Tomb Raider I-III Remastered: all the improvements and new features detailed

• Aspyr and Lara, an ancient story

Aspyr, a growing video game company, is releasing Tomb Raider II on Mac. The franchise’s games continued until 2003: Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider III, Tomb Raider: The Final Revelation, Tomb Raider: In the Trail of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness.

We always wanted to revisit these titles, but couldn’t find the right approach. For years we have sought the balance between preservation and modernization. And when we did, we reached out to our friends at Crystal Dynamics.

• The Crystal Dynamics vision

As Crystal Dynamics continued to expand the Tomb Raider franchise, the timing seemed perfect to show audiences the games that started it all. We wanted to honor the beginnings of the franchise and make the original games accessible to today’s audiences to return them to their former glory.

But what should this balance between preservation and modernization look like? We call it the Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft Collection.

• Goals definition

During the pre-production phase, we focused our attention on three areas: engineering, gameplay and graphics. Once these categories were defined, we approached them one after the other.

• Engineering goal: pixel-perfect performance and preservation

From the start, we knew we were going to use the original source code and engine. This type of magic cannot be replicated. We absolutely wanted players to have the opportunity to recapture the original look and feel of Tomb Raider I, II and III.

It’s a declaration of love to our memories of these games, but it also allows us to realize how Tomb Raider pushed the hardware of the 90s to its limits. Preserving this experience will inspire the engineers of today and tomorrow to create more immersive and memorable games.

• Gameplay objective: surprise and delight early fans

We believed that the gameplay of Tomb Raider I, II and III was timeless and that using the source code allowed us to keep every jump, secret, enemy and puzzle as the original development team intended.

So we set out to find out how to surprise and delight fans. This is where the idea of ​​making additions and not revisions emerged.

• Modern and classic controls

For modern control settings, we took inspiration from the era that saw the birth of Tomb Raider Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. The changes are especially visible in Lara’s movements: the right joystick controls the camera and Lara moves according to its direction.

And like our graphical approach, the original raw commands can be activated in the menu.

One of the strengths of Tomb Raider is its minimal UI. However, this can be frustrating when fighting bosses with huge amounts of health. We therefore added a life bar to allow you to decide whether it is better to switch to the grenade launcher or stick to pistol shots.

• Replacing 3D object sprites

Tomb Raider’s menus used 3D models for medkits and ammo, but in-game items were simple 2D sprites. This is an original element that we modified in order to give a little more impact to item pickup.

This release is an important event for the Tomb Raider community, so we made sure to offer as much content as possible. We’re excited to announce that there are over 200 trophies to obtain, including my favorite: locking the butler in the freezer. Sorry, Winston! Find below a small preview of what awaits you.

Exploring Tomb Raider’s environments is quite magical. We wanted to offer you the opportunity to share these iconic environments and moments. So we added a powerful Photo mode that pauses the game, poses Lara and allows you to alternate between classic and modern graphics to highlight the environments. We can’t wait to see how the community benefits from this.

• Some additional surprises

Part of what makes Tomb Raider great is discovery, so we won’t spoil that.

• Artistic goal: visuals similar to those of your memories

Once the engineering and gameplay goals were defined, we had to focus on our biggest challenge for this project: the graphics.

Our philosophy was simple, we wanted games to feel like the memories you have of them. And we knew we were on the right track when, during our first tests, testers weren’t able to tell they were playing with modern graphics enabled.

We worked hand-in-hand with Crystal Dynamics on the following modern updates:

• Pre-calculated and real-time lighting effects : these modifications reinforce the immersion and atmosphere of the environments.
• Alternation of graphics : At any time in the game, including in Photo mode, you can switch between original and modern graphics.
• New models, environments and enemies : When we first showed the project, we talked about the models added to ensure a modern look and feel. We can’t wait to show you how these PS1 environments look on our modern technologies and tools.
• New model for Lara Craft : her original outfits are splendid, her silhouette emblematic. Is it necessary to say more?
• Additional updates : We love original animations, textures and visual effects. We’ve made some adjustments to fit modern models and maintain visual consistency.