What's the best Tomb Raider game from the OG timeline? (AoD and prior)

🗨️ Discussion

I'm finally braving the I-III remasters again, and while I love them, they're absolutely exhausting. I want to wait a bit for another remaster set announcement (probs only for Last Revelation and Chronicles I'm guessing?) before I continue playing the original timeline series, but I do want to finish em all eventually.

Tell me which one of the OG games (AoD and earlier) you guys love the most + why, and maybe it'll reignite my motivation to somehow get through 2 & 3 remastered. TR1 has my brain in shambles.

in TombRaiderby d00rdashian

92%

sarsaparilluhhh

Last Revelation (4) imo. It's got a really great balance of indoor and outdoor, the art direction is beautiful, it hits all the right nostalgia beats and it's perfect for the mythology nerds out there. It also always surprises me with just how claustrophobic, lonely and genuinely scary it can be every time I revisit it. There's some really dark, spooky stuff in there.

dra234

TR4 is peak Tomb Raider. This is the experience we are looking for.

LichQueenBarbie

It also covers different periods within Egyptian history too. So, while it is set in 1 country minus the tutorial level, the devs really utilised Egypt's longass history to change the scenery up.

Building1982

As a fan of 1-6 primarily its boiled down to 4. It’s like playing the mummy and I fucking love that movie

Ok-Blacksmith4364

I’m going through the OG games for the first time right now and I’d have to say that 3 is probably my favorite so far (only a little over halfway so far). I think it’s a perfect mixture of the exploration/fun secrets of TR1 and actually implements some of the new features from TR2 in a fun way (which I think TR2 failed at). The combat is also bearable in TR3 as opposed to TR2 IMO.

ocelotrevolverco

Everybody has a favorite but I think the first one is the best by a significant margin. The others all try something new, but that first game just has perfect pacing, atmosphere, and overall level design.

Intelligent-Sky6557

For me upon replaying them all recently it's 2 or 4 but they all have their merits, when I was younger 3 was my favourite.

dingo_khan

Mine is the original, followed by the Last Revelation. The original was so strong out of the gate with a great sense of who Lara was and what a tomb raider game should be. Revelation refined this a lot but the first just hits so right for me.

superstitiouspigeons

TR2 is my absolute favorite game of all time. I play through it at least once a year.

dingo_khan

That is devotion. I am like that with the original Metal Gear Solid. It is crazy how well those PSX games hold up.

SpecialistParticular

Natla Minion

Best game is 2.

Natapi24

I may be biased since I played it so much growing up but I had all the Core games and that was the one I played over and over again. I still love it!

happy_capy_B

TR2

tav7623

As far as I’m concerned the best game(s) from the original run (TR 1-Angel of Darkness) are Tomb Raider 2 and Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation.

haziness

1 is perfect IMO

Itchy_Equipment_

Tomb Raider 1 hands down.

It has the best difficulty/learning curve and less combat (especially against human enemies which is where the classics fall down hard). With the later games, the designers made the mistake of assuming players have completed the previous ones, the puzzles and exploration can be very obscure (looking at you, TR3/4) and the difficulty ramps up quickly.

Building1982

As a fan of 1-6 primarily its boiled down to 4. It’s like playing the mummy and I fucking love that movie

LichQueenBarbie

1 and 4 are my favorites. They're basically equal to me.

My personal rating:

1 > 4 > 3 > 2 > Chronicles

AoD is kinda its own thing to me so I can't really place it with the old classics.

_Raildex_

Tomb Raider 4 The Last Revelation. They managed to give a lot of variety despite 90% of the game played in Egypt. Compare Coastal Ruins to City of the Dead. Or Lost Library with The Sacred Lake. The difficulty curve is pretty okay. You get slowly introduced into the hub system in Karnak and the amount of combat is actually comprehensible.

drbunnig

Another vote for TR II here. I enjoy the combat, and approaching the game and challenging myself in different ways in each play through. I also really love the level design.

The first game is also pretty special. Has the best music and general atmosphere in my opinion.

Novel-Pangolin-2879

TR3 is the best. The level designs are a bit convoluted but everything else is just perfect. ❤️

QuintusDienst

I would say Tomb Raider 1, it was consistently good fun throughout and has some iconic levels such as M— P— (avoiding spoilers ). 2 and 3 are just tedious imo, 4 was an improvement but still has a lot of BS that make it feel like a chore.

kerobo

TR III and Chronicles were always my favorite as a kid. I think I mostly loved all the different environments that you get to explore in those, plus the Lara's Home section of III with the quad track 👍

Bryrida

I feel like they all have their ups and downs. TR2 was my favorite for the longest time but in remastered gameplay I found myself enjoying 1 more. TR3 has some really good parts but also some really convoluted parts as well. 4 has a really unique flavor but some of the puzzles can be too difficult and you’ll end up stuck on certain levels for the longest time. Chronicles isn’t terrible but is too boring and glitchy compared to others to be the best, and AoD is an unfinished mess.

fyxt96

Last Revelation for sure