Look at that fucking wolf 
From what I can see it’s the original level geometry with upscaled textures and some very unevenly updated models. In the middle screenshot the shotgun on Lara’s back looks like the original square PS1 model while the handguns have been remodeled. The end result looks like Minecraft with one of those high res texture packs
Lara herself looks like she’s from a 2006 game while I have no fucking clue what’s going on with the wolf, it looks like some bizarre attempt at remaking the model while keeping the PS1 art style or something
Edit: The announcement on Steam is pure quality:
Tomb Raider I-III Remasters Launching Feb. 14,
2023
The remasters include all Expansions, secret levels, and updated graphics!
Lara Croft is back!
Aspyr and Crystal Dynamics have partnered to announce Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft, a new three-game bundle of the first three Tomb Raider titles (Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III), lovingly restored with upgraded graphics and performance enhancements, complete with all expansions and secret levels.
Available Feb. 14,
2024.
The consequences of Squenix selling off Crystal Dynamics for NFT money
For me Tomb Raider never has been about the looks but rather the stupid storyline and gameplay. If they dont wreck ether those I will buy em and play em for the nostalgia factor alone. I think I have forgotten most of the puzzles in the game for how long its been since I touched em.
I just think the remastered graphics look inconsistent. If you redo the graphics but it looks kinda bad, is it really that much of an improvement over the originals?
Valid points all around. If I was more of a visual person I would have a bigger issue with it too.
If they’re not available until February of next year then a lot of the models and textures could be changed or updated by then. Not entirely related but I couldn’t stand the newer Tomb Raider games. I could only play for 15 minutes at a time before I got bored. Reminded me a lot of Max Payne 3 where it just dragged on and on and on, just the same repetitive shootouts in a way I never felt with the first two Max Payne games. Couldn’t even care about the story because as soon as I’d be surprised that a character double crossed me it’d turn out they actually triple double crossed me, and oh now they’re dead so who cares. Who was that guy again? Oh well, on to the next set piece. I swear there was a whole Era of AAA games that were boring as fuck.
There was very little old school Tomb Raider puzzle platforming left in the reboot, it was just Triple A Action Game: The Game, though it was decent at being that
It looks about on par with what a Tomb Raider Level Editor that was bundled with Chronicles would look like. They opted to make Lara look like her ps1 cutscene version. Shame the cowards didn’t stick with the blocky TR 1 lara with the triangle boobs.
I’m not sure what to think about remastering 3D games this old. They obviously can’t change the level geometry because the movement system is entirely based on rigid grids, so you end up having a blocky game world with weirdly smoothed out looking AI-upscaled textures and out of place-looking models jumping around in it. At the same time, the original assets are just too primitive to give them a simple 4k treatment like you can with PS2 games
Sort of reminds me of how the GTA Definitive Edition looked
The character model they used kinda’ looks like the 3D model used in the pre-rendered album art/cutscenes for that era of Tomb Raider games. But they don’t follow through with the rest of the assets. Doesn’t have that charm of, like, the Super Mario pre-rendered graphics/concept art from that time either.
Yeah, games really couldn’t do convincingly realistic human characters until much, much later. I recently rewatched some Grim Fandango videos and it hit me how brilliant the choice to have most of the cast be calaca figures was for the time period
Sort of reminds me of how the GTA Definitive Edition looked
Yeah I got those vibes as well. Will I play this over the originals? Nah, but there’s people out there who want the original games in 4k.
Nah, but there’s people out there who want the original games in 4k.
I really don’t understand this impulse. Unless they put a lot of effort into it, it rarely looks good.
I loved the original games, but these remasters usually have the only real benefit of making games playable again on modern versions of Windows and bigger screen resolutions. The graphics look janky, though they always did, so I guess nothing else will really have changed.
