Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness was originally meant, according to Core Design's plans, to launch a new trilogy that would push the series toward darker, more mature storytelling and more modern technology suited to the new console generation of the time. Lara Croft is accused here of murdering her longtime mentor Werner Von Croy and must, amid the gothic backdrops of Paris and Prague, deal not only with proving her own innocence but also with occult forces and mysterious conspiracies lurking behind the whole affair.

Unfortunately, ambition collided with the reality of development — the game was released in a noticeably unfinished state, with delayed, clunky controls still rooted in the tank-style schemes of earlier entries, numerous technical bugs, and unfinished game systems, such as the complicated dialogue and reputation system within the city, which remained only a fragment of its intended potential, with many of its features not even fully usable. The atmosphere, music, and visual style, meanwhile, were among the best the series had offered up to that point, which only deepened the disappointment at how much the gameplay and technical execution lagged behind the artistic side of the game.

The critical and commercial failure of Angel of Darkness had major consequences for the series — the planned trilogy was cancelled, and the license passed from Core Design to Crystal Dynamics, which a few years later revived the series with the successful reboot Tomb Raider: Legend, restoring the trust of players and critics alike. In retrospect, the game is judged more leniently than at the time of its release, since its narrative ambitions, darker tone, and imaginative settings pointed in the direction the series would truly go years later. To this day, Angel of Darkness is remembered as a sad example of wasted potential and an unfinished vision, but also as an important turning point after which Lara Croft had to be rebuilt from the ground up in the hands of a new studio.