How do you rank the Tomb Raider franchise?

[Ruby Bliels]

I've been with the franchise since 1996 and my views on some of the games has changed over the years. I replayed them all from 2022-2023 so this is how I would rank them in 2024:

Main Series:
01) Tomb Raider (1996)
02) Tomb Raider II
03) Chronicles (Ireland 💚)
04) Angel Of Darkness (with Restored Content Patch)
05) Underworld
06) Rise Of The Tomb Raider
07) Legend
08) Tomb Raider III
09) Tomb Raider (2013)
10) The Last Revelation
11) Shadow Of The Tomb Raider (Paititi 😴)
12) Anniversary

Major Spin-Offs:
01) Unfinished Business
02) Lara Croft Go
03) The Lost Artefact (Scotland 💙)
04) The Golden Mask
05) Temple Of Osiris
06) Guardian Of Light

Minor Spin-Offs:
01) Tomb Raider (GBC)
02) Underworld (DS)
03) Curse Of The Sword (GBC)
04) The Prophecy (GBA)
05) Legend (GBA)
06) Underworld (Wii)
07) Lara Croft Relic Run (would rank higher if a real game and not 'Pay To Win')
08) Legend (DS)
09) Tomb Raider Reloaded

Never Played:
xx) The Osiris Codex
xx) Quest For Cinnabar
xx) Elixir Of Life

I'm sure we all have completely different rankings. Which games did you prefer?

[DawdlingDan]

I have not played many of them, of the ones I have played:

1. Anniversary
2. Tomb raider original
3. Legend
4. Rise of the tomb raider
5. Underworld
6. Tomb raider 2013

[Jeruzalem]

all tomb raiders up with and till Legend were great. because they had the big breasted variant. small boob woke lara croft just isnt of this time any more. it just populizes a woke feminazi cult, one that has nothing to do with gaming or gamers. we want big booba. its just a genetic fact.

[PopCornFlakes]

1> Tomb Raider 1 (1996)
2> Anniversary remake
3> Last Revelation
4> Tomb Raider 2
5> Rise of the Tomb Raider

[kakiss4]

1. Tomb Raider 1
2. Tomb Raider 2

from here on it really depends, as they all have Stuff in it i like or dislike and it is a Matter of my Mood :D

[Multi-Tech]

1- TR2
2- TR1
3- TR4
4- TR3
5- Legends, Anniversary & Underworld (tied)
6- TR5
7- Lara Croft: GoL, ToO & GO (tied)
8- TR6
9- TR (2013), RoTTR & SoTTR (not because they're inherently bad games, but because they're absolutely horrible as Tomb Raider games)

[Delete]

1. Tomb Raider 2 - Best of the best!
2. Tomb Raider 3
3. Tomb Raider The Last Revelation
4. Tomb Raider Legend
5. Tomb Raider Chronicles
6. Tomb Raider Underworld
7. Tomb Raider 1996
8. Tomb Raider Anniversary
9. Tomb Raider Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider 2013 - I HATE IT, Worst of three
Rise of Tomb Raider - I HATE IT
Shadow of the Tomb - I HATE IT Most boring of three

~) Guardian Of Light - Meh..
~) Temple Of Osiris - Better but still Meh..

~) The Osiris Codex
~) Quest For Cinnabar - They were fun on my sony ericsson z710
~) Elixir Of Life
but i thout those games aren't official

P.S. I honesly thout while playing than Underworld has all chanses to become my most favourite game, until i completed game and saw only one BOSS IN WHOLE FREAKIN GAME!(Random big mummy). Kraken? Platforming puzzle. Doppelganger? Defeated in cutscene wich made me super angry. Natla? SAME DEFEAT IN CUTSCENE! Wich made me ALT-F4 game, and return to finish after week.

P.S.S Can't really count AoD as game, its complete max at 40%, and i don't think fan project saves it.
But it could also be best game!!(( Code Da Vinci atmosphere with actual mystic stuff! Give me TWO!

Not yet played
-Unfinished Business
-The Lost Artefact
-The Golden Mask

Lara Croft Go - Not interested

[OyajiBR☕]

Main series:
🥇 Tomb Raider 2 (best adventure game ever)
🥈 Tomb Raider 4 The Last Revelation (best story, scariest)
🥉 Tomb Raider 3 (hardest, most adventurish)
Tomb Raider 1
Tomb Raider 5 Chronicles
Tomb Raider Anniversary
Tomb Raider 6 Angel of Darkness (my favourite bad game, very memorable, great music)
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Tomb Raider 7 Legend
Tomb Raider 2013
Tomb Raider 8 Underworld
Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Expansions:
🥇 Tomb Raider 3 Gold: The Lost Arfifact
🥈 Tomb Raider 2 Gold: The Golden Mask
🥉 Tomb Raider 1 Gold: Unfinished Business
Tomb Raider The Times (special TR4 stage released for download for PC)
Lara's Shadow
Beneath the Ashes

Others:
🥇 Lara Croft GO (a "board game" that does have classic TR atmosphere, surprisingly)
🥈 Tomb Raider The Prophecy (GameBoy Advance)
🥉 Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris
Tomb Raider for GameBoy
Tomb Raider Curse of the Sword
Relic Run (is it worth mentioning?)

I never played the Java games.

[Blackened Halo]

1 - TR 4
2- TR 2
3 - TR 1
4 - Shadow of the Tomb Raider
5 - TR 3
6 - Rise of the Tomb Raider
7 - TR 5
8 - Undeworld
9 - Anniversary
10 - Legend
11 - Tomb Raider (2013)
12 - Angel of Darkness

[Ruby Bliels]

Originally posted by Multi-Tech:

9- TR (2013), RoTTR & SoTTR (not because they're inherently bad games, but because they're absolutely horrible as Tomb Raider games)

I completely agree with you. As games they're pretty solid, albeit generic. But they don't look or feel like Tomb Raider and 'Lara' is unrecognisable even for an origin story. Tomb Raider was always something unique that stood out, but these games don't have that magic. I can't help but find Rise really fun to play, but I don't come away feeling like I've played Tomb Raider.

[Marcelo Sampaio]

TR2;
TR1;
TR Chronicles;
TR3;
TR4;
Anniversary;
Legend (shame it is too damn short...);
Underworld;
TR Angel of Darkness.


I don't like the 2013 game and never played the next ones.

[Wesray]

TR2
TR1
Shadow
TR3
Underworld
TR4
Rise
Legend
Anniversary
2013
Chronicles
AoD

[Pheex]

best to worst. controversial legend placement.

4
2
1
chronicles
anniversary
3
2013
shadow
guardian of light
all 3 main games dlc
rise
underworld
AoD
gbc and gba games
legend

[Marcelo Sampaio]

Originally posted by Pheex:

best to worst. controversial legend placement.

In my opinion, 4 being on top is actually more controversion. :p

Not criticizing you, BTW. I DO like 4 as well, just not as much as you.

[Pheex]

Originally posted by Marcelo Sampaio:

Originally posted by Pheex:

best to worst. controversial legend placement.

In my opinion, 4 being on top is actually more controversion. :p

Not criticizing you, BTW. I DO like 4 as well, just not as much as you.

haha fair! It actually really bored me as a kid because of series fatigue and a perceived lack of level variety.

But when I actually fully played through it a few years later when I was a bit older, for some reason the whole game just clicked with me. Going back to the tombs like TR 1 but more of it and with crazy puzzles, the beautiful vistas and multi map levels, the whole dark curse / Egyptian apocalypse thing overshadowing the entire journey in a race against time.. I really really ended up loving the game!

[Tilarta]

1. Tomb Raider 2.
2. Tomb Raider 3.
3. Tomb Raider 1.
4. Tomb Raider Chronicles.
5. Angel of Darkness.
6. Tomb Raider 4.

1. Lost Artefact.
2. Tomb Raider 2 Gold.
3. Unfinished Business.

1. The GBA games.
2. Guardian of Light.
3. Temple of Osiris.

I never got to play the GBC games, so do not have an opinion on those.

The other games just didn't impress me that much, after trying the first two that came after AoD and the TR1 reimagining, I got bored with their retgonning and gave up on the franchise.
I gather that was a good idea, since they looked like the game franchise got a lot worse after those three.