Finally Playing Tomb Raider Scratched a Gaming Itch I Didn’t Know I Had

Lara Croft is one of the most recognizable video game characters. Her first game released in 1996 for the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn, and we’ve gotten new Tomb Raider games on a regular basis since. On top of 12 main series games and multiple spinoff games, Lara has also starred in movies and even animated adaptations. Naturally, that means anyone who grew up playing video games in the ’90s and early 2000s no doubt recognizes Lara with ease.

I was one of those gamers. Somehow through osmosis, I absorbed the basics of Lara’s story despite never feeling drawn to her games. I experienced Tomb Raider-themed rides at theme parks and probably saw at least a bit of the movies starring Angelina Jolie at some point. But for a number of reasons, I quite felt like the target audience for her games. So when I picked up Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, I was shocked to find it scratched a gaming itch I didn’t even know I had.

Growing Up as a Gamer Girl in the 90s and Early 2000s Made It Impossible to Miss Lara Croft

I started playing video games so early in life, I don’t even remember the first time I held a controller. I recall playing Super Mario and Duck Hunt on our family’s SNES, then graduating to the N64 and PS2. Though I initially played whatever we had in the house, I eventually found a niche as a Pokemon and RPG fan. My brother, on the other hand? He was all about Halo and Call of Duty.

After years of playing games where the default avatar was a boy, I found myself seeking games with women on the covers. I’d peruse the aisles at the local GameStop, pausing to pick up any game that had a girl on the front. Though I loved Pokemon Blue and The Legend of Zelda, I wanted to play something where I could be a bit more myself. This habit led me to some of my favorite games, including Final Fantasy X-2, which was my introduction to the franchise. But for some reason, it never led me to Lara.

I don’t recall explicitly deciding not to play Tomb Raider. But given that the game would’ve had Lara Croft on the front cover, I know I at least picked it up in my browsing. I think it simply didn’t seem like a game that was for me, despite starring one of gaming’s most iconic female protagonists. Maybe it was the massive pixel assets that seemed aimed at a different audience that gave me pause. But I think it was probably the gameplay itself, focused on puzzles and shooting guns at enemies. Those were things I didn’t think I could like. It turns out, I was wrong.

Halo Taught Me To Avoid FPS Games, But Tomb Raider Showed Me Shooters Can Be Fun, Actually

My brother and I played a lot of games together when he was little. We took turns as Link in Ocarina of Time, and enjoyed the co-op play of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. But when it came to Halo, I struggled to follow along. It wasn’t for lack of trying, though. My brother owned the game, and it was one of the first online multiplayer games I’d ever seen. Naturally, that meant I wanted to give it a go.

It turns out that, despite years of honing fast reflexes, they don’t quite translate to accurate aim in an FPS. And as I quickly learned, saying anything into a microphone with a voice that sounds like mine in the early 2000s is a recipe for the wrong kind of attention. The combination of avoiding in-game voice chat and constantly being killed by more skilled players led me to decide I just wasn’t the kind of person who could enjoy a shooter game. But apparently, that wasn’t quite true.

Recently, I finally played a Tomb Raider game when Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition shadow dropped on Switch and Switch 2. The new port was ripe for review, and why shouldn’t I be the one to give it a go? After all these years of hearing about Lara, I wanted to meet her for myself. I didn’t expect that I’d thoroughly enjoy the game, especially not the part where I had to aim a virtual gun.

It turns out, I really like shooters when I’m not faced with human opponents who will judge my terrible aim. Did I lead Lara to her death in many a gunfight? Yes, of course. But I had so much fun hearing those big male opponents express shock and awe as my little female avatar nailed headshots and took out hordes of enemies. It was surprisingly satisfying, after my early experiences of being ashamed that I was fitting that stereotype of being a girl who can’t FPS. The NPCs didn’t remember all the times they’d killed me already as Lara, so there was no shame in taking a few tries to figure out the right order of operations for a combat situation.

Soon enough, I found myself shouting at the in-game NPCs much in the same way my husband yells while playing Warzone and Battlefield RedSec. As it turns out, Tomb Raider taught me I don’t necessarily hate shooter games. I just don’t prefer to play them with other people until the unlikely event that I ever learn to aim more quickly than they can. Even after rolling credits on Lara’s rebooted origin story, I find myself yearning for the next installment. In part, I want to continue the story, but if I’m honest? I had a lot more fun blowing things up and nailing carefully aimed headshots than I ever thought I would.

Have you ever played a game you didn’t expect to like? How did it go? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition May Be One of the Best Action-Adventure Games on Switch 2 (Review)