Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis reimagines a gaming classic

I climbed a mountain and fought dinosaurs in an early demo of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis at Summer Game Fest 2026.

For as iconic and influential as the original Tomb Raider game was, it’s quite rough around the edges and hardly holds up to modern gaming standards. With that, Crystal Dynamics and Flying Wild Hog are revisiting Lara Croft’s inaugural tale with Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis, which has been described as a “reimagining” of the 1996 game. I played through a section of the game at Summer Game Fest 2026.

My demo of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis took place a few hours into the game, with Lara attempting to access a temple in Peru. To do so, she needs to stop the flow of a waterfall that prevents her from entering. Stepping into Lara’s boots, I explored the side of this mountain and the temple exterior.

As I searched for cogs, I solved a few different puzzles. One required me to leap onto multiple ledges in rapid succession in order to lower a barrier, and for another, I had to physically pull cogs together using a grappling hook.

Traversal was a major element here, with plenty of climbing, jumping, and platforming required to move around the mountainside. In a few segments, I used the grappling hook to swing myself across large gaps, leaping into the air once my swing hit its apex.

Since I was dealing with a waterfall, I also did a lot of swimming. If you jump into the water from a high distance, Lara has a special animation where she dives in feet first. The transition between swimming beneath the surface to sprinting around on land is pretty seamless, and there are some cool camera effects when you emerge from the water.

Later in the demo, I came face-to-face with some angry raptors. I used Lara’s iconic dual-wield pistols to kill them, dodging their attacks as they leapt toward me. It all culminated in an intense T-Rex chase that concluded the demo.

More than anything, a lot of work is going into restoring Lara Croft’s old-school feel. When she jumps, she can cover far more distance than any human I’ve seen. When she dodges attacks, she gracefully flips while holding onto her guns. When climbing up the spokes of a large wooden wheel, Lara flipped and twirled like an Olympic gold medalist. She feels like a borderline superhero as she deftly navigates such a dangerous environment.

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis feels a bit less grounded than the recent trilogy of games. That feels by design, and your opinion will likely come down to your preference between new school and classic Tomb Raider. In addition to the new Tomb Raider, I also played Alien: Isolation 2 and Onimusha: Way of the Sword at Summer Game Fest 2026.

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