Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is perhaps the closest thing to playing the games that there will ever be from a Tomb Raider adaptation, using all the advantages of the animation medium to its maximum. Shows like Castlevania, Arcane, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners have made a strong case for animation being the best medium for video game adaptations, and The Legend of Lara Croft continues that trend.

Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider movies had major pop cultural relevance and introduced a lot of people to the games. Likewise, while the 2018 Tomb Raider reboot starring Alicia Vikander was not a box office hit and never got a sequel, it did a good job in bringing 2013’s Tomb Raider game to the big screen with some changes. There is also a promising Tomb Raider game timelines.

The Legend Of Lara Croft Feels Like A Tomb Raider Game Right From The Start

The Legend Of Lara Croft Opens With A Classic Lara Adventure

The Legend of Lara Croft’s opening scene puts you right into the middle of one of Lara’s adventures and perfectly captures the feeling of playing Tomb Raider, particularly the Survivor trilogy. Before any sort of context or timeline placement is given, The Legend of Lara Croft episode 1 opens with the titular character running away from temple guards as she jumps from a cliff and almost fails to get to the other side in true Tomb Raider fashion. The show’s cold open was a good indicator that The Legend of Lara Croft was not going to disappoint.

As the fourth Tomb Raider adaptation for movie or TV but the first in animated form, The Legend of Lara Croft was able to do a lot of things that neither the Angelina Jolie movies nor the Alicia Vikander reboot did. Hayley Atwell’s Lara Croft is supposed to be the same one from the Survivor trilogy, with most of Netflix’s Tomb Raider show taking place after the events of Shadow of the Tomb Raider. This a slightly older version of a character we have followed for three games, meaning Lara has all the skills and knowledge we saw her acquire.

The Legend Of Lara Croft Is As Accurate To The Tomb Raider Games As Possible

The Legend Of Lara Croft Captures What Playing Tomb Raider Feels Like

While The Legend of Lara Croft contradicts the recent Tomb Raider games in a couple of small ways, especially when it comes to the timeline, it is a mostly faithful adaptation that moves the story of the Survivor trilogy forward. Much of what Lara Croft is going through during the Netflix series ties into her previous adventures, all of which were tackled in either the games or the Dark Horse comics set in the Survivor continuity. Regardless of the lore, The Legend of Lara Croft feels like Tomb Raider and brings the tone of the recent games into the story.

The modern Tomb Raider games were not set in the same timeline as the original ones – there are actually three different Tomb Raider game continuities – yet the Netflix show almost works as a bridge between modern Lara and classic Lara. Now with the Survivor trilogy behind her, Lara Croft is older and more skillful in the Netflix series, which brings her closer to the classic version of the character. Even Lara’s outfit in Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is closer to her Legend era, one of many callbacks to the source material in the show.