OpenLara

Tomb Raider has become a game of contradictions. It simultaneously revolutionised and damned and era of 3D games with its controls. Its star is an icon of progression but also 90’s regression. It inspired countless imitators but itself evolved into a series that imitates others.

Playing it today - for the first time - it’s wonderful.

As an N64 kid, I never really gave Tomb Raider much of a shot beyond throwing Lara around her mansion, running away from some wolves, and watching someone else do the ‘T-rex’ bit. I never really ‘played’ it, so when I saw the original Saturn version going for a tenner I jumped in. I’m glad I did.

Lara Croft’s first adventure is a masterclass in deliberate design. The rigid, grid-like movement pattern of jump-rotate-walk-climb is great at teaching you the limits of what Lara is capable of. When a new room is encountered you can give it a quick scan and work out your route forward based on what you’ve learned first hand about her jump distance, her running speed and acrobatic skills.

There’s a foreboding, nightmarish atmosphere to the game that is helped by the Saturn’s 3D rendering capabilities - crisp, aggressive textures and thick foggy darkness combining to give a real sense of isolation and risk. I’ve talked before about limitations working to create magic, and the Saturn/PS1/N64 era is perfect for creating that magic.

I’m glad that Tomb Raider is now seeing a resurgence in opinion after being consigned to the ‘aged badly’ bin. The OpenLara project has brought the game’s particular style to would-be game devs, and probably the greatest achievement of it so far is the GBA tech demo. Playing the original Tomb Raider on Nintendo’s tiny handheld feels like witchcraft - playing it on my TV through the Gamecube’s GBA Player feels like a delicious crime I should go to jail for.