A Journey Through Time: Revisiting Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered on Xbox
A year ago today, Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr unveiled what seemed like a clever choice with Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered – a modern Xbox series featuring some of gaming’s most legendary quests. Twelve months later, they’ve returned with the next chapter in the Lara Croft saga, and while Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered may not offer quite as many memorable experiences as last year’s release, the inclusion of a higher frame rate option makes this collection worthy of your gaming library—especially if you appreciate a nostalgic Lara Croft adventure, as I do.
Before we dive into that, here’s exactly what this latest Tomb Raider collection provides. Making their debut on Xbox platforms, this bundle includes Tomb Raider: The Final Revelation, Tomb Raider: Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness. The first two titles are firmly rooted in the PS1 era, while The Angel of Darkness marked the series’ debut on PS2—before the intellectual property was handed from the original developers at Core Design to the current franchise stewards Crystal Dynamics.
Given that this year’s collection features these three titles, it feels like a step back from last year’s offering, particularly in terms of source material. The Final Revelation has always been one of my favorite Tomb Raider games from that era, and it really excels within this collection for having the most solid foundation. Its broader focus on authentic tomb raiding amidst stunning Egyptian ruins truly makes it feel like a true Lara Croft adventure, and my stance on it being the best of the group hasn’t wavered—even after more than twenty years.
As for Chronicles and The Angel of Darkness, well, they exhibit a slightly more experimental approach, although that experiment is hardly new. Chronicles unfolds as a series of flashbacks to Lara’s early tomb raiding escapades, which feels somewhat unoriginal because of this, while The Angel of Darkness indeed offers a more dynamic experience, it employs some peculiar design choices that don’t really advance the series. Tomb Raider’s PS2 debut feels like it’s caught between two generations, and its clunky controls and awkward camera angles are only marginally improved by Aspyr’s remastering efforts.
Now, let’s discuss those remastering efforts, shall we? Well, the two PS1-based titles here look quite reminiscent of how the original trilogy was presented in last year’s collection. You receive that handy graphics toggle similar to Halo: The Master Chief Collection (allowing you to switch between classic and modern graphics), and the newer visual style aims to preserve the essence of the originals while making their presentation appear less flat and more realistic. Overall, I believe Aspyr has done a fairly commendable job in this area—The Final Revelation’s tomb architecture, in particular, looks truly stunning with a 2025 polish.
Moreover, there’s a genuinely, very welcome addition hidden within this year’s remastering efforts. Following my 2024 review of Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered, one of my main criticisms was the 30FPS-only limitation while playing the games in their ‘classic’ graphics mode. This made sticking to the original visuals feel much more outdated, and it was especially jarring when alternating back and forth between the old visuals at 60FPS. In this new collection, however, Aspyr has introduced a ‘Retro FPS’ toggle—and when that’s turned to ‘Off’ (yes, off, not on), the older visuals run at 60 frames per second as well. For those of us eager to revisit our tomb raiding childhoods with improved performance levels (myself included), this practically makes the collection worth owning outright, even if the source material originates from a rather eccentric era for the franchise.
Speaking of unique eras, the remastering behind Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is likely to feel more stripped-down. While the PS1-era games receive impressive visual upgrades, they aren’t groundbreaking by modern standards; AoD appears and feels barely different from the original. The PS2 era began to shift