Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows.

The storyline follows Lara Croft as she attempts to clear herself of being the suspect of her former mentor Werner Von Croy's murder while investigating the activities of a black magic cult.

The majority of Lara's basic moves are carried over from the previous instalment, such as walking, jumping, climbing, swimming, crawling, swinging on ropes and standard gunplay.

[3][4][5] Lara's ability to sprint, present in the three previous entries in the series, is only available when the player opens a cabinet containing gas masks in the 'Galleries Under Siege' level.

[7] Unlike previous games in the series, Lara has a stamina meter that depletes while she is performing bouts of climbing: if the bar empties before reaching her destination, she falls.

An unspecified time later, Lara arrives in Paris at the request of her former mentor, Werner Von Croy, who was tasked by a man named Eckhardt to find a set of artefacts known as the Obscura Paintings.

After retrieving Von Croy's journal from a colleague named Margot Carvier, she learns that Von Croy discovered the location of the fourth Obscura Painting beneath the Louvre; during her time in Paris getting help from local businessman and mob boss Louis Bouchard, Lara is stalked by Kurtis Trent, the last survivor of a society called the Lux Veritatis who are sworn to fight against Eckhardt's plans.

After infiltrating the Louvre, she learns that the paintings hide pieces of the Sanglyph, an alchemical artefact created by Eckhardt hundreds of years before.

At the apartment, Lara relives the murder and realizes that a strange man, revealed to be Eckhardt, had knocked her unconscious and killed Von Croy.

He reveals that Eckhardt is planning to use the Sanglyph to awaken the Cubiculum Nephili, the last surviving member of the hostile Nephilim race, and breed them back into existence.

Karel proceeds to kill Eckhardt, revealing himself to be a Nephilim who has been secretly aiding Lara using his influence in the Cabal and shape-shifting abilities.

The Angel of Darkness started development three years prior to its release[10] under the working title Tomb Raider next generation.

[11] As part of the preparation for the game, the company conducted market research, and decided to create a new setting and story for the main character.

By this stage none of the creators of the original Tomb Raider were working on the titles except programmer Gavin Rummery who had moved into a management role.

[18] Among the goals of the team for The Angel of Darkness were to create more complicated puzzles and make the character of Lara Croft, together with the tone of the game, darker and more hard-edged.

They also wished to compete with some of the newer action-adventure games on the market, which were providing heavy competition,[16] and include gameplay ideas from Shenmue and the Metal Gear series.

As part of writing the background for the organisations involved in the story, he researched historical secret societies and artefacts, and accurate translations of Latin text incorporated into the game.

[21][22] In order to meet the deadline, areas of the game containing key narrative elements had to be cut; one of the losses was the explanation of how the character survived the events of The Last Revelation.

[23][24] Among other concepts that needed to be cut were two further locations, character animations, sound bites, and unique gameplay elements involving Kurtis.

[29] The score was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios, London, in 2002, orchestrated by Peter Wraight and conducted by David Snell.

[20][37] Eidos believed The Angel of Darkness would benefit from additional marketing support from Lara Croft: Tomb Raider - The Cradle of Life, the sequel to the original 2001 film.

White was less positive, stating that while the game's darker story was an improvement compared to its predecessors, it never "[managed] to build to a captivating crescendo",[57] while the reviewer for GamesRadar called it "bountiful but confusing".

Perry called it a beautifully scored game, with dramatic mood and feeling, with minimal sound effects adding "a sense of variety and even peculiarity",[60] atmospheric, and the best in the series.

Perry cited multiple examples of good level design, smooth character models, surface textures, and lighting while feeling more mixed about Lara's unrealistic figure and hardened appearance.

[60] White cited the graphics as an improvement, but was unimpressed by Lara's character model and noted multiple frame-rate dips that seemed almost like playing the game in slow motion.

[57] The GamesRadar review called the graphics an improvement on [Tomb Raider: Chronicles], but not a clean break from the previous Croft titles.

[60] White criticised the new layout's negative effect on gameplay and the poor enemy AI,[57] and Kasavin called the experience "frustrating, difficult, and tedious", though stating that such moments stood out because many areas of the game were thrilling.

[6] The camera was also criticised, with White, Perry, Reed, Kasavin and the GamesRadar reviewer all citing it as awkward to control and sometimes wayward or confusing during its scripted movements.

Paramount Pictures faulted The Cradle of Life's lacklustre box office performance on the poor critical reception the video game received from reviewers and fans.

[24][67] Top Cow Productions, publishers of the Tomb Raider comic series, partnered with Eidos to adapt the storyline of Angel of Darkness across issues 32, 33 and 34 between July 30 and October 29, 2003.