In a newly released video about Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, the upcoming big-budget remake of the original classic, the devs showed off more of the game, and oh no, is that a skill tree I see? And wait…there’s crafting in this game, too? Oh, man….
On August 17, the official Tomb Raider channel on YouTube uploaded the latest entry in an ongoing “mini-doc” series delving into various aspects of Legacy of Atlantis, which is set to launch in February on consoles and PC. This new installment of the video series is titled “Combat & Progression Reimagined,” which was my first warning that I was probably going to be annoyed by what I was about to watch. And indeed, when the video was over, I was annoyed and felt so tired.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis continues one of the worst trends in AAA game design: resource collecting and crafting. Yes, the upcoming remake includes a crafting system, a feature not found in the original game. How it works in Legacy of Atlantis is that players can collect “herbs” as they play, and these can then be combined to create “foods that give you buffs” or healing items like bandages. Riveting stuff. I love tinkering with menus in my action-adventure game.
Also included in Legacy of Atlantis is a skill tree. In the video, we only see one skill that you can unlock, and it sounds so boring and inconsequential. You can boost the fire rate of Lara’s weapons by 10 percent. Thrilling.
“When I played the Survivor series, and I could suddenly affect and increase Lara’s power in the game, I felt much more engaged,” says Jason Epps, design director at Crystal Dynamics, in the video.
And look, I enjoyed the Tomb Raider Survivor-era games quite a bit, too. But what I was hoping for in Legacy of Atlantis was that after three games building up Lara Croft, we could ditch the survival and RPG mechanics of those titles and return to the action and platforming of the older games with a super kick-ass Lara as the star, complete with dual pistols. And I’m not alone. Over on the Tomb Raider subreddit, a lot of fans aren’t happy that the remake is shoving in a skill tree.
“I don’t need her to improve over time in the game,” said one Reddit user in response to the skill tree news. “I want to turn up as Lara, skilled and already learned. Not ‘oh yay, I can fall better.'”
“I was really hoping they’d leave this behind. Lara is already at her peak,” said another fan.
“100% agree,” replied a different user to the comment above. “It’s such a shame that she’s still not ‘The Tomb Raider.’ Skill trees completely undermine this.”
“I don’t necessarily hate the skill tree, but seriously, if she is such a seasoned explorer as she is touted to be, why does she need to improve her abilities over the course of the game?” posted another user.
And yeah, I agree. I look at Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, a recently released remake of the original game that avoided adding the kinds of RPG skill trees that are found in more recent AC titles, opting instead to stick closer to the original vision and feel of Black Flag. Legacy of Atlantis could have been a clean break for the franchise from the RPG-like Survivor games and into a new era of Tomb Raider. Instead, it seems like Legacy of Atlantis will be yet another AAA action-adventure game in which I’m collecting plants and sticks to make shit while getting a bit better at jumping and running. Mix in the fact that this remake seems to contain AI-generated assets, and all my excitement is completely drained.
Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis launches on February 12, 2027. If you pay extra to pre-order the fancier versions, you can play two days early.
