - a scanner - which players can use to analyse environments for “greater insight” into how to proceed.
In the example we see, Lara scans an imposing gate situated near some sort of opening mechanism containing four visible slots. “The gate is still shut,” Lara usefully explains after the scan is done, “and the opening mechanism has four distinct slots”. Exactly the kind of insight a skilled treasure hunter with years of tomb raiding experience might need! It’s clearly a gambit intended to ease less experienced players into this world, but - as with a lot of Atlantis’ new additions shown in the demo - there’s something about the immersion-busting implementation that just feels inelegant and ill-considered.
