Tomb Raider Reloaded
Released 2022
A roguelike mobile game with a distinctive art style based on the original Tomb Raider continuity, and featuring all of the original trilogy's voice actresses for Lara.
Origins
Tomb Raider Reloaded was developed as an action roguelite game developed by Square Enix London Mobile and published by Square Enix for iPhone, iPad, and Android. The game featured standard free-to-play trappings, such as premium currency, a store, play timers and so forth.
Streaming service, Netflix, repurposed the game for its branch of exclusive games that are accessible through their mobile application. The freemium model was left largely untouched. Instead, it is no longer possible to make purchases through microtransactions. The retooled system is based on time and sessions played.
Overview
The main gameplay of Tomb Raider Reloaded consists of embarking on an expedition, which costs a set of tickets that replenish over time. Franchise heroine, Lara Croft, starts a run by activating a wheel that yields certain resource bonuses. Gameplay has a top-down and scrolls vertically in a single screen.
A run is divided into a number of rooms, which hold a series of different, randomly generated challenges. Most environments have a group of enemies and a few obstacles, such as pitfalls or statues that shoot arrows. Lara is controlled with one finger, which makes the character move. When Lara is standing still, they will automatically target and shoot at enemies. A room can only be cleared if all enemies are defeated, after which Lara clambers to the next area.
Periodically, the game will be altered in a few ways. For instance, Lara can encounter a puzzle that has to be beaten in a matter of seconds, lest the rewards descend into lava, destroying them in the process. Boss fights also occur at intervals of 10, with mid bosses appearing at first, while larger encounters are reserved for the last room of a run.
Defeating enemies gives Lara rewards, such as currency, as well as experience used to level up and become stronger during a run. Each level grants the player a choice of one new ability, from a set of three. New skills include heightened attack speed, having shots bounce off a wall or freezing an enemy. These rewards are only picked up when a room is cleared of all enemies.
Players can also acquire permanent upgrades outside of gameplay, through the game's auxiliary systems. There are outfits, modeled from the Tomb Raider series, which can be equipped and leveled with specific currency.
There is also a set of equipment, such as guns, ammo, backpacks and so on, which will contribute to more effectiveness. All of these can be upgraded as well. Feeding gear into each other raises their potency, also, like the classic gacha system.
Tomb Raider Reloaded comes with daily objectives, challenges and other set missions from the Games-as-a-Service (GaaS) model. These objectives yield more resources necessary for upgrading equipment, but they also grant premium currency to purchase items from the game shop.
Anecdotally, many users have pointed out the striking similarities that Tomb Raider Reloaded shares with its massively popular peer, Archero.
