The 20 Best 'Tomb Raider' Games, Ranked

Expectations were through the roof for this game as it was the very first Tomb Raider to debut on the PS2. But sadly, development woes and two massive delays hampered the final product to the point where it greatly harmed the series' once-great status. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness only has two good things going for it - its visuals and its narrative. Everything else, however? They just didn't do anything to make this game worth a damn. Troublesome controls, a wonky camera, horrible enemy AI, and rampant bugs & glitches mar the entire experience for this disappointing Lara Croft outing.

Tomb Raider had its time in the sun on Nintendo's handheld systems. And one of those games is Tomb Raider: The Prophecy, which utilizes the familiar isometric viewpoint Diablo fans know all too well to present its brand of tomb-raiding action. The easy-to-understand control scheme and decent graphical/audio output when you consider this game's placement on the Game Boy Advance are worthy of applause. However, its central gameplay loop isn't all that interesting - shooting skeleton warriors is cool and all, but constantly flipping switches and shutting off traps gets really tiresome since it's all there is to do in this game besides fighting.

It makes all the sense in the world to have an endless runner available on mobile devices that takes the Temple Run template and applies it to the harrowing treks of Miss Lara Croft. Lara Croft: Relic Run does everything you'd expect from a game of its ilk - Lara runs like a madwoman as she picks up coins & "Clues," performs slick parkour moves, and blasts away her opposers with her twin pistols, sub-machine guns, and an assault rifle. That gameplay loop works great in mobile form. But it's worth noting that those dreaded microtransactions that are present in damn near all mobile games are present here, too. The simple gameplay loop seen here isn't much to rank this game any higher on this list.

We have yet another Tomb Raider mobile game to mention here. And instead of offering a new and improved take on the Temple Runner feel of the last game we mentioned, Tomb Raider: Reloaded dips into the roguelike sub-genre of action/adventure games to present its take on top-down dungeon crawling. If you've ever played the mobile gaming hit Archero, then you'll come to realize that this game is a Lara Croft reskin. Procedurally generated stages that let you stack your abilities for subsequence runs work pretty well here. There's not a lot of meat on the bone besides running and gunning from a top-down perspective on your mobile device of choice, though.

The gaming magazine coverage and media blitz for Tomb Raider: Chronicles really had a bunch of young gamers believing that Miss Croft was truly deceased! And to be quite honest, we wouldn't have been all that upset if this game truly marked the end of her globe-trotting travels. And that's because the traditional formula of the franchise had become old hat by this point - after four games that utilized the same approach to thrid-person platforming, puzzle solving, and combat, Tomb Raider Chronicles felt like more of the same since it didn't do much to innovate. It's solid enough and its story threads pushed us to see if the series' main protagonist was no longer alive. But at the end of the day, this fifth mainline Tomb Raider title suffers from being a bit too familiar.

The next Game Boy Tomb Raider release we're about to mention here is Tomb Raider: Curse of the Sword, which is notable as it's a Game Boy Color exclusive. Just like its handheld predecessor, this side-scrolling adventure features some pretty crisp movement animations for Miss Croft. Tackling your usual array of Tomb Raider tasks (unlocking doors, blasting random baddies, and getting your hands on assorted items such as Medipaks) are all accounted for here. The tough difficulty is the one blemish that keeps this game from being ranked a bit higher on this list of the best Tomb Raider games. It's still a solid GBA interpretation of Tomb Raider's signature gameplay structure.

It became evident that the traditional playstyle of the Tomb Raider series started getting a bit long in the tooth by the time The Last Revelation arrived. And while that formula isn't bad by any means, fans and critics alike felt like Miss Croft's approach to treasure hunting had gotten a bit stale. While not incredibly innovative, this fourth franchise installment still offers an engaging adventure and a strong storyline that ends with a hell of a cliffhanger as it looked like Croft's life and career as a tomb raider had officially come to an end. Franchise fatigue is definitely a factor in why The Last Revelation isn't regarded that highly among series diehards.

Just like The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider III: Adventures of Lara Croft marked another point in the series where the formula started to feel a bit well-worn. In comparison to the two mainline franchise installments that came before it, this threequel is solid enough and offers another round of fun international escapades in search of valuable treasure. Having the opportunity to utilize vehicles and the ability to approach Croft's adventure in a nonlinear fashion gives this game a leg up on its successor, which makes it slightly more memorable in retrospect.

Those shockingly impressive movement animations for Lara Croft on the GBC sprung up first in this game. And for its time, it showcased the home console series in a way that worked a lot better than it should have on a device with only two buttons and a D-Pad. This bite-sized version of Tomb Raider comes with a varied approach to level design - each stage that Miss Croft ventures off to comes with themed challenges, such as climbing ropes, furiously running from volcanic ash, and taking deep dives into bodies of water. The fact that Croft could pull off so many athletic maneuvers with the GBC's limited control setup is simply remarkable. But just like its successor, this game's challenge factor is pretty high yet a bit more manageable.

Hitman Go's use of turn-based gameplay across a horizontal stage ended up being a good time. So it's no surprise that what worked with that mobile action puzzler ended up getting the Tomb Raider treatment with Lara Croft Go. And what makes this game stand apart from its stealthier cousin is its implementation of vertical maneuverability and a bigger focus on avoiding the usual array of traps attached to Miss Croft's hazardous profession. Using actual money to buy hints to puzzles is another case of unnecessary microtransactions, plus the game's difficulty and short run time present some issues. But overall, Lara Croft Go is a fun experiment that Tomb Raider fans should check out if they haven't already.

The top-down four-player misadventures of Croft and her latest allies were established with the release of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (more on that game later). We love that game a bit more than this one since its twin-stick shooter controls and novel co-op gameplay concept felt so refreshing for the Tomb Raider IP. That isn't to say this game isn't bad, however - it largely features the same fun chaotic action that unfolds among four characters with differing abilities. At least Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris' Ancient Egyptian focus changed things up to bring players a new brand of baddies to eliminate while on the hunt down and defeat the evil deity Set.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is a tale of two games. On the gameplay front, it feels just as good as the number one Tomb Raider game we've placed on this list. Hunting local wildlife, solving tricky puzzles, combing every corner of the game's semi-open world, and pulling off masterful stealth kills before engaging in more direct combat still works well here. However, Croft's character development didn't do a good enough job to bring the rebooted trilogy of Tomb Raider games to a worthwhile outcome. This game's side quests weren't all that great too, to be quite honest. A better plotline and stronger character development for Croft would have done wonders for this game. We still love going back to play it, though!

Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a noble attempt at remaking the very first Tomb Raider game in an effort to lease longtime fans and series newcomers. The game's choice of art style and bothersome bugs & glitches are notable problems here. But we still love the majority of everything else this modernized take on the old-school Tomb Raider games has to offer. The retooled controls are a welcome change when compared to the original game's stiffer control scheme, plus the familiar gameplay seen in the 1996 version shines as much as did back then. The implementation of "Bullet Time" during certain enemy encounters also sticks out as a core memory attached to this respectable remake. We're not the biggest fans of the Wii version's implementation of motion controls, though - play this one on PC if you can.

Tomb Raider: Underworld did a lot to breathe some new life into everyone's favorite gaming archaeologist-adventurer. The implementation of motion capture afforded Miss Croft more realistic body motion in-game, plus the new game engine used to power this ninth mainline series installment helped it reach its full potential as a PS3 and Xbox 360 experience. While the combat system felt a bit off at times, we enjoyed it the majority of the time and enjoyed being able to finally target two enemies at once. The huge sense of exploration Underworld provides affords it another high point that makes it worth hopping into if you missed out on it the first time around.

Lara Croft And The Guardian of Light knocked it out of the park with its entirely different approach to gameplay. Instead of using Croft and only Croft, a second player can join in as the 2,000-year-old Mayan warrior named Totec to aid her during a top-down journey in Mexico. Tackling this game solo works just fine since Croft gets her hands on all the tools needed to see her mission through. But the best parts of this game come to the forefront in two-player co-op form - using Croft's pistols in conjunction with Totec's spears to beat back the opposition is worth the price of admission all by itself. This game's short and sweet too, which is how we like most of our spinoff games that try something different from the franchise norm.

The first time we got a full reboot of the series ended up giving fans a quality Tomb Raider game that instilled more hope for Miss Croft's new brand of treasure hunting. Tomb Raider: Legend revitalized the IP thanks to a more distinctive art style, retooled controls, a captivating story, and rock-solid puzzle-solving mechanics. Now this game has some issues when it comes to its combat system and short campaign. But overall, Legend does a magnificent job of refreshing a series in dire need of something new to retain longtime fans and bring in new ones.

The early days of Miss Croft's iconic run regularly remind 90s babies of just how much of a mainstream presence she used to be. Once Tomb Raider II: Starring Lara Croft launched, gamers and even non-gamers came around to the fact that her celebrity status was just as strong as her non-digital counterparts. While this sequel doesn't do a whole lot to improve upon the foundation put forth by the first Tomb Raider, this game still excels due to that foundational gameplay still being fun as hell to play. Being able to climb walls and use assorted vehicles helped differentiate this sequel a bit from what came before it. The sometimes overwhelming difficulty knocks Tomb Raider II down a peg or two, however.

The game that started it all! Anyone that owned a PS1 or Sega Saturn was practically required to add the very first Tomb Raider to their library of action/adventure games. True innovation was clearly present in this game thanks to a mixture of groundbreaking 3D polygonal graphics, expansive stage exploring, and acrobatic maneuvers that played well into Miss Croft's exploring & combat segments. We'll never forget the first tie we were forced to haul ass from an incoming boulder and confront a T-Rex! 1996's Tomb Raider deserves all the credit in the world for making the world aware of Lara Croft and having her take the lead role in a game at a time when female protagonists weren't all that prevalent.

After some unsuccessful attempts to help the Tomb Raider series reach the monumental sales and critical acclaim its first line of games brought in, another reboot was in order. And thankfully, that concerted effort resulted in an incredible semi-open world game that re-established Croft as a battle-hardened survivor. Modernized controls lent themselves well to Croft's stealthier maneuvers and free-aiming approach to targeting & picking off humans and animals. The constant experience gained from simply exploring, hunting, solving puzzles, and defeating enemies made every moment of this Tomb Raider reboot feel so rewarding. Add onto all that with a great campaign pace and you have one of the best attempts at bringing Tomb Raider to a new audience while also appealing to series fans that have been with Miss Croft since the very beginning.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Rise of the Tomb Raider is the most celebrated game in the series and an amazing follow-up to the 2013 reboot that placed Croft on a new path to greatness. A bigger focus on puzzle-laden tombs is a definite high point for this game, which helped initiate Croft into the role that defined her during her earliest franchise installments. The "Metrodivania" vibes are very apparent here and incredibly rewarding - we'd pour hours into this game just by tackling its abundance of side content in an effort to see and unlock everything possible.

The storyline, which focuses on Croft's close relationship with her father and their connection to the diabolical organization called "Trinity," had us glued to our screens the entire time we spent with this game. The main campaign and DLC chapters (Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch and Cold Darkness Awakened, in particular) make Shadow of the Tomb Raider one of the most feature-rich series installments and the best Tomb Raider game of all time.