Lara Croft is like the Batman of ladies. She has survived several timelines, shifting control schemes, supernatural relics, collapsing temples, and en
Lara Croft is like the Batman of ladies. She has survived several timelines, shifting control schemes, supernatural relics, collapsing temples, and enough betrayals to make trusting archaeologists seem irresponsible. Honestly, the games felt haunting as a child because she was all alone. The butler following her around in the house. The slaughterhouse. The cave tiger in Tomb Raider II. Crazy memories.
The best Tomb Raider games, however, understand that she needs more than guns and acrobatics. Exploration has to feel threatening. The ruins need history. Every solved mechanism should make the player feel briefly brilliant. This ranking covers three different versions of Lara. The original games made her a global icon. The Legend era restored her speed and personality for a modern generation. The Survivor trilogy placed fear, injury, crafting, and character development closer to the center. Different moods. Same irresistible promise. There is always another wall to climb.
6
‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ (2018)
The Yaaxil Priestess known as Crimson Fire reveals herself to Lara Croft in a cut scene from Shadow of the Tomb Raider. She has ceeremonial locks, beads, and jewelry adorning her head, as well as piercings through her face. Her mouth has no lips and reveals filed teeth in her crimson and ivory painted face.Image via Square Enix
Shadow of the Tomb Raider takes Lara into Peru after she removes a ceremonial dagger and helps trigger a chain of disasters connected to a Maya apocalypse. Her pursuit of Trinity leads through dense jungle, underwater caves, mountain settlements, and the hidden city of Paititi. This is the final chapter of the Survivor trilogy, so Lara enters with greater confidence and a growing awareness that her obsession can endanger the very people she intends to save. The wilderness is gorgeous. It also wants her dead.
The game’s strongest material sits inside its challenge tombs, environmental puzzles, and expanded traversal. Swimming is more essential, stealth becomes nastier, and mud can turn Lara into part of the jungle before an ambush. Paititi slows the pace more than some players will enjoy, while the main story occasionally struggles to balance Lara’s guilt with the amount of chaos surrounding her. Still, few entries make raiding a tomb feel this atmospheric. Play the Definitive Edition for all seven downloadable challenge tombs. That extra danger suits Lara beautifully.
5
‘Tomb Raider: Legend’ (2006)
Image via Crystal Dynamics
By 2006, Lara Croft needed a comeback. Tomb Raider: Legend gave her one by sending her across Bolivia, Peru, Japan, Ghana, Kazakhstan, England, and Nepal in pursuit of an historic artifact connected to Arthurian legend and her own family history. The game moves quickly, keeps Lara in constant conversation with Zip and Alister, and brings a lighter blockbuster energy after the troubled release of The Angel of Darkness. Crystal Dynamics had taken control of the series, and the difference was immediate. Lara could move again. Really move.
The magnetic grapple, smoother platforming, motorcycle sections, physics puzzles, and responsive gunplay made the franchise feel state-of-the-art without throwing away its adventurous personality. Legend is shorter than most games on this list, though that compact length helps the pace. Every country brings a modern visual identity, and Croft Manor remains a wonderful place to learn the controls while poking into rooms you probably should not enter. The story leaves major questions for later games, but Lara’s wit and confidence make the journey uncomplicated to revisit. Finish it once and a time-trial replay suddenly feels very reasonable.
4
‘Tomb Raider II’ (1997)
Lara Croft fights a dragon in an underground temple in the 1997 video game Tomb Raider II Image via Eidos Interactive
Tomb Raider II took the foundations of the original and turned Lara’s second adventure into a much larger world tour. She begins at the Great Wall of China while searching for the Dagger of Xian, a legendary weapon linked to the power of a dragon. The hunt soon moves through Venice, an offshore rig, the wreck of the Maria Doria, Tibet, and finally back to China as the Fiamma Nera closes in on the same artifact. Lara even gets a speedboat and snowmobile. Subtlety had a day off.
The sequel increased human combat, which sometimes pushes exploration aside, yet its scale remains astonishing for 1997. Venice has become one of the franchise’s defining locations, the underwater shipwreck levels create genuine isolation, and the Tibetan monastery gives players choices that affect how its monks respond. Croft Manor also became more playful through the assault course and the permanently exhausted butler following Lara with a tea tray. The vintage controls demand patience, especially for newcomers. Once the grid-based movement clicks, the level design starts revealing how deliberate it is. Try the remastered version if you want the history with fewer technical bruises.
3
‘Tomb Raider: Anniversary’ (2007)
Image via Crystal Dynamics
Rather than retelling Lara’s first adventure as a museum piece, Tomb Raider: Anniversary rebuilds the 1996 classic through the movement and technology of Legend. Lara travels through Peru, Greece, Egypt, and the lost island of Atlantis while pursuing the Scion, an artifact divided among historic rulers and coveted by Jacqueline Natla. The familiar locations return on a larger scale, including the Lost Valley and its eminent Tyrannosaurus rex. Some reunions deserve a dramatic entrance.
Anniversary finds a lovely balance between state-of-the-art responsiveness and old-school solitude. The tombs are roomy, the puzzles demand observation, and long stretches pass without another human voice interrupting the atmosphere. Lara’s grapple adds modern movement possibilities, while the expanded story gives her decisions more emotional weight than the original could manage. A few quick-time events have aged poorly, and certain ledges can be fussier than they appear. The actual raiding remains superb. This is the entry to hand someone who wants classic Tomb Raider design without beginning a personal war against 1996 controls.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz
Which Action Hero Would Be
Your Perfect Partner?
Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
Rambo
James Bond
Indiana Jones
John McClane
Ethan Hunt
FIND YOUR PARTNER →
01
You’re dropped into a threatening situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner?
The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
ASomeone who already has three contingency plans running and is calmly working through all of them.
BSomeone who reads the terrain instinctively and knows exactly how to exploit it against the enemy.
CSomeone who keeps their nerve and their sense of humour when everything is falling apart.
DSomeone who knows the history of wherever we are and what we’re walking into.
ESomeone with the right contact, the right cover identity, and the right exit already arranged.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
You have to get somewhere threatening, rapid. How do you travel?
How you get there is half the mission.
AOn foot through terrain no one else would attempt — I move where vehicles can’t follow.
BOn a motorcycle, a cargo plane, or anything else that gets me there before I think too difficult about it.
CIn something that belongs to someone else — borrowed, stolen, or improvised under fire.
DFirst class, with a cover identity and a gadget that does something I won’t explain until it’s needed.
EBy whatever means are available — I’ve driven, flown, and once arrived by camel. The destination matters, not the method.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do?
This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
ADisappears into the environment, flanks them silently, and ends it before I’ve reloaded.
BCracks a one-liner, grabs a fire extinguisher or a chair, and improvises something that somehow works.
CProduces a gadget specifically designed for this exact scenario and uses it with infuriating precision.
DPulls out a whip, a pistol, and an archaeological insight that somehow gets us out alive.
ENeutralises the threat with maximum efficiency and minimum words — they were already three moves ahead.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest?
Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
AA bar with terrible lighting, cool beer, and absolutely no questions about feelings.
BThe finest restaurant in the city, a bottle of something costly, and a conversation that is equal parts brilliant and exhausting.
CA local dig site, a museum after hours, or a long story about why that particular artefact matters to human civilisation.
DPizza. Bad TV. Falling asleep halfway through a movie neither of you were watching anyway.
EA debrief that turns into three hours of contingency planning that somehow becomes the most fun you’ve had all week.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission?
Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
APrecise and minimal — tell me what I need to know and nothing else. Every word has a cost.
BDeadpan and arid — keeping it featherlight keeps me edged, even when everything is on fire.
CEnthusiastic and slightly confused — but always with useful information buried somewhere in the noise.
DCalm and controlled through an earpiece, with a plan that covers every variable I haven’t thought of yet.
EBarely at all — silence is a language and they speak it fluently.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them?
The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
AInfiltrate their inner circle, learn everything, and dismantle them from inside out before they know we’re there.
BStudy the historical pattern — every villain of this type has a weakness written somewhere in the past.
CGet them talking. The more they monologue, the more time I have to figure out how to beat them.
DGo through them. Directly. With as much force as the terrain allows.
EFind the one thing they haven’t accounted for — there’s always one thing — and make sure we’re holding it.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do?
Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
ACome in alone, quietly, and get me out before anyone knows they were there.
BHave already been working on the extraction since the moment I disappeared — the plan is already running.
CCome in thunderous, come in rapid, and worry about the collateral damage later — I’d do the same for them.
DUse every resource, every contact, and bend every rule until I’m out — they don’t leave people behind.
ECharm their way in somehow, bluff through the difficult part, and still manage to look good doing it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace?
A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
ATechnology that shouldn’t exist yet and the training to exploit it under any conditions.
BSurvival instinct so refined it borders on supernatural — and the scars to prove it’s been tested.
CKnowledge of history, language, and culture that makes them invaluable in places where force is useless.
DThe ability to walk into any room in the world and immediately become the most trusted person in it.
EStubbornness that refuses to accept a situation is hopeless — and the improvisational skill to back it up.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with?
No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
AA partner who never fully switches off — always watching exits, always calculating threats, even at dinner.
BA partner who gets the job done brilliantly but has the emotional availability of a locked filing cabinet.
CA partner who makes everything ten times more complicated than it needs to be — but who always comes through.
DA partner who gets personally attached to every relic, ruin, and artefact we encounter, which slows everything down.
EA partner who was not built for this and knows it — but shows up anyway, every time, without being asked.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now?
The last question is the most candid one.
AOne line. Absolutely arid. Delivered like the world isn’t ending. Then we move.
BNothing said at all — just a look that means we both already know what has to happen.
CA plan I don’t fully understand that somehow accounts for everything, delivered in thirty seconds flat.
DA piece of historical context that reframes the entire situation and tells us exactly what to do next.
ESomeone who steps forward instead of back — because that’s who they’ve always been.
REVEAL MY PARTNER →
Your Partner Has Been Assigned
Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally threatening person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most essential thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely informed partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will leisurely you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more confused than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not uncomplicated to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
2
‘Tomb Raider’ (2013)
Lara Croft in ‘Tomb Raider’ 2013Image via Crystal Dynamics
The 2013 Tomb Raider reboot removes Lara’s wealth, experience, and eminent confidence, then strands her on the island of Yamatai after the Endurance is wrecked. She arrives as a youthful archaeologist searching for the lost kingdom of Queen Himiko and spends the game becoming someone capable of surviving the island’s storms, cultists, historic secrets, and collapsing structures. This Lara feels pain. Constantly. The adventure keeps finding modern surfaces to throw her against.
The bow becomes an instant franchise weapon, and the semi-open hubs reward players who leave the main route to find documents, relics, GPS caches, and optional tombs. Combat occupies more space than time-honored fans may prefer, though it has excellent rhythm once Lara’s tools begin expanding. The supporting cast varies in depth, but Lara’s bond with Sam gives the escape from Yamatai a clear personal purpose. This game made Tomb Raider feel urgent again and introduced millions of players to a more vulnerable heroine. Play it with headphones. The island never sounds affable, even when nothing is chasing you.
1
‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’ (2015)
Image via Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix
Rise of the Tomb Raider takes everything the reboot established and gives Lara a grander archaeological mystery to chase. Determined to prove her slow father’s research, she travels to Siberia in search of Kitezh and the Divine Source, an artifact connected to immortality. Trinity is already hunting it, and Lara becomes caught between that organization and the descendants of people who have protected the secret for generations. Snow, ruins, propaganda, historic history, and heavily armed fanatics. This is her ideal holiday.
Rise earns the top spot through balance. Its hubs are immense without becoming shapeless. Combat, crafting, stealth, climbing, hunting, and exploration support each other instead of fighting for attention. The challenge tombs are more substantial than those in the 2013 game, and Siberia delivers some of the series’ finest environmental storytelling. Baba Yaga adds one of the best optional adventures, while Blood Ties turns Croft Manor into a quieter investigation of Lara’s family. The story still treats her father’s legacy a little too seriously, but the complete package feels generous and confident. This is the Tomb Raider game most likely to steal an entire weekend. Let it.
