Tomb Raider fans have slammed Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered‘s latest patch and outfits, claiming they “can’t accept this level of quality.”
While most fans were pretty excited by the new challenge mode and collectible outfits, within hours of last week’s free patch going live, fans flooded social media to share images of “Melting sunglasses, clipping accessories, pixelated and squiggly textures, nonsensical AI slop symbols, and painted on straps and details instead of 3D ones.” Said one fan: “I’m sorry, but even if it’s free this is nowhere near acceptable.”
“The saddest thing is that modders have used their free time to create much better looking outfits,” wrote one unhappy player. “Questionable styles aside, these outfits are terrible quality and I can’t believe they’re an ‘official’ part of the game. My first reaction to seeing complaints was ‘how bad can it be, it’s free, I’ll just ignore the outfits.’ This is… really bad, though. After seeing some people saying they’re experiencing bugs with the game after the update, though, I really wish I had turned off automatic updates on my PS5.”
“This is free and I still don’t want it,” added another. “I think I’d rather roll the update back and keep the games as they were. This is so bad that it feels like it degrades the original product. Crystal Dynamics should probably issue a partial refund for forcing this on us.”
The outfits have caused such backlash, in fact, that the lead artist on the remaster, Giovanni Lucca, immediately distanced himself from them, writing on X/Twitter: “Hey folks, just to clarify. I was not involved in the art direction of this new patch with the Challenge Mode for Tomb Raider I-II-III Remastered. Nome [sic] of the original developers at Saber was involve[d] in it.”
It’s not just the quality of the skins that has players upset, either. “This patch has broken more than ever before. Instead of adding the things that fans have demanded, such as sprinting, ducking or the hybrid controls from IV – VI, they have delivered only new bugs…” explained someone else.
“Some players have lost their entire saves, others have played the music of the main menu even while playing, the subtitles are now complete asynchronous, many can no longer switch between games in the main menu, where you can switch to challenge mode and leave the main menu. The interface simply no longer displays the options to switch between each game. So you have to finish the whole game and restart it.”
Previously, Crystal Dynamics included a sensitivity warning in the collection for what it called “deeply harmful” racial and ethnic prejudices, but explained it kept them in “in the hopes that we may acknowledge its harmful impact and learn from it,” while publisher Aspyr had to apologize after Lara Croft pinup posters were “inadvertently removed.”
Don’t forget that a new Tomb Raider game is on the way next year, too: Tomb Raider: Catalyst. It will be the first new entry since 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which wrapped up a trilogy of games during the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One generation.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world’s biggest gaming sites and publications. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
