Tomb Raider fans have been unusually starved recently. The gap between Shadow of the Tomb Raider and the next mainline game will be the longest in the series' history by several years, and while a new movie and TV series have been announced, little is known of exactly what they are and when they will arrive. The iconic series had its 25th anniversary recently, with little revealed of note and still no serious news on our next title. Lara Croft is one of gaming's longest standing and most recognisable heroes, and fans of her are left with nothing. Nothing aside from Tomb Raider Reloaded, the latest mobile game here to plug the gap. Sadly, it plugs the gap the same way hair clogs a drain.
The biggest problem is I don't feel like I'm playing a Tomb Raider game. I feel like I'm playing a mobile game. While we've seen great strides across the mobile platform in recent years (Pokemon Go, Marvel Snap, even Genshin Impact which shared its mobile launch with its arrival on PC and console), the worst offenders are dragged down in the same ways. There are several, deliberately confusing forms of currency in Tomb Raider Reloaded, it initially allows you to progress quickly to hook you then immediately forces you to grind, there are daily and weekly boosts, lots of paid items to skip ahead, constant adverts, and an inescapable, pervasive fear that you are not really a player at all, but a consumer whose affection for Lara Croft is being misused to pilfer pennies.
This is a generic mobile game (Archero, to be exact) in a Lara Croft skin, but the skin is at least nice to look at sometimes. Though her design was unpopular on reveal, I think the cartoonish approach suits the aesthetic, and each setting has a clear sense of place. Because skins are tied to grindable upgrades, you can't customise Lara much, but the basic look is nailed down. The enemy variety is almost there too, but the top-down perspective, their small size, and the fact the screen instantly fills with projectiles and beams means you can never really get a good look at them. It has respect for Lara Croft, despite what it puts her through.
In places though, the affection for Lara Croft only makes some of the decisions harder to understand. For example, Winston is in the game, the loveable butler we all remember locking in the freezer all those years ago. But he shows up midway through tombs we're raiding (sometimes multiple times) to offer us either a health or damage boost in exchange for watching an advert. It's a bizarre use of a character like this and makes it clearer that the skeleton of the game existed long before the turquoise tank top was pulled over its bones.
The difficulty is poorly managed too. For the first three main levels, it's as intended. You start each run with just your basic pistols (or whatever weapon you swap them for) and make your way through procedurally generated rooms with enemies that grow stronger and more numerous. After each run, you permanently upgrade your various gear (over time, it's clear you will not keep pace with your own progress without a cash injection), and in the run itself, you gain smaller upgrades. These are like the boons in Hades, only a lot of them are variations on the same thing, offering the illusion of choice with a helpful dollop of cynicism for good measure.
Still, for the first three levels, which have more rooms each time, this approach works. It relies on you thinking on your feet and adapting to new upgrades, but also lets you constantly make progress. When you unlock the fourth level, the game tells you you're not ready yet and that you'll need to grind for upgrades. It isn't too much of a difficulty spike, but it does add 25 more rooms, making it harder to survive. The alternative is to explore Tombs, which are optional dungeons from level three onwards. These are much shorter, but far more concentrated with enemies. As Lara starts from scratch though, they become far and away the hardest things in the game because they’re suited to having a fully kitted out Lara with grenades, insta-kill beams, bouncing rounds, and spread shots, and instead she just has one gun (or two pistols) sadly farting out wet and ineffective bullets.
Tomb Raider on mobile does work. Lara Croft Go (which, despite the name, was not a Pokemon Go rip-off but a turn based puzzler) had more depth to it than this, even if it didn't quite have the personality of the mainline games. Then there's Temple of Osiris and Guardian of Light which, while not actually released on mobile, have the sort of gameplay that could work in the space. Tomb Raider Reloaded, unfortunately, does not.
