Yo team, I went back and read my old post about Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis because this game genuinely deserves a much bigger writeup than three sentences! For context, this is a full reimagining of Lara's original adventure from 1996 — crafted by Crystal Dynamics with Flying Wild Hog (the Dying Light team) on board for the remake. It officially launches February 12, 2027, and rather than just updating old assets they rebuilt everything around Lara as a seasoned explorer at her peak, not the vulnerable survivor of the later trilogy. The demo takes you straight into Lost Valley in Peru with the iconic cog puzzle where two cogs need to be located — one's obvious, but finding the second requires searching without an on-screen map or Waze directions because Jeff Adams said handing Lara a GPS would kill her character connection as an archaeologist! If that sounds punishing, don't worry: you can actually increase guidance and set puzzle/combat difficulties independently so no one is forced into hardship.
The traversal system is where this gets really cool and feels like a loving throwback — she has a slight floatiness intentional to mirror the old games, but with modern precision. You grab ledges and vault with X, use the grappling hook (Triangle), swim-dive underwater by hitting Circle while submerged, and actually swing between horizontal poles which requires timing your jumps off them. The demo also hints at crafting since many found items drop rare materials from hidden caves Lara can find by diving through pools — something that wasn't in the preview but is clearly coming. Combat feels distinct from movement too: she wields classic dual pistols that empty as you hold R2, and you have to stay aggressive because raptors are relentless predators. She earns Focus points for attacking, then you hit R1 to trigger a gymnastic flip while time briefly slows so Lara can dodge-fire safely rather than sitting still — Siqueira's goal was making her combat moves feel consistent with how she navigates puzzles and the environment overall.
The finale of what they showed is pure Tomb Raider 2 energy: after pushing through jungle camps you find yourself in a chase scene where you are being hunted by both raptors AND a fully-grown Tyrannosaurus Rex that bursts from the trees! The last minutes involve Lara sprinting away, sliding down muddy hills and vaulting up walls to keep the beast at bay while fighting off flanking dinosaurs — it's exactly the kind of high-octane set piece the series was built on. Everything comes together around her being a confident explorer with distinct movement across all three pillars: traversal, puzzle, and combat. If you liked the original trilogy this is going to be special, so mark your calendars for February 12 — it's one of those rare projects that genuinely understands its lineage while pushing forward at the same time.
Source: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/06/11/tomb-raider-legacy-of-atlantis-hands-on-report/
The traversal system is where this gets really cool and feels like a loving throwback — she has a slight floatiness intentional to mirror the old games, but with modern precision. You grab ledges and vault with X, use the grappling hook (Triangle), swim-dive underwater by hitting Circle while submerged, and actually swing between horizontal poles which requires timing your jumps off them. The demo also hints at crafting since many found items drop rare materials from hidden caves Lara can find by diving through pools — something that wasn't in the preview but is clearly coming. Combat feels distinct from movement too: she wields classic dual pistols that empty as you hold R2, and you have to stay aggressive because raptors are relentless predators. She earns Focus points for attacking, then you hit R1 to trigger a gymnastic flip while time briefly slows so Lara can dodge-fire safely rather than sitting still — Siqueira's goal was making her combat moves feel consistent with how she navigates puzzles and the environment overall.
The finale of what they showed is pure Tomb Raider 2 energy: after pushing through jungle camps you find yourself in a chase scene where you are being hunted by both raptors AND a fully-grown Tyrannosaurus Rex that bursts from the trees! The last minutes involve Lara sprinting away, sliding down muddy hills and vaulting up walls to keep the beast at bay while fighting off flanking dinosaurs — it's exactly the kind of high-octane set piece the series was built on. Everything comes together around her being a confident explorer with distinct movement across all three pillars: traversal, puzzle, and combat. If you liked the original trilogy this is going to be special, so mark your calendars for February 12 — it's one of those rare projects that genuinely understands its lineage while pushing forward at the same time.
Source: https://blog.playstation.com/2026/06/11/tomb-raider-legacy-of-atlantis-hands-on-report/