Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Switch 2) Review

There’s some interesting history about Tomb Raider on Nintendo consoles. We never really got a home console one until Tomb Raider was almost a decade old, but the Game Boy Color was treated to a couple of really great interpretations of the series. So now we have a Nintendo console that’s also a handheld, but with the power of a home console – what do we get?

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is a port of Crystal Dynamics’ 2013 reboot of the franchise. Lara is a young woman here, still green and figuring out who she is, on a journey to become the Lara Croft we know she’ll become. Because it’s an early 2010s game there are a few elements that haven’t aged so well, and while the graphics still look modern enough to get the job done, we were hoping for more.

After hitting a storm while searching for the fictional island of Yamatai, where the Sun Queen Himiko is said to be found, Lara and her crew find their ship split in two and wrecked on the island. Separated from the others, Lara has to find her way. Between her and her friends stand the island’s current inhabitants, the Solarii Brotherhood, who are a bit unhinged and very hostile. They’re stuck on the island and will do all sorts of crazy crap to try to get off.

This rebooted Tomb Raider is a lot more action focused than the older games in the series. While those earlier titles certainly had action, they were much quieter overall with bursts of intensity, whereas here it’s the opposite and the quiet moments are fewer. There’s no doubting that the game lifts a lot of ideas from Uncharted; the shooting, stealth and climbing all feel very Uncharted inspired. As you play, you’ll also encounter one relic of the 2010s that hasn’t aged well: QTEs or quick time events. These do-it-or-die mechanics weren’t especially fun when they were first introduced and have since been scaled back or redesigned in other games, but they’re here in full force throughout the story.

The game’s violence is also off the charts from the get-go. Miss a QTE and Lara might be impaled through the neck, or fall into the water and get shredded on coral. They put her through a lot, and by the end of the game she looks like she’s been through a grater.

Speaking of the story, the overall plot is enjoyable enough, with only some of the side characters feeling a bit thin. Lara’s journey over the course of the game is also a bit of a stretch, as she goes from someone who throws up after killing just one person to yelling come at me bros with a rifle and grenade launcher what would be just a day later.

Tomb Raider starts off fairly linear, but you’ll soon find camps around the island as Lara explores, which you can fast-travel between. The only real reason to go back is to find all the collectables or gather more materials to level up your weapons and abilities. There’s plenty to explore and discover, but if you just want to smash through the story then you can, and you don’t have to worry too much about the rest. This version of Tomb Raider also includes the multiplayer that launched with the other consoles. I’d tell you how it holds up, but I wasn’t able to find a single person playing it at any point.

So how about the Switch 2 port, we’re dealing with what is ostensibly an Xbox 360 game, surely the Switch 2 can handle it? Well there’s good news, and there’s not so good news. The good news is that the game runs at a really nice clip and it is 60fps for almost the entire game, and it looks nice and crisp whether you’re playing handheld or docked. There are some slip ups in the framerate later in the game at the final boss, but given the location of that fight and what’s going on, and the fact that it was only a little, we’ll give it a pass.

The bad news is that the game has had a lot of effects dialled down to hit that target framerate. Despite being the Definitive Edition, we’re dealing with Xbox 360-level textures and geometry in places. Lara is the older model from the non-Definitive Edition, and her hair is missing the TressFX treatment. Look, I’m not going to moan too much about the hair not being fancy, but the Switch 2 can clearly run this stuff – so what happened? The current working theory is that the Switch 2 SKU is really just the Switch version of the game with the framerate and resolution bumped up, and most evidence suggests that’s true. Could Aspyr, with more time on the Switch 2 kits, turn more effects back on and improve things? Maybe, but don’t buy it hoping for something that might never happen.

There are also a few other nice Switch 2 features, including motion controls… for the game’s artefact viewer. Yep, there are no actual motion controls, and for a game where Lara uses a bow for most of the adventure it’s a big miss. Mouse controls are here too, but they barely work at this stage — the sensitivity is completely off. Oddly, there are touch screen controls for the menu, which is a bit random.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in this port of Tomb Raider, although not for poor Lara who gets smashed around quite a bit. The story, while a bit silly at times, is good enough to hold your attention for its length. The Switch 2 can definitely do more than this, and we’re left with a game that runs great but could look better. At a higher price they wouldn’t get away with it, but for the asking price, it’s not too bad. 

Rating: 3.5/5