Five Things We Just Learned From Tomb Raider: Legacy Of Atlantis Previews - Kotaku

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis

Now that Gamescom 2026 is firmly in the rear-view mirror, news about Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is starting to trickle out. Outlets that participated in a hands-off preview got to see more of the game in action,  highlighting part of the game’s Greece section. Specifically, the demo showed off the Sword of Damocles puzzle room, part of the larger St. Francis Folly level where Lara has to explore a large, vertical cavern searching Greek mythology–themed puzzle rooms for keys to open an unlocked door. Here’s five new things the hands-off previews revealed.

Legacy of Atlantis is a remake of the original Tomb Raider released in 1996. However, that OG was previously rebooted with Tomb Raider: Anniversary in 2007. Anniversary added a bunch of new mechanics not present in OG Tomb Raider including a grappling hook Lara could swing from or use to latch onto and pull objects. It also added a combat focus meter—enemies would charge Lara and time would slow down, allowing her to line up a devastating headshot. Legacy of Atlantis will also feature a focus meter, but it seems the big red “shoot here” reticle isn’t coming back with it.

Some fans are already displeased to know that the crafting mechanic from the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot (which is separate from this reboot; TR‘s been rebooted a lot, you see) is making a comeback. According to Gamesradar‘s preview, Lara’s ability to craft food and potions to provide stat boosts, damage protections, and health is intended to address anachronisms in the early games. And I’ll begrudgingly grant that it’s a bit odd and immersion-breaking to find med kits in sealed ancient temples. But that minor annoyance pales in comparison to how it feels to know that Crystal Dynamics has added scanning to the game. Apparently Lara gets a tech device that operates similarly to Arkham Asylum’s detective mode scan, highlighting puzzle features Lara needs to interact with. Ugh.

I understand that this is likely a necessary addition for the new folks coming to Legacy of Atlantis. The previews say scanning for puzzle progress is an optional feature and that the device can also be used glean additional lore but, and I cannot stress this enough, ugh!

I was pleased to see this Legacy of Atlantis preview covered Greece. St. Francis Folly is perhaps my favorite level in any Tomb Raider game and I would boot up Anniversary on the PS2 just to play that section. As a result, I know that level by heart, enemy patterns and all. When previews discussed how Crystal Dynamics has improved enemy behavior, talking specifically about the bats that attack Lara, I remembered that exact encounter. Now, rather than having bats attack one at a time, bats swarm her, making it harder for her to take them out with just her guns, requiring her to pull out the ice pick that seems to be another nod to the 2013 reboot.

In a later encounter with a leopard, it will run from Lara, breaking her line-of-sight by going behind rocks or disappearing into crevices to attack her from behind. In the original and Anniversary, some of Lara’s later fights with gnarly Egyptian centaur creatures can get pretty rote so it’ll be interesting to see how enhanced enemy AI improves those fights.

Another known quantity of Legacy of Atlantis was its RPG-like skill tree, allowing Lara to enhance her abilities and add new ones. But with the latest previews, we can see how those abilities affect progression. In the original Sword of Damocles puzzle room, the eponymous swords would fall from the ceiling if Lara wasn’t careful. In Legacy of Atlantis, Lara can avoid that hazard altogether by taking a skill that increases the range of her shots so she can shoot the swords down before they fall. Traversing the room, then, becomes a function of hopping from sword to sword. This was the only example in the preview of a skill letting you circumvent a puzzle, so we don’t know how often the opportunity will arise.

In addition to whatever her larger goals might be, in this case searching for Atlantis, Lara is always on the lookout for other, smaller cultural artifacts she can swipe. In Legacy of Atlantis, going off the beaten path to find secrets will reward players with unlockable outfits. In the preview, finding the Athenian Owl earned Lara her outfit from Tomb Raider: Legend.

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