Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered - PlayStation/Xbox/PC/Steam Deck/Switch

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered - PlayStation/Xbox/PC/Steam Deck/Switch - Digital Foundry Tech Review

Рет қаралды 338,221

Күн бұрын

The original trilogy has returned! Revisit Lara Croft's origins with developer Aspyr's carefully measured remasters, which offer a combination of OG visuals along with brand new visuals, hot-swappable with the press of a button. John Linneman returns to the roots of the original games, checking them out on various retro systems and seeing how they compare to Aspyr's new versions. Meanwhile, there's commentary on the games themselves and the efforts to modernise elements like the tank controls.
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00:00 - Introduction
01:35 - Tomb Raider's active community
02:30 - The Remastered Version Arrives
03:28 - Texture Upgrades
05:45 - There's More Than Just Textures!
07:12 - Lighting Upgrades
08:13 - Comparison to the Originals
11:41 - Remastered Console Comparisons
13:09 - What's up with the Classic Performance?
14:34 - There's an issue with the PC Version - Solve it Here!
16:47 - It Runs Great on Steam Deck
17:32 - How Does it Hold up Today?

Пікірлер: 1 800

@dark1x 5 ай бұрын

Dang it, got a couple labels wrong. Wish we could upload a new version in place. At least it’s extremely obvious! Sorry about that. 😢

@MrStrangermoon 5 ай бұрын

john like df retro content. can you cover my favorite game terminal reality Nocturne from 99. it look better than ray tracing games still.

@palaashatri 5 ай бұрын

haha noticed it, but still a great video nonetheless!

@LN.2233 5 ай бұрын

Can't you do one of those KZfaq annotations? or leave a pinned comment? or add it in the description?

@hyperfocus4866 5 ай бұрын

🙈 😂

@Dongulator 5 ай бұрын

@@LN.2233 I thought they killed annotations

@kyos2000 5 ай бұрын

When the original Tomb Raider released, my friend and I didn’t have a memory card. We couldn’t save our progress, so we would restart from the beginning every day. We got so good at the first 2-8hrs of the game.

@KarlynGR 5 ай бұрын

Literally me with Tomb Raider 2, or every game I used to play on PS1 back in the day lmao

@melere777 4 ай бұрын

I feel that haha. Didn't do this with TR, we had a Sega Genesis and no memory card, we'd play Sonic 2 this way. We'd have to like schedule the day to make sure we had time to finish it.

@HikarusVibrator 4 ай бұрын

@@melere777 Sega Genesis didn't have a memory card

@brunopr9 2 ай бұрын

Basically rogue-like then

@SNESDude 2 ай бұрын

Haha I remember those days. Did the same thing with the original Resident Evil. Remember one Saturday playing for about four hours, getting killed and then it was game over. No checkpoints of course!

@danielwareking 5 ай бұрын

The ability to flip back and forth between the original visuals and the remastered visuals is a nice addition that I wish more of these remasters would do.

@romulofigueroadiaz480 5 ай бұрын

Reminds me of the Halo MCC, it’s pretty cool to at the very least see how these games used to look like in these kind of remakes

@Pedro_The_Neco 5 ай бұрын

It started with Halo CE anniversary, and then when halo 2 received the same treatment for Halo MCC, they did it again. Then there have been a few other remasters that did this. The monkey island remasters, duke Nukem, grim fandango...

@noxcure 5 ай бұрын

Its only possible if the remaster uses the original source code, like how this does

@V3ntilator 5 ай бұрын

Upcoming Braid supports it too, and 2 Monkey Island games supports it.

@nicehandsfeet11 5 ай бұрын

⁠@@Pedro_The_Neco when did they remaster Duke Nukem ?!??

@10secondsrule 5 ай бұрын

It’s astounding how this remastered version looks like I remember the original games - it only shows how your brain can fill in the missing details and why most modern games look and feel exactly the same as each other. I miss the old times in gaming so much.

@drunkhusband6257 5 ай бұрын

What? lol the original tomb raiders were hot garbage even when they came out

@coliander4180 5 ай бұрын

@@drunkhusband6257 no

@coliander4180 5 ай бұрын

The dinosaur in the PlayStation Demo disc was photo-realistic. I swear.

@10secondsrule 5 ай бұрын

@@drunkhusband6257this would explain their lack of success. 😂

@elecjack1 5 ай бұрын

To be fair, while the original graphics are as dated as they appear to be, they still look worse than they did back then because they aren't on a CRT which the original graphics were designed for. Tends to look even more pixelated on modern screens as well as missing some of the depth and details that were produced by the way CRTs worked and which the artists of the time took advantage of.

@LucasPatricio 5 ай бұрын

“We dive into the world of Tomb Raider” follow by an ingame dive. That’s cinema!

@wraithcadmus 5 ай бұрын

I was almost expecting a backhop at 17:34 to go with it

@squelching 5 ай бұрын

Kino stuff.

@orion4829 5 ай бұрын

Digital Foundry is cinema

@tyo101 5 ай бұрын

DF videos tend to have great artistic flourishes like that.

@techsamurai11 5 ай бұрын

Holy Cr*p - it's been 6 years since the last Tomb Raider? That's wild. Hard to believe we haven't seen an Uncharted title either in that span.

@pilouuuu 5 ай бұрын

At least we'll have the new Indiana Jones game soon

@RubberYen 5 ай бұрын

Holy 🅱️rap

@1chrisanderson 5 ай бұрын

i adore the newer TR games, i really hope we get another one soon because i played the absolute hell out of Rise and Shadow. Been playing them all since the original on my playstation in 1996.

@ArtVandelay592 5 ай бұрын

Crystal Dynamics is working on a new Tomb Raider game in Unreal Engine 5, so I’ll be curious how that turns out.

@Pedro_The_Neco 5 ай бұрын

It's actually been 16 years since the last tomb raider that was worthy of its name 👀

@angrymikko 5 ай бұрын

I’m the weirdo who’s nostalgic for the jittery look of ps1 era. Great video never thought I’d be interested in this collection but the way you spoke about the old game design when it comes to platform jumping and exploration made me want to play this.

@Utzpah 5 ай бұрын

Often the puzzle is the platforming itself (and remembering to manually save)

@Saladin-gc9py 5 ай бұрын

I'm always relieved when games I want to see an analysis of are analyzed by John. You can feel his passion for the medium in every video and he always points out little details that I wouldn't normally think about, but definitely impact the overall experience. Keep up the great work, John.

@joejoe2658 5 ай бұрын

theyr all great, except richard who i have to skip thru.

@M_CFV 5 ай бұрын

B O A S T these hacks have terrible verbiage and writing. you are falling for smoke and mirrors from people who dont know what theyre talking about

@Uralth 5 ай бұрын

4:10 Original and Remastered graphics seem to be swapped.

@thingsiplay 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, paused the video to report this too. It's unfortunate. Maybe he will reupload it?

@GreenScreenBartender 5 ай бұрын

Came here to report the same. It happens at least twice in a row.

@MarstedR 5 ай бұрын

@@internetavenger I mean it's just the roman numeral for 1, it's not confusing imo.

@WayStedYou 5 ай бұрын

Unless you understand roman numerals @@internetavenger

@marcelslofstra2157 5 ай бұрын

@@internetavengerthat says more about you than about the Roman numeral for ‘one’.

@gameovercharly 5 ай бұрын

Tomb Raider 1 was indeed the reason why I bought a PS1 in 1996 back in the days, when I was 16! I was too poor to even afford a memory card, so I used to play non-stop without being able to save. We experienced frequent power outages, which meant I had to restart the game all over again. Those were truly the best days of my childhood! 😊🎮

@yewtewbstew547 5 ай бұрын

I was gonna say you could have used the level skip/select cheat instead of saves, but in 1996 you maybe didn't have internet to look those up lol. I know I didn't, I used to just keep paper notes with all the cheats written down on them.

@gameovercharly 5 ай бұрын

hahaha I did not even recall that was a thing for Tomb Raider :) ! Yes I use to buy some GamesMaster magasines with cheat codes in them! Those were the best for Mortal Kombat moves and fatalities for the Genesis HAHAH :P @@yewtewbstew547

@fernando929305 5 ай бұрын

I had the same experience but in the PS2 era, which i don't had money to afford a memory card, So i played San Andreas and others game non-stop every day. Good old days forever in my memory

@86BuzzSaw 5 ай бұрын

That's actually amazing. Kudos to you if you ever actually managed to beat it.

@gameovercharly 5 ай бұрын

@@86BuzzSaw I did actually :)

@CristianLopez-xi4rt 5 ай бұрын

11:26 Tomb Raider Classic Mode looks like Tomb Raider PS1 Emulated and enhanced to 4K, Disabled Dithering, and removal of banding. Love it, Great Job!

@danielposey0620 5 ай бұрын

Too bad they couldn’t add in the Saturn version’s cool little water refraction effect.

@starfox14now 5 ай бұрын

@@danielposey0620 dude, they couldn't even add a playable framerate to the OG versions in 2024. Steam versions modded are still the definitive versions.

@TheT0nedude 5 ай бұрын

Or the OG PC version back in the day running in software mode...I was there. EDIT: Of course I preferred the Orchid Righteous 3Dfx glide API mode....

@xenofalcon 5 ай бұрын

This is a slap in the face for the metal gear collection.

@lesterbronson2385 5 ай бұрын

Seriously man. The Tomb Raider trilogy clearly received more love and passion.

@guily6669 5 ай бұрын

Well Metal gear was just a re-release of the already remastered HD collection but I actually think both could have been much better. I wish the Devs of tomb raider remastered collection could have used something like Nvidia remix which would have been a massive improvement alone possibly even being able to call them remake. Ps: but the price of Tomb raider being much lower than MGS, they sure did a good job, however all those remasters still don't look any good for a 2024 release...

@shadowjfd 5 ай бұрын

what else can you expect from Konami?

@residentgrigo4701 5 ай бұрын

@@guily6669 Except that it runs worse than the HD verions on the PS360. Fucking Konami.

@berserkzelda 5 ай бұрын

@@residentgrigo4701PS5 version runs great and so far I've never ran into any problems, so I hope you're just referring to the terrible PC version.

@vincentvoillot6365 5 ай бұрын

The main menu music slap me 25 years back. This was an era of wonders filled with powerful runes such as 3DFX, Trinitron, MMX printed only on the most costly builds.

@TheT0nedude 5 ай бұрын

Tell me about it, 2x12Mb voodoo 2's in sli, 96Mb ram and a Pentium II-400. Running TR1 at 1024x768 in Glide (of course)

@vincentvoillot6365 5 ай бұрын

@@TheT0nedude Lucky guy, i would have kill back then for a Sli config. I was rocking a Cyrix 6x86MX around 233Mhz with an S3Virge trying to get TR2 over 20FPS. Then i managed to find a Voodoo1 paired with a matrox mystique :D, good time.

@RARufus 5 ай бұрын

I had the 3dfx Voodoo1 in 1996 when this came out. Quake the TR were THE games at the time and I loved Quake for multiplayer but the story, lore and look of TR was soo wonderful. In 1996 though, having perspective correct, filtered textures are playable framerates at home was something to behold, even at 640x480. I had just bought a new PC with a Pentium 200 in 1996 (with MMX 😁) and it was about $2700 or so. I was doing software testing at the time, so my income wasn't great but I was starting to learn more programming so convinced myself it was needed. What really blows my mind is Sega's Daytona USA with their Model 2 board came out in freaking 1993, ran at 60fps and was like magic.

@MrZootalores 5 ай бұрын

@@TheT0nedude *sweet*! i was cheap & just had 1 Voodoo 3dfx(in 1997) but TR1 looked better/played faster than any other game of that era, no question!

@MrZootalores 5 ай бұрын

@@RARufus you sir are close to my heart as i was astounded by TR1, a used 24" CRT monitor & a Voodoo 3dfx card...when all that happened in spring of 97'...Quake was also a lotta fun too

@copperbadge1 5 ай бұрын

Giving us the "Halo Toggle" is such a great feature.

@RetroProg 5 ай бұрын

Glad they sat somewhere in the middle with it as the difference between the two versions I played (Saturn and 3DFX PC) is huge.

@nicholasnajibi3082 5 ай бұрын

I think you mean “graphics toggle”

@RY3ER_ 5 ай бұрын

He referenced Halo Remasters, they did that feature 1st. @@nicholasnajibi3082

@copperbadge1 5 ай бұрын

@@nicholasnajibi3082 nah, I meant it as in "the toggle you had in the Halo remaster doing pretty much the same thing". :)

@robohorseWOT 5 ай бұрын

This sounds quite logical considering that it was done by the same studio)

@liublanka3925 5 ай бұрын

I think we will never forgot when we first played tomb raider. Before all the tomb raider mania. Really felt like the ps1 showed why it was next gen.

@Mr_G_s_Route_66 5 ай бұрын

Commission: travel back in time, with the OG-graphics. Recall memories, like you are living in the past again. Then wonder, how these next-gen 3D-graphics would look on a next-gen-system somewhere in the future. Then, switch to Remastered-graphics. Tadaa! The past, gives you an insight in the future!

@alvallac2171 2 ай бұрын

*will never forget

@Silvergun_Raven 5 ай бұрын

First played Tomb Raider when I got my PlayStation for Christmas in 1997 and it was a hell of a great time! Ended up getting II and III afterwards and had many great memories! So excited to revisit them with this remastered collection!

@grahamt19781 5 ай бұрын

The sense of isolation is what sold these games for me. I always felt I was actually deep underground or in a tomb somewhere far from civilization. Modern versions just don't get it.

@ReelFilm2016 5 ай бұрын

I remember getting this game on the PS1 just after its release. I couldn’t afford to buy it alone, being just a simple paperboy. But my pal, also a paperboy, went halves with me. We were blown away with the game.

@orfesanat5898 5 ай бұрын

Great memories, im from Turkey and when i was child there was only a few stores that sell psx games in our town and buying even one was really challenging. But that hardship made amazing friendships towards those games. I remember we were just talking about a game for hours. Swapping games, borrowing games and sharing our passion for them was unprecedented experience for us back in the days. Now i got thousands of games in my library but unfortunately i'm all alone. :)

@dewinter1411 5 ай бұрын

Those were the days!!!

@johnnypopstar 5 ай бұрын

Are you still made of paper or have you been upgraded to cardboard by now?

@ReelFilm2016 5 ай бұрын

@@johnnypopstar I got recycled.

@ReelFilm2016 5 ай бұрын

@@orfesanat5898 That’s a nice story. Sorry you are all alone. 😕

@bs_blackscout 5 ай бұрын

Rockstar should use this as a case study on how to remaster old titles. Great stuff!

@Adamtendo_player_1 5 ай бұрын

Red Dead Redemption’s remaster turned out great it was only GTA trilogy that RockStar really messed up on, but then they didn’t do the remaster themselves, the inexperienced Grove Street Games did those remasters.

@mbsfaridi 5 ай бұрын

That would require spending money which I don’t they like for older games.

@Cacapouletpipichocolat 5 ай бұрын

Happy to see Aspyr did a good job with these classics. Bought on Steam deck and looking forward to going back to these childhood memories.

@achangedyou1343 5 ай бұрын

Looking at this really makes me want a RE1-3 remaster!

@HelFrostKara 5 ай бұрын

It is real annoying you can't purchase those anymore. Kinda surprised you can still buy the original version of 4. I wish they'd put them on GOG or something. Same with the Silent Hills (before 4)

@achangedyou1343 5 ай бұрын

@@HelFrostKara it's extremely annoying. We need a remaster with 4k60 support on current Gen and last gen as well (Xbox one X and PS4 pro) with updates textures and models just like this. It would be absolutely amazing. Yah strange you can buy RE4 but not the rest.

@unsavourylittlerunt 5 ай бұрын

@@HelFrostKaraYou can still buy OG RE4 because it was available digitally in the first place, the originals were only ever digitally available on PS3 (and probably PSP/vita?) by emulating the PS1 versions. Also, those games weren't full 3D so it's much harder to make something as impressive as this TR remaster, unless they somehow still have the source files. That being said I'd love to have them, even if they're essentially the same as the already existing old PC releases

@RetroProg 5 ай бұрын

@@HelFrostKara Remember the last time konami tried it gave us those 'HD' abominations. Def needs to be done by anyone other than Konami

@superbadisfunmy 5 ай бұрын

I hate you can only buy them on ps3 and Vita.

@BrianM78 5 ай бұрын

I chased the experience of playing Tomb Raider, MGS, Soul Reaver, Tenchu ect on PlayStation One from following generations of hardware and games. I never ever found those feelings and experiences again.

@hyperfocus4866 5 ай бұрын

Me too.

@techsamurai11 5 ай бұрын

For me it was Warcraft 2, Red Alert 1&2, Myst, System Shock 2, Giants Citizen Kabuto, No One Lives Forever, Crusader No Remorse, No Regret, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Gabriel Knight 2, Star Trek Voyge Elite Force, and Tomb Raider.

@techsamurai11 5 ай бұрын

Oops, forgot Diablo, Half-Life, Caesar III, Civ 2. Heroes of Might & Magic, Ascendancy

@nigelk91 5 ай бұрын

I think you’re chasing your youth 😂

@86BuzzSaw 5 ай бұрын

I'd give my left testicle for a remake, or even just a remaster of the Legacy of Kain series.

@cygnusx7 5 ай бұрын

Great video John! Thanks for including PC and consoles in a single video. I really hope we'll see that more often on DF!

@CJbosh 5 ай бұрын

Absolutely superb video John. Appreciate the depth, attention to detail and cross-comparisons, as well as your fundamental appreciation of the controls and precision these original games required. This remaster feels like a love letter to the 'Core' fanbase. 😉

@SimonBoyes 5 ай бұрын

I think the parallax effect on the ladder at 5:37 looks weird because it is inverted by mistake - the stone texture and the drop shadow seem to move in the direction opposite to that which would be required to give the illusion of depth. You see it again at 7:43 - from that angle, the shadow on the right of the texture ought to be on the left.

@michaelkitchin9665 5 ай бұрын

When I first came across it I thought it was a broken texture.

@D3X1K_AXYZ 5 ай бұрын

I would argue that it is more an unfortunate optical illusion created by several factors than an inverted shadow. Look at the ends of the lower rungs and you'll see the shadows are correct. I think its a combination of color contrasts and the position of the light source (which looks like it might be radiating from Laura's upper body, if not face). This is evident by shadows on the higher rungs going the opposite direction. The shadows also get longer the farther they are from the center of the source. Its clearly not lit by a sky light. This is just my 2 cents, though. I do think its an odd artistic decision and see what you mean there. I am also just making assumptions based off the first timestamp, so I could just sound like a fool 😂.

@DeathRay2K 5 ай бұрын

Absolutely, the parallax effect is inverted, making it appear as if the ladder is inside the stone rather than sitting on top of it, very disorienting effect. Like seeing a 3D movie with your glasses on backwards.

@TimurGagiev 5 ай бұрын

you are right, it was inverted on PS/XB, fix on the way

@davidwilson6577 5 ай бұрын

@@TimurGagiev Unfortunate, but I doubt anyone will be put off buying because of some funky ladders.

@cikame 5 ай бұрын

Imagine remastering three games in one package and doing an awesome job of it, crazy.

@unsavourylittlerunt 5 ай бұрын

If only small indie companies like Rockstar Games had Aspyr's budget and skills when making stuff like GTA DE 🙂

@mauriciochacon 5 ай бұрын

Rockstar wont unlock the framerate for rdr2 unless you pay for the new remaster on ps6

@macdealer7936 5 ай бұрын

Don't forget you also get the 3 expansions, Unfinished business, Golden Mask and The lost Artifact.

@no1DdC 5 ай бұрын

@@macdealer7936Huh, this is the first time I ever heard of expansions for these games.

@GM-Shenmue 5 ай бұрын

@@no1DdC they were exclusive to the pc, it's the first time they were ported to the consoles.

@IronHorse1854 5 ай бұрын

I'm glad that they didn't just increase view distance to infinity and kept a bit of a fog effect in some of the levels. While the black fog was present pretty much purely due to a technical limitation, I feel like in some levels it did have a side effect of adding some atmosphere to exploring, you had to move forward to see what was ahead, you couldn't always see into the next room. It added a little bit of mystery when you were trying to reach an open archway or something but couldn't get a proper good look at what was past it until you got there. It seems like they did go a long way to preserving the atmosphere of the original games, which was my biggest concern and I'm glad it doesn't appear to be just a soulless lazy AI upscale like the GTA "remasters" were.

@Oscar-tu9eg 5 ай бұрын

They fixed the draw distance issue on the gta trilogy

@Lagrangeify 5 ай бұрын

The usual astonishing level of detail and commitment from you John. And I never tire of seeing those side-by-sides of Pentium, Saturn and the PSX - man that's a trip! I'm so pleased we got these remasters. I'm 54, got a load of gaming miles at my back, I want to see a lot more of this done before I finally shuffle off my mortal coil and run down the curtain.

@razor_no1 5 ай бұрын

Very good Review John! I was 14 years old in 1996 and I played them all back then. While watching your video, I immediately felt transported back to those beautiful times and nostalgia hit hard. I will play this Remaster on PS5 at midnight and enjoy the ride back to the past. ♥

@jh4guythitgijvthftjtnhr 5 ай бұрын

John really knows how to appreciate and spread the word about the best ost of a franchise, the edit for the Gears of War 4 Tech Review using the original Gears 1 soundtrack is still stuck in my mind. I wish the motorcycle sequence in Gears 4 actually had the og ost. And using the Angel of Darkness theme here is perfection.

@SoFishtry 5 ай бұрын

I had no idea this was coming out, and man it looks good. I love seeing remakes of games from this era that actually try to pay homage to the original instead of rip out as many of the original's quirks and oddities as possible as if embarrassed to show off games that put the series on the map.

@johncallaghan8696 2 ай бұрын

Beautiful video. Isn't it wonderful to see these beautiful games remastered. I have just finished all the games and they are so beautiful and very well done. The added levels are outstanding and the trophy collection is brilliant. Tomb Raider has been a wonderful series and its so great to see so much positivity for these games. Lets hope for more remastered games. Steve 👍

@peterGchaves 5 ай бұрын

4:11 wow!! The original truly looked magnificent there!! 🤭😅

@mattlandry 5 ай бұрын

John is testing us 😂

@peterGchaves 5 ай бұрын

@@mattlandry Definitely! And that water on the original at 4:30 !! 🥵👌

@AaaaAaaa-zp6ki 5 ай бұрын

Wanted to mention as well. 🤣

@AxelAlexK 5 ай бұрын

yeah definitely an editing mistake lol

@killermoon635 5 ай бұрын

Actually, both look better than original The original did not run at such resolution. On PS1, the game looked so pixelated

@Eminar5 5 ай бұрын

The challenging navigation and traversal is what made it so immersive to me back in the day, having to pay attention and be precise and the game rewarding you for it. Super glad to hear it can still generate similar feelings. Tomb Raider on the Saturn is one of my top 10 gaming experiences.

@BsERoss 5 ай бұрын

Brilliant review as always. I'm getting a real urge to jump back into my childhood games again. Tomb Raider 2 was my first PSOne game and I played it so much, I could run through levels blindfolded. But it was also hard as nails. I love how respectful they've been with the upgrade and staying true to the original.

@shadowflame68 5 ай бұрын

This is such a good remaster. Classic graphics whenever you want, which are actually remastered themselves in as close a way to the original while looking as good as possible; modern graphics mode that focuses on retaining the feel of the original but looks beautiful; modern controls to get the old type out of the way of new/modern players, but with the classic controls available for old players who liked them; facial animations added to in-game cutscenes (this was a big surprise); and one of my favorite options for remasters, the ability to toggle between the classic and modern graphics with a button press (I had so much fun with this in the D2 remaster). I hope more classic games can get this treatment (I'd kill for Doom, MGS1, or Ocarina of Time done this way.)

@moog38yearsagoupdated1mont9 5 ай бұрын

They could have still put the classic to at least 60, adding proper modern controls. It's great to have this but it's still messy af!

@oscard.5854 5 ай бұрын

I remember playing the first Tomb Raider game from a PC demo CD that came with a magazine. It was amazing. My dad won't let me play it cause I might damage the computer. I think now it's the time to finally complete the dream.

@sodapopinksi667 5 ай бұрын

Don't do it. You will damage the computer.

@subjectivereviews 5 ай бұрын

Yeah u can finish off the computer 😅

@burakgursoy1388 5 ай бұрын

It’s a shame they didn’t do a physical release, but looks fantastic.

@lesterbronson2385 5 ай бұрын

I feel the same exact way. I would’ve happily dropped $60.

@jorgeguzman3838 2 ай бұрын

Limited run games is doing a physical copy now

@felipee9177 14 күн бұрын

They do now.

@tyo101 5 ай бұрын

Similar to Soul Reaver on PS1, the black or gray 'fog' that was used to mask the low draw distance actually helped the game's atmosphere in Tomb Raider during the 1990s.

@yodoleheehoo90 5 ай бұрын

My dad and I used to play the TR games all the time when I was young, he'd solve puzzles that I couldn't figure out and vice versea, we'd take turns exploring the levels and finding secrets, and just immersing ourselves in the weird story but fun gameplay! Great memories I have playing video games with my father. RIP. I really hope the devs also release Last Revelation because that is my favorite title!

@AndreThompson925 5 ай бұрын

I still remember the first time I played this on my Saturn. I cannot wait to play this again and relive the adventure and a hefty dose of nostalgia. Great video, John!

@Jamic9 5 ай бұрын

No one does this kind of stuff better than John and DF.

@TechniManX 5 ай бұрын

Great review as always, thanks John. Also loved the use of the Lara Croft GO soundtrack in the background! So atmospheric. I'll have to play that again as well, since it's been over 8 years! Thanks for reminding me about it, indirectly :)

@ChrisPTenders 5 ай бұрын

Faithful remastered graphics and the original menus? As a Halo fan, I'm extremely jealous. As a Tomb Raider fan, I'm extremely happy.

@twocityfoodies8476 5 ай бұрын

That opening music sent me back to my childhood and being completely blown away by the original TR adventure. It was something I had never seen in gaming before. The 3D world at the time felt so real, lonely, but ultimately packed with content. The music would kick in at the appropriate times but most of the time the vastness of the areas was your soundtrack and it fully put you in the character as if you were on an adventure. Loved the original trilogy so much. Even the couple follow-ups with Revelation and Chronicles. I wish Eidos would go back to remake/remaster/fix Angel of Darkness. I struggled through that one as a fan but if the controls were fixed, it could really be something.

@CollapseWatch 5 ай бұрын

Tomb raider 1 was one of the first ps1 games i ever played. I was so young it scared me with the wolves and bear 😅

@RetroProg 5 ай бұрын

The beasties were beautifully paced in TR. Early exploration then, oh shit oh shit oh shit.

@yankeewog 5 ай бұрын

Good thing you never made it to the T-Rex then 😁

@E_Sunbro 5 ай бұрын

John’s editing is just spectacular. I love his videos.

@stephencroft1612 5 ай бұрын

The opening with Angel of Darkness’s theme🔥 Great video John!

@ArabianFreedom 4 ай бұрын

Which is funny because AoD damaged the series rep.

@zedetach 5 ай бұрын

We need this version of Lara back!

@paulbowen9701 5 ай бұрын

Hell yeah we do. TR was at its best when it embraced full fantasy (dinosaurs and demons).

@pilouuuu 5 ай бұрын

Yes, it's a boring Uncharted clone nowadays

@paradoxzee6834 5 ай бұрын

I would like also a Legend style gameplay, it was pretty much an action game with puzzles

@taurussho86 5 ай бұрын

I agree, this was the best iteration of TR.

@Officer94 5 ай бұрын

Yes please, new TR is too much action nowadays and they made Lara an emotional whack 😪

@cawashka 5 ай бұрын

It’s nice to see a remaster done well for a change.

@RybatGrimes 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for covering this remaster!!! I’m so excited for them to come out and hope everyone enjoys them. Hopefully we get 4/5/6 remastered too!

@GM-Shenmue 5 ай бұрын

Pretty sure they will, specially if this ones sell well and they see the potential. Angel of Darkness tho it deserves a remake and be proper finished... also the other 2 from the trilogy that Angel of Darkness was going to be and got cancelled should be brought to life.

@N3VURMYND 5 ай бұрын

Man, I'm definitely buying this! I remember my cousin and I breaking night playing each one of these games on their releases and we wouldn't stop until we beat each game. So many great memories. He's no longer with us and I miss him dearly. Playing these games again is definitely going to be an emotional experience. But I can't wait!

@kennykij1 5 ай бұрын

Im glad they kept it classy and faithful

@koerel 5 ай бұрын

The fake depth of those log ladders looks super broken. It's as if they accidentally inverted the depth map.

@subject_n 5 ай бұрын

yeah that one looks wrong. there's another ladder later in the video which looks correct to me.

@jippalippa 5 ай бұрын

Looks like that particular era of videogames from the early 2000s, after the PSX generation but before the widespread use of bump and normal maps. This is an era I love, which is around from 2000 to 2003, with Max Payne 2 being the pinnacle of it. Basically very detailed textures and sometimes even geometry, but no weird post process effects like we saw in the early days of the xbox 360 (case in point Gears of War)

@MrZootalores 5 ай бұрын

i noticed they don't use bump maps..cool! in a way, the look is softer, like what a 1998 Voodoo 3dfx card would do.i like that as i played late 90's games on a Voodoo

@savoz894 5 ай бұрын

Great Video.. Tomb Raider is one of my favourite series and I'm definitely willing to play it again after watching this video. Stronghold Definitive Edition/Remaster also releasing today. It would be great if you do a detailed video like this one on Stronghold. Its one of the legends in real time strategy games, the best being Stronghold Crusader 2.

@35antonio 5 ай бұрын

Starting the video with the excellent Angel of Darkness theme is an instant thumbs up for me

@VitaAZeroKelvin 5 ай бұрын

I'm afraid this is not going to be appreciated by the many people who didn't play the originals or who don't know about 90s platformers. On the other hand, me and the other fans of the series are definitely going to love it. They kept the magic intact but somehow managed to make it look and play better. To be played with tank controls. Hopefully 4, 5 and 6 get the same treatment as well.

@Koozwad 5 ай бұрын

Will people actually play it though? These remastered games didn't age well at all.

@VitaAZeroKelvin 5 ай бұрын

@@Koozwad there's a huge community of fans that still play the originals. To revisit these on console, in 60 fps, widescreen, new graphics, the trophies and with the expansions is a dream of many. I'm surely gonna play them all.

@Koozwad 5 ай бұрын

@@VitaAZeroKelvin In my experience, also checking stuff like average hours played and hours played in for example Steam reviews for remakes/remasters shows that most people don't really even touch the games. Some play a little bit and then stop forever and some put it on their backlog forever. Extremely rarely have I seen people actually replaying games that didn't age well.

@A2theC 5 ай бұрын

I think it's fine, we're the ones with jobs anyway, 'modern audiences' have mom and gram (or chat) footing their bill for most everything, millennials is who this was made for. From what I've heard (unofficially) if this sells well they'll continue to remaster the next in series which I think is amazing, I'll be buying a copy for each platform.

@DanVzare 5 ай бұрын

If modern gamers can appreciate the Dark Souls series, then I'm sure they can appreciate this.

@brianhartman4426 5 ай бұрын

Tomb Raider 1 and Resident Evil 1 always been my favorite of the series. I might even still want to play the original versions.

@Pykeer 5 ай бұрын

1996 was probably the most awesome year in gaming ever. Resident Evil, Tomb Raider and Mario 64

@franzpleurmann2585 5 ай бұрын

01:25 Such a nice transition in accordance with the voiceover.

@JPgreekgaming 5 ай бұрын

Just a few more hours and I can't wait for a TR marathon, all 3 games back to back. It is going to be glorious!

@Booksds 5 ай бұрын

I’ve yet to play any of the Tomb Raider games (original or reboot), but I might start with this package. The remastered visuals look great to me, though I won’t argue with people who dislike the style.

@reesepanda 5 ай бұрын

That Lara Croft Go music you use in the video is so good, that game was really cool and captured the spirit of the original games perfectly. But aside from that, I can't wait to play these remasters! 😊

@Blizniak666 5 ай бұрын

It's great to see these last great cinematic platformers get the love they deserve with this rerelease. Fantastic work on covering all the nuts&bolts as always, John.

@waywardlaser 5 ай бұрын

I know some people would probably call these remasters lazy, but there's something weirdly charming about the super high res textures on the old geometry.

@dmer-zy3rb 5 ай бұрын

We already have a mediocre remake of the first game with (then) modern gameplay and graphics - we dont need another one.

@Koozwad 5 ай бұрын

Honestly I prefer the pixelated low res look. These high resolution versions really expose the assets/geometry.

@Turniplord 5 ай бұрын

Why would anyone call them lazy? They literally did what they set out to do and even included over 200 trophies and the ability to swap visuals instantly.

@staples6 5 ай бұрын

I’m so glad they handled the remaster the way they did. There’s something about the original controls that I just love

@RedMinotaur808 5 ай бұрын

😅😅😅

@RobertJohnLora 5 ай бұрын

The quality of John's videos seems to consistently improve. These are great man 👏🏽

@NickSmolders89 4 ай бұрын

Wow, very well done in-depth review! Your knowledge of all the technical details really shines compared to a lot of mainstream reviews who just whine about the game not looking good and the controls feeling clumsy... completely ignoring this is a remaster intended to approximate the original experience. Kudos!!!

@wallacerigby4393 5 ай бұрын

“No yellow paint here” Will definitely play this probably on my Steam Deck.

@no1DdC 5 ай бұрын

I thought the same, but I worry that levels might be difficult to understand on the small screen. Then again, they ported the first Tomb Raider to PDAs and even the N-Gage with far smaller displays, so perhaps I'm worrying too much.

@MrPod 5 ай бұрын

@@no1DdC well those were played originally in low res where we saw more pixels than geometry and it was fine so, I don't think high res and smaller screen will be worse.

@no1DdC 5 ай бұрын

@@MrPod True, but I first played these at 1600x1200 in 2001/2002 and was still extremely confused by the level design. Must have been an absolute nightmare at 320x240 in software mode.

@MrPod 5 ай бұрын

@@no1DdC I don't think so, we were used to play with those resolutions back then.

@sethross7217 5 ай бұрын

The return of 3 certified hood classics!!

@siceastwood2714 5 ай бұрын

Gotta love how john uses and gives credit to the "Tomb Raider Go" OST wherever possible

@eponymous7910 5 ай бұрын

DF sets the bar so high, another outstanding effort John 💪

@GaryDarbyshire 5 ай бұрын

Just the music makes me want to cry with joy.

@plonk420 5 ай бұрын

i LOVE that like Monkey Island and Halo (and likely others i don't know about) and now this let you switch graphics modes in realtime 🥰

@GM-Shenmue 5 ай бұрын

Full Throttle, The Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango remasters also allow it.

@TevorTheThird 5 ай бұрын

Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap is yet another :) I get why you can't always do it but for these style of remasters/reskins/etc it's always a super cool feature.

@Docan690 5 ай бұрын

I played tomb raider 1 on Nokia Ngage phone in 2007 and was totally blown away by the game. In that era when there were no walkthroughs on internet I remember getting stuck at few points in game for days together as I was unable to find the way or solve the puzzle. Beautiful game

@AFourEyedGeek 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for this video. I havent finished the video, just wanted to write that I heard the menu music even though it wasn't playing when you showed the menu being improved. I just left rhat menu on for the music when it was first released.

@MrMartellSincere 5 ай бұрын

Nice to see tomb raider again for modern day consoles and PCs

@lemming9984 5 ай бұрын

unfortunately only digital.

@ToxMod 5 ай бұрын

The opening music was epic.

@A2theC 5 ай бұрын

This was an honest review, taking into account the originals by comparison vs your past experience with them highlights the remaster's strengths that I feel many outlets overlook simply because this 'isn't modern' as if it were supposed to be. Not to say 'you're old' as I'm likely older than you, but you truly get it, which I believe most recent reviews are from people born after ps2 era which is hardly their demographic. I believe majority of any bad reviews out for this are by those expecting a modern take or remake, which honestly Crystal Dynamics has tried a few times with mixed results. You don't mess with a classic. I love that you pulled out 3D0 GFX for this comparison and pointed out even then the classic setting is better overall. I was recently watching some retro comparisons on Saturn/PSX/PC and even Dreamcast and your comparison fits nicely on top showcasing the drastic improvements. The tank controls as you said are part of the challenge and level design and I appreciate how much detail they left alone yet also overhauled, it would have been nice to have SOME graphical settings or maybe RTX option for 'wow' factor but as it is they suit nearly all hardware so it doesn't bother me, hell my 7 year old '940mx gaming laptop' will actually run this perfect so I'm pleased. We can expect more from RTX Remix and mods in near future, hopefully a patch or two from Aspyr as well tweaking simple things as you've critiqued. One review I've seen said it didn't run well on their only copy for Nintendo Switch, which sadly they gave it extremely poor score. I think as you said, modern audiences likely aren't used to this type of challenge or being frustrated at all, as anyone having played retro games knows skill is required for classics. IMO The lack of auto save is really another feature for this challenge, planning is crucial, using your brain shouldn't be hard. If you have autosave and too many checkpoints the challenge and point of health packs nearly lose meaning and becomes too cheaty, I prefer the way they have implemented this as I don't think it was flawed decision. Part of the learning curve was that you'd have to start ALL OVER if you failed, which again caused many to rage quit back then, the sensitivities of modern gamers hopefully learn some coping skills that not everything is easy mode. These old games do train you to be more conscious which I feel is yet another thing lost in modern days. This seems like a homage to the heritage of the Tomb Raider franchise more so than anything Crystal Dynamics has released since. I'm truly looking forward to playing this and plan on purchasing on a few platforms, and if Aspyr continues to remaster these classics I'm very well oblige by purchasing those as well. Overall an excellent showcase, thanks for the coverage. I really look forward to playing this again, I downloaded and installed it while watching. *You mentioned auto-aiming was an issue, I believe you have full manual control using 'tank controls' as with the original. It's good you used keyboard as the first game came out before analog sticks were common so it's optimized for D pad. It's great you recommended classic controls, after all, the training mode at Lara's mansion is there for a reason.

@Ghosster 5 ай бұрын

Loved the water transition, keep it up!

@John_R_Jackson_III 5 ай бұрын

Them thangs thangin in HD now

@pinny_wiz8090 5 ай бұрын

One thing I’d like to see improved is the water effects even if they made it more blue, cause currently it’s like Lara is floating in thin air rather than swimming.

@ToyotaKudoFan 5 ай бұрын

This is my one gripe with the remasters as well. I hope it can be addressed in a patch, but overall I'm extremely satisfied.

@gorofujita5767 5 ай бұрын

Ideally it would need a tiny little bit of wobbly/warping effects, plus a little bit of underwater debris and more intense foggy coloring when underwater. It should be easy-ish to implement in a future patch Basically, if the devs sort of "mixed" the best features from TR1 (saturn), TR4 and OpenLara's water effects, they'd absolutely nail it.

@krisnephilim 5 ай бұрын

What a wonderful review! Thanks Diginal Foundry. You understood the remasters!

@tomkirbygreen 5 ай бұрын

Lovely thoughtful review and meditation as always John. Thank you. Looking forward to playing this since I played it back in the day and would love my two daughters to experience it on modern hardware.

@Dangerousdaze 5 ай бұрын

My then girlfriend, now wife, bought me a PS1 with Tomb Raider a loooooong time ago, so I'm definitely picking this up on Steam Deck. I still remember a snowy scene in London where you can hear an underground train and traffic sounds in the background and thinking, wow, games have come on since I first played Tic-Tac-Toe on the Commodore PET! Cheers for the review!

@demonletsplays 5 ай бұрын

Forget steam deck I refuse to buy this without a physical copy because it deserves one

@Dangerousdaze 5 ай бұрын

I've still got the original physical copies.@@demonletsplays

@tommapar 5 ай бұрын

About TR2 and combat of the original games in general. When against melee foes: either jump on a platform (use platforming: which is the more robust of the systems when compared to combat) and gain an advantage since enemies couldn't follow you to higher ground until TR4, and you can shoot them. They will try to avoid your sight but you can bait them, and some times you don't even have to. And about ranged enemies, which are mostly present in TR2 and TR3, you can jump yes, sometimes it does help, but the best is to ROLL behind them like a fucking Dark Souls enemy, the tracking tends to be slow enough to allow you to minimize damage taken, and if you're fast and precise you can avoid it all. Just run towards them with a slight turn angle so that you don't roll into them, and press the Roll button which on keyboard it's END or UP+DOWN and both are very usable and END for me personally is great to use. What with it being so near the arrow keys.

@kresimirmandic3807 5 ай бұрын

Great video as always. Original Tomb Raider was one of my favorite games of that era and I enjoyed both PlayStation and Saturn versions. It's going to be nice to play it again on PS5.

@SP95 5 ай бұрын

Thanks for the clear 3dfx voodoo footage alongside it !

@Corran123 5 ай бұрын

Happy to see that Aspyr did a good job with the remaster and I already bought the Switch version. I love the five classic Tomb Raider games and I replay them regularly on PC. The level designs are generally very good and the few weaker levels are still tolerable. I also think the tank controls made the games age rather well. Back then bad 3D cameras were basically a given and the tank controls + tile based level design enabled precise and predictable platforming without actually needing to see what is in front of Lara.

@jose131991 5 ай бұрын

Aspyr does really good remasters generally along with nightdive being the kings of remasters.

@renofheavens2 5 ай бұрын

@@jose131991don't forget Bluepoint

@mbsfaridi 5 ай бұрын

@@renofheavens2I think they go above and beyond all other remaster/remake efforts. Can’t wait to see what they’re working on since Demon Souls.

@NXDL25 5 ай бұрын

The soundtrack in the beginning is from Angel of Darkness I wish that gets a remake as well

@RegBeta 5 ай бұрын

Yeah COMPLETELY from the ground up!!!

@Neb_Raska 5 ай бұрын

Yeah, I remember that bike mission, pain in the ass lol

@unsavourylittlerunt 5 ай бұрын

@@Neb_RaskaAre you maybe thinking about Legend? It has two bike sections, but there's also underworld which uses a bike sometimes and you can get off it at will

@Neb_Raska 5 ай бұрын

@@unsavourylittlerunt Maybe, it's been a while since I've played Legends, Angel of Darkness and Underworld. I do remember a bike section where you get shot at being extra difficult.

@Daniel_C_Griffin 5 ай бұрын

Honestly, it might be a tall order, but I would want some original Core members brought on and asked "What did you want out of AoD?" and remake the game as they originally intended. It has so much potential but the issues and cut content really hold it back, which is a real shame.

@Shezmen88 5 ай бұрын

Major props for that Battlefield Bad Company 2 shortcut on the desktop!💪

@Theendman42 5 ай бұрын

That intro transition was smooth as hell!

@tommapar 5 ай бұрын

Thank you for your section on "How does it hold up today?" I think you made justice to what a lot of us 90s kids and tank control defenders have been saying all along. Given the fact that you had a somewhat fixed camera, tank controls, and the grid based platforming, it makes it so you have a huge amount over the core of its platforming challenge, accompanied by the smooth animation it gives me like this "like the original Prince of Persia, but 3D" kind of vibe to how it thinks about its interconnectedness and its platforming mechanics. FIxed camera already removes the challenge of having to calculate distances over your current camera angle, since the camera is fixed. When measuring a jump, if the Camera is not behind you you can still count tiles easily as well (Lara's jump has a fixed tile length) most of the time. The only times you do have to think about the camera, you can do what the game expects, walk carefully to the ledge.. measure the gap using your dedicated look around button... maybe spot a ledge below or a treasure...? Maybe if you already know how far your jumps take you, you can avoid taking the risk altogether. The tank controls and grid based platforming work together with the fixed camera. Since you're mostly minding the realtime inputs on the directional buttons, and since both platforms and ledges of the tiles are only 4 cardinal directions the rules around platforming are entirely based on that, and importantly there's few rules around the platforming. - First, align to the grid to jump (press left or right) so that you face where you want to jump or grab. You can't grab backwards without breaking something. - Second: choose which type of jump you need based on the distance, the types of jumps you will require most of the time are decided by forward and back + jump (standing f/b jumps, running jumps, stepback) with the outlier that completely removes the tank controls stigma, sidejumps. - Third. For God's sake don't be a nincompoop, you have to GRAB MANUALLY WHEN YOU NEED TO, YES. Just like if you would, you know, in real life, where you GRAB LEDGES WITH YOUR HANDS just like you can press a DAMN BUTTON, WITH YOUR HANDS. Ooh and if I let go, I fall! Like in real life! For christ sakes, I seriously think the 3D platformer genre has regressed by taking that out of games. There's little stuff around that, that is basically "tech" since you're mostly never required to use any of it outside of custom levels. And basically that's it. The original Resident Evils also did it a lot better than the newer ones, and the original Silent Hills too. And they all had limited control like Tomb Raider or none in the camera, and they all had tank controls, and they all applied it all to suit their individual aims as pieces of media, in unique and marvelous ways that work surpisingly well for their gameplay and framing/storytelling purposes. And thinking about controls relative to the player instead of the camera also forgoes the need to know the basics of modern two stick controllers. For non-gamers, they're easier to get into, since it's less inputs at a time to think about. Tomb Raider somehow manages to be fun even today too. Its exploration, its contemplating and almost captivating OST that often contains some tense bangers during challenges, its surprisingly tight platforming, its evil enemy placement that manages to jump scare anyone, its challenging approach to being a raider, its unapalogetic commitment to inmersion through minimal HUD and little talk. It's imagination capturing environments, which are primitive enough to evoke your brain to fill in the blanks.

@A2theC 5 ай бұрын

I'm sure if modern games added the "feature" of holding trigger buttons to hold onto ledges people would go wild "ITS SO IMMERSIVE" 😜 Overall modern games lost their edge, that's why so many people play retro games/emulators. This is such a nice return to good challenging gaming.

@dvpemberton 5 ай бұрын

Aahhh, 3dfx Voodoo card... that brings back memories. Games like Tomb Raider, Shadowman and Nocturne were on my old PC back in 1999. Can't believe the progress of technology. Just been playing Arkham Knight on the Deck OLED... 🤯

@MrZootalores 5 ай бұрын

whoa whoa! I played Nocturne on a Voodoo card & that was the first really creepy game i played. i was almost afraid to see what would happen next.

@dvpemberton 5 ай бұрын

@MrZootalores Yep, it was a great game with loads of atmosphere. Controls were a bit janky, but I still loved playing it. Hope John and DF consider doing a retro review of it sometime.

@MrZootalores 5 ай бұрын

@@dvpemberton what's also interesting is that it was the game that lead to the 1st BloodRayne...

@DomeCandyGames 5 ай бұрын

This covered absolutely everything I was curious about regarding this remaster and actually dispelled my concerns. Thank you DF team!

@RetroCrisis 5 ай бұрын

Nicely put together John. I never enjoyed these back in the day, but quite liked the 2013 reboot. Might give this a try when it's on sale on Steam

@MrSTVR 5 ай бұрын

I was just happy to have a new port of these games, but damn they really went above and beyond with this. I thought Nightdive was the only way to go but this is brilliant.