Summary
Lara Croft was at the height of her popularity in the late 1990s. Even as developer Core Design struggled with burnout, theTomb Raider fanbaseeagerly awaited each new title in the yearly series. These games brought with them the promise of new environments, weapons and outfits. It was a different time: there was no DLC, and the contents of the disc were all you got. As such, every character model seemed precious.
Now, with developer Aspyr at the helm, these models have been remastered in HD. Lara’s outfits inTomb Raider 4-6are now more detailed than ever, but what really makes them shine is the design concept behind each getup. Here is every outfit in the game, ranked.
The photo mode also allows you to pose an X-ray skeleton of Lara instead of the playable outfits.
8Diving Suit
Worn for a short time while going deep sea diving in Tomb Raider: Chronicles, the diving suit is clunky but useful. Lara only wears it while swimming away from an enemy submarine anddiscovering wrecked U-boats. This high-tech suit can propel Lara faster than her usual swimming pace and has an oxygen tank to prevent her from drowning.
Thanks to the outfit selection and photo mode in Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, the diving suit finally makes an appearance above ground, with amusing results.
7Catsuit
The final episode of Tomb Raider: Chronicles is set in Von Croy’s office building, and shows Lara stealing a treasure that he’d claimed in The Last Revelation. As Lara is pulling a Metal Gear Solid-styleespionage missionhere, her outfit has to match.
The catsuit, which has two variants of sunglasses in Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered, is sleek and practical. Apart from her backpack, Lara is clad entirely in black for this mission. The remaster adds a zipper on each leg, finally solving the mystery of how Lara squeezed into this outfit to begin with.
6Russian Camouflage Suit
For the Chronicles episode set in Russia, Lara is clad in a full-body camoflauge suit. The outfit supports her utility belt, with her trusty backpack making yet another appearance. The entire outfit is coloured gray with a camo pattern to help Lara blend into her snowy surroundings.
Apart from the outfit proper, there’s a grey knit cap to shield Lara’s head from the bitterly cold environment. This outfit isn’t as colourful as the others, but given the need for stealth, it serves its purpose. The buckles on its shoes are nice too.
5Wetsuit
Worn while Lara navigates theaquatic research areain Angel of Darkness, the wetsuit is optimied for swimming. It bears some resemblance to a similar outfit from Tomb Raider 2: it’s a one-piece blue wetsuit with a zipper. Lara goes barefoot for this outfit because swimming in your boots is not a fun activity.
For the remaster, the wetsuit boasts more compact holsters and an ankle brace that apparently allows Lara to store an additional item. Though not as iconic as the wetsuit from Tomb Raider Underworld, this outfit serves its purpose
4Denim
The denim suit represents Lara in her daily wear: this outfit comprising denim jeans, a denim jacket and a black crop top is what Lara was wearing when she visited Werner Von Croy. After her meeting goes awry, Lara wears this outfit for another day or two while on the run from the law.
While it’s aesthetically appealing in a 2000s sense, the denim suit is obviously not suited to climbing high ledges - particularly as stretchable jeans weren’t in fashion back then. Lara realizes this, and changes into a more practical outfit as soon as the opportunity arises.
3Young Lara
Before she took down Bigfoot and discovered living dinosaurs, Lara was a sharp-witted teenager under Werner Von Croy’s mentorship. The opening level of The Last Revelation showed Lara’s younger self for the first time. Despite making only two appearances in the series, young Lara is popular with the fanbase, not least for her outfit.
Though wearing the exact same boots as in her later adventures, young Lara opts for a green sleeveless jacket and shorts with a crop top. Her hair is in pigtails rather than her trademark single braid. Chronicles shows her wearing this outfitin Irelandfor the first time in the series' chronology; maybe she was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.
2Camo
Whatever else Angel of Darkness' shortcomings may be - and there are many - Lara’s look is not one of them. While this outfit only appears in Angel of Darkness, it caught on with the fanbase so much that it’s still talked about today. Now, with the Tomb Raider 4-6 remaster, you can appreciate it in all its HD glory.
The camo outfit has three variants, with a black crop top and camo bottoms serving as the base. Lara occasionally wears a light vest over it, and alternates between shorts and full camo pants for her legs. The trusty backpack, so sorely missed during the game’s opening levels, is finally back where it belongs - on Lara’s back.
In the original version of TR AOD, Lara would switch between the shorts and pants between levels with no explanation. The remaster adds cut content to mitigate this plot hole.
1Classic
Lara’s iconic outfit from the original trilogy remains her best one even in Tomb Raider 4-6. The teal tank top, brown shorts, high-top boots and fingerless gloves make up Lara’s most iconic look. A brown double-buckle backpack and utility belt round out the package.
Despite this outfit disappearing from the mainline series for the most part, with only Anniversary showing Lara canonically wearing it again, this is the outfit Lara is most often depicted in, be it in fan art or spin-off media. Its staying power over three decades proves that you can’t beat a classic.
An FMV variant of the classic outfit, with minor differences based on the CGI model, is also usable in photo mode.
