Can you imagine how you’d react if your tooth fell out right now? Just tumbled out of your mouth and bounced off your keyboard or phone screen, dripping blood. Each inhale, the cold sting of the wind stabbing at your freshly exposed gum. You’d freak out, right? I’d freak out. I’d stare at it in shock, slightly shaky, with no idea of what to do. But as a kid, this was normal. Exciting, even. We’re more resilient to what life throws at us as kids. Remember that when you replay the newly announced Tomb Raider trilogy remaster.

If you haven’t played the original Tomb Raider games, don’t let that put you off. They’re fantastic, and a slice of video game history not to be missed. I replayed the second (and best) one fairly recently too, so even without the graphical polish, I can confirm it holds up. Many would say the Tomb Raider eras peaked with the original, and my own list would have Tomb Raider 2 second only to Legend. Don’t be put off by this. Just be warned, they’re harder than most people remember.

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We saw a similar issue when Crash Bandicoot: The N.Sanity Collection launched. Everyone remembered having a grand old time in it as a kid, then suddenly found themselves floundering at The High Road. Crash was always tougher than its scaly brother Spyro, but we forgot that because we just remember having fun.

Of course, part of what made Crash tougher was the decision to use the same jumping mechanics across all three games, namely the one from Crash 3: Warped. This meant the longer, higher jumps in the first game now needed to be traversed with shorter, lower attempts, leaving less room for error. It remains to be seen if the Tomb Raider Remastered collection will cut a similar corner, but either way, be prepared for these games to challenge you.

Life’s hard for kids these days. The world is burning. Wages are stagnant. They’re probably never going to buy a house. And other such problems. But video games no longer want to test their resilience. Unless it’s a game like Elden Ring where the difficulty is the point, most games are eager to give you a helping hand. Remember all those clues Atreus and Mimir gave you in God of War Ragnarok?

Tomb Raider came from an era before that. When you got stuck, it was your own problem. Either ask a friend who already beat the game, or buy the strategy guide for the low low price of £/$/¥19.99. Well, not ¥ because that’s about ten cents, but you get the idea. The fun, back then at least, was to figure it out for yourself. Obviously these days you can just search the solution online, which will make things easier, but Tomb Raider is designed to be a game that you try and try again at.

The original Tomb Raider games spent the majority of time raising tombs, and so Lara encounters a lot of riddles, traps, and traversal challenges. It’s a slower, more methodical game than recent iterations, and asks for a lot more brain-power.

There’s combat in the Tomb Raider games too of course, with those famous double pistols. It’s not here where you’ll be challenged. It’s not a cake walk, but it’s what you’d expect from an adventure game with some shooting elements. In fact, if you have been raised on the modern Survivor Trilogy, you might be surprised that the original Tomb Raider games were far more sparing and stylish in their gunplay than the bombast of the latest games. It’s not quite all slick spy shooting - Lara fights a T-Rex, after all - but it’s far more focused and precise than the modern versions.

It all comes full circle - Uncharted modelled itself off Tomb Raider but leaned more into action set-pieces, then the latest Tomb Raider games modelled themselves off Uncharted and doubled down. The remastered collection will be raw, vintage Tomb Raider - for purists, the only real experience - and well worth anybody’s time.

Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered should be excellent, and I can’t wait for it to land next year. I’m always slightly against remakes in principle, because I always like to see our industry making fresh ideas rather than rehashing old ones. But when I think of the prospect of those who missed out getting to experience Tomb Raider for the first time, I understand their value. Please check this out next year - just be prepared to get stuck.

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