The Tomb Raider Remastered trilogy is more than just a visual overhaul. As reported earlier this month, it comes with modern controls and a camera lock-on ability. But that's not all. You can also switch between the new and classic visuals, hunt down 200 trophies, and snap pics in the photo mode.
Developer Aspyr believes that "the gameplay of Tomb Raider 1, 2, and 3 is timeless" (thanks, Eurogamer), so the bulk of the remaster focuses on additions rather than revisions. Modern controls are optional and take note from future games in the series such as Legend, Anniversary, and Underworld, while the aim for the updated graphics was to make the games "look the way they did in your mind", working closely with Crystal Dynamics to reach that goal.
The photo mode meanwhile lets you swap Lara Croft's outfit, weapon, facial expression, and pose while the world around you stays frozen. You can also toggle classic or modern visuals, which is useful for quick before and afters if you want to see just how much has changed.
With three games comes a lot of achievements. It works out to around 66 per one, and while Aspyr hasn't listed them all out yet, it did share seven of the icons. There's a polaroid of Lara Croft, a first-person view of Akimbo pistols aimed at someone with wings, and Croft crawling through lasers to name a few.
The polaroid is likely for taking a picture with the new photo mode, the lasers the Area 51 mission in Tomb Raider 3, the winged woman Atlean Natla, and the zipline the Croft Manor obstacle course. We also have, as confirmed by Asypr, an icon for locking poor Winston away.
We’re excited to say there are over 200 trophies to earn including (my personal favourite) locking the Butler in the freezer. Sorry, Winston!
Another change it shared for the remaster is the updated sprites. In the original, the in-game assets were 2D, even if the menus showed 3D models. The collection, however, has placed updated 3D models into the world so that they blend in more with their environments.
There are a lot more changes, like boss health bars and updated lighting effects, with "more surprises" to come, but the wait to find out isn't too long as we'll be able to see it for ourselves in just under a month.
"It’s a love letter to all of our memories of these games, but it’s also truly fascinating to see how far hardware pushed in the ‘90s to make Tomb Raider work," Aspyr said. "Preserving that experience will continue to inspire engineers of today and tomorrow to push games to be more immersive and memorable."
