Somewhere in Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered there's a bonus level set in the archives of The Times newspaper, and in the editor's office hangs a high-resolution picture of Paul Daniels and The Krankies. Push Square's review points out that the level used to be PC-only. It's a goofy little thing, and it tells you exactly what kind of collection this is: one that keeps the odd corners, not just the greatest hits.
That matters more than usual this month. The collection is one of the PlayStation Plus Monthly Games for November, on PS5 and PS4, available from Tuesday, November 3 to Monday, November 30. So a lot of people are about to meet the end of Core Design's run with Lara Croft for the first time, or for the first time in twenty-odd years.
This review assesses published material, mainly reviews from launch in February 2025 and Aspyr's own pre-release details as reported by PC Gamer. Nobody here played it. The question is a slightly different one from "is it fun": is this a good record of how Lara's first era ended?
A museum where you can flip the lights back to 1999
The collection gathers 1999's The Last Revelation, 2000's Chronicles and 2003's The Angel of Darkness. The PlayStation Blog's post calls them the Darkness Trilogy and sells the headline feature plainly: play with the original polygonal models or swap to the remastered graphics at any time.
That swap is the preservation story. TechRadar's review says Aspyr again built on the original source code, so the old game is right there under the new one, one button away. The two original PlayStation games get the biggest visual leap, TechRadar found, while The Angel of Darkness, a PS2 game to begin with, improves less dramatically. The old full-motion video cutscenes are kept as they were, low resolution and all, which TechRadar treated as part of the charm.
It's not a pristine restoration, though. TechRadar noted clipping around building edges in Chronicles, and Push Square reported texture pop-in in both PS1-era games.
The small additions are telling, too. TechRadar says a slide-to-run move that was cut from the original games is now in, alongside new ledge-hanging animations meant to stop some of the classic accidental deaths. Push Square spotted something even more archival: the cheat system uses the same button combinations players once copied onto notepads. That's preservation with a sense of humor, and it's my favorite detail in the whole package.
The controls are still an argument
If the visuals are the museum, the controls are the bit where the museum guide keeps giving directions to the wrong room. Both reviews found the modern control scheme awkward. Push Square called it just as fiddly as in Aspyr's first three remasters. TechRadar went further, describing in-game instructions that don't match the modern layout: in The Last Revelation's opening tutorial, the "Action" button the game tells you to press doesn't climb Lara out of a pool. TechRadar's reviewer said the modern scheme needed extensive remapping to be usable, and still preferred the old tank controls.
For a history-minded player that's almost a feature. The original controls are intact, and the games are what Push Square calls faithful remasters, with obtuse puzzles and ancient-feeling combat. For a newcomer who just grabbed a free PS Plus game, it's a real wall.
The Angel of Darkness, finally in its intended shape (mostly)
This is the reason the collection is interesting as history. The Angel of Darkness was the last Tomb Raider Core Design made. Push Square summarises its story: developed alongside Chronicles, built under time pressure on unfamiliar technology, released to negative reviews over its technical problems, and followed by the series being retooled under a new studio. In a PC Gamer column, Richard Cobbett once called it "arguably one of the worst sequels ever".
Aspyr didn't just repaint it. Before launch, PC Gamer reported that Aspyr was restoring cut content: Kurtis Trent's Chirugai weapon, an unfinished training area in the Parisian Back Streets that players can choose to take, unused voice lines for Lara and Kurtis, and inventory items. Push Square confirmed at review that the game arrives with every post-launch fix and its cut tutorial content.
And yet. Push Square still called it "a rough experience", with controls fighting the platforming and combat that feels dull, while crediting its story and darker tone. TechRadar noted that the excellent flyby camera, which lets you place up to twenty cameras around a scene in the first two games, is missing from The Angel of Darkness. So the most historically important game in the set is also the least pampered one.
Verdict: claim it, and treat it like an archive
As a record of Core Design's last three Lara Croft games, Tomb Raider IV–VI Remastered does the important things right, on the evidence of its reviews. The originals sit one button away, the cut content comes back, and even the old cheat codes survive. Push Square scored it 7/10 and called The Angel of Darkness a "fascinating curio"; TechRadar called the collection a must for longtime fans. Both agreed the controls hold it back.
My call: if you're a PS Plus member with any curiosity about how a 1990s icon nearly lost her series, add it by November 30. Play The Last Revelation and Chronicles for fun, and The Angel of Darkness as a history lesson you can actually walk around in. If you want a smooth modern action game, this isn't it.
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