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Tomb Raider Reloaded review: Run Lara run

Emerald City Games and CDE Entertainment deliver a mostly enjoyable mobile experience with Tomb Raider Reloaded.

Donovan Erskine

February 13, 2023 7:00 AM

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The Tomb Raider series and its iconic heroine, Lara Croft, have seen many adaptations over the years. While most of these games have been large-scale console and PC projects, We’ve seen the franchise pop in the mobile sphere as well. In Tomb Raider’s latest outing, the IP is coming to the small screen once more. Emerald City Games and CDE Entertainment have created Tomb Raider Reloaded, an enjoyable action arcade game that’s coming to iOS and Android devices.

Mobile crusades

In Tomb Raider Reloaded, Lara Croft is again on the hunt for valuable treasure. As players adventure through a series of unique environments, they’ll have to avoid traps and battle various enemies.

I love that Tomb Raider Reloaded was designed to be played with one hand, holding my phone vertically. I didn’t need to turn it sideways or connect a controller, which makes it easy to pick the game up, run through a couple of levels, and move on. I can tap and drag my thumb anywhere on the screen to control Lara, so it was nice to not have to deal with on-screen buttons that take up space.

Combat is of course a major aspect of the game, but players aren’t actively unleashing attacks on foes. Instead, Lara automatically fires her weapons whenever she’s standing still, locking on to the nearest enemy in her eyesight. While I was a bit unsure about this design choice at first, I found that it actually gave a nice rhythm and flow to combat. I was constantly dashing around corners, positioning Lara in the perfect spot to land some hits before quickly getting out of the way of enemy fire.

Tomb Raider Reloaded is a roguelike through and through. Each chapter requires players to clear upwards of 20 stages in order to battle a boss and move forward to the next. Health and resources must be properly managed in order to make it through the entirety of a Chapter. Even if the battles weren’t particularly challenging, I was usually pretty worn down by the time I got to a boss room, which made those fights even more intense.

As players clear stages and level up, they can unlock new abilities that make Lara a more formidable adventurer. This includes abilities that increase critical hit damage, or allow bullets to pierce through enemies and hit additional ones.

Locked and loaded

Mobile games are often scrutinized for aggressive monetization tactics and the way that they attempt to monopolize your free time. It’s unfortunate that Tomb Raider Reloaded leans heavily on these elements, as well. After finishing the opening chapter, I was genuinely overwhelmed by the amount of currency, resources, and cosmetic items that the game was throwing in my face. There are crates that include valuable gear and resources, which are either unlocked through completing levels or purchasing with Gems. The shop is packed with crates, coins, and bundles that can be bought with real money to ease the grind.

At any given moment, it felt like there were at least six or seven notifications for me to click on while sifting through the main menu. Daily rewards to claim, new gear to upgrade or dismantle, events to participate in, resources that could be unlocked by watching ads, it all felt like too much, and I found myself enjoying the game more when I simply ignored all of the elements and mechanics it wanted me to juggle.

The sound of adventure

It’s not a Lara Croft adventure without the proper tunes to accompany the journey. The soundtrack in Tomb Raider Reloaded is filled with orchestral pieces that create an atmospheric tone as the player progresses through a chapter, but I didn’t find the music to be all that compelling, and none of it really stuck with me when I closed the game.

That said, I found the sound design in Tomb Raider Reloaded to be excellent. The enemies themselves have distinct movement sounds, and I came to recognize and identify them based on audio cues. Lara’s weapons and abilities have unique sound effects too, and it was always pleasant to hear bullets ripping through enemies, or a special ability being triggered.

In pursuit of treasure

Tomb Raider Reloaded has a fun gameplay loop thanks to its intuitive mobile design. The roguelike elements create genuinely challenging combat encounters, and I was a fan of the auto-fire combat design. That said, I was a bit annoyed with how shamelessly the game tries to sway you to spend time and money on it, and the sheer amount of non-gameplay features and mechanics felt like overkill. If you’re someone that can look past the stereotypical mobile game shenanigans, Tomb Raider Reloaded is a solid addition to your mobile gaming library.

This review is based on a review build of Tomb Raider Reloaded on an iPhone 13 Pro. Tomb Raider Reloaded launches on February 14, 2023, for iOS and Android.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_