She’s A Survivor
Lara Croft’s return to the gaming scene back in 2013 was nothing short of a triumph. The gritty reimagining not only breathed life into the franchise, but also reintroduced the titular Tomb Raider to a new generation of players, reaffirming her place as an iconic character that all could feel inspired by. Now it looks like she’s set to take on the threat of a Mayan prophecy in her upcoming threequel; Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which will undoubtedly be filled to the brim with deadly traps and puzzles for our heroine to overcome. As such, what better way to celebrate its impending release than by counting down the greatest triumphs and tragedies of this modern iteration!
Fair warning, there are SPOILERS AHEAD!
#5: Avalanche
“Rise of the Tomb Raider” (2015)
Well, that’s certainly one way to kick off your sequel. In search of a legendary item known as the Divine Source, Lara and her good pal Jonah find themselves trekking up the snowy slopes of a mountain. As you can imagine, everything goes south rather quickly when an unexpected avalanche separates the two and nearly sends Lara into the ice embrace of death. Having to climb across the mountain’s icy surface while trying to outmanoeuvre the incoming snow was a pretty solid way to reintroduce us to our favorite archaeologist, showing that she’s no longer the novice that washed up on that island one game prior.
#4: The Wolves
“Tomb Raider” (2013)
Who would have expected Tomb Raider of all properties to actually create an air of horror and dread? Coming from the series that once had Lara shoot down a T-Rex, the fact that this reboot made us terrified of a pack of wolves speaks volumes. We’re not sure what was scarier: being caught in a bear trap while a whole bunch of the fluffy demons leapt out at us from the darkness, or when we had to crawl into their den and ended up getting very up close and personal with one. Either way, we were happy to bury our pickaxes into their heads.
#3: Trinity Attacks
“Rise of the Tomb Raider” (2015)
Turns out that the organisation in search of immortality has some pretty heavy machinery at its disposal. After freeing the mysterious prisoner known as Jacob, Lara finds herself hunted after by Trinity’s fully armed helicopter. What follows is a desperate chase riddled with bullets, missiles and a whole lot of ice as Lara tries to escape the incredibly persistent death machine. How she managed to get through an exploding train carriage and frozen lake without losing some kind of body part we will never know.
#2: Oni Stalker
“Tomb Raider” (2013)
Bad enough that Lara has to deal with deadly wildlife, crazy cultists and a vengeful sun goddess, but now undead samurai? The Stormguard are by far the deadliest foes that Lara has ever faced, the worst of the bunch being the juggernaut known as the Oni Stalker. Pursuing her all the way to the island’s pinnacle, the beast served as one hell of a boss battle, wherein Lara had to use every weapon at her disposal just for the chance to chip away at its armor.
#1: Death Scenes
“Tomb Raider” (2013)
One of the aspects in which the reboot utterly excelled was how it truly made Lara feel like a survivor. This was in no small part due to the death scenes being of a rather graphic nature. Just knowing that we were mere seconds away from being crushed by a cave-in or sent falling to our doom truly made us feel like Lara was getting by via the skin of her teeth. The most infamous of these is without a doubt when she was sent flailing down a river, only to end up having her throat impaled by a well-placed spear. Ouch.
Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 10 Tomb Raider Levels!