It is the tenth main entry and a reboot of the Tomb Raider series, acting as the first instalment in the Survivor trilogy that reconstructs the origins of Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider is set on Yamatai, an island from which Lara, who is untested and not yet the battle-hardened explorer she is in other titles in the series, must save her friends and escape while being hunted down by a malevolent cult.

A remastered version, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in January 2014 and for Windows in April 2024, containing improved graphics, new control features, and downloadable content.

Many of Lara's moves are carried over from the previous games created by Crystal Dynamics, with some tweaks added, such as incorporating elements of stealth gameplay.

[10] In addition to the main story, players can complete multiple side quests, explore the island, revisit locations, and search for challenge tombs.

In the second mode, the "survivors" team must take medical supplies to a specific point on the map, while the "scavengers" must reach a certain number of kills, both within a ten-minute time limit.

In exploring the island, the player may find evidence that—among others—Portuguese traders, United States Marines, and a Japanese military project were all stranded on Yamatai at various points throughout history.

The Solarii Brotherhood has established its own society based on the worship of Himiko, complete with a social structure and laws, with their exact purpose and intentions being explored throughout the story.

The expedition is led by Dr. James Whitman, a celebrity archaeologist who has fallen on hard times and is desperate to avoid bankruptcy, and is accompanied by Conrad Roth, a Royal Marine turned adventurer and close friend of the Croft family who serves as mentor to Lara; Samantha "Sam" Nishimura, Lara's friend and a representative of the Nishimura family who films the expedition for a documentary; Joslyn Reyes, a skeptical and temperamental mechanic and single mother; Jonah Maiava, an imposing and placid fisherman who is willing to believe in the existence of the paranormal and esoteric; Angus "Grim" Grimaldi, the gruff helmsman of the Endurance; and Alex Weiss, a goofy electronics specialist.

Following the lead of a World War II-era Japanese military expedition researching the storms, Lara explores an ancient coastal tomb.

[30] On 4 June, at Microsoft's E3 2012 press conference, a new gameplay demonstration was shown, depicting environmental destruction and other interactivity, stealth combat using a bow and arrow, quick-time events and parachuting.

Each day from Monday to Friday, previews, features and trailers were released, showing more details for the upgrading system, survival tools and challenge tombs.

[36] The album was released to critical acclaim, with multiple sites including Forbes and the magazine Film Score Monthly giving it high praise.

[42] In the Making of Turning Point, sound designer Alex Wilmer explained that the unannounced composer had remotely directed an in-house concert violinist to perform the "very intimate" piece.

[44] In the fourth Crystal Habit podcast which premiered at the Tomb Raider blog in October 2011, Marie spoke to Wilmer and lead sound designer Jack Grillo about their collaboration with the unannounced composer.

Although the location was set in the locale of Japan, Graves did not want Japanese instrumentation: instead, he chose sounds and themes that would be indicative of the scavengers on the island, who came from multiple regions of the globe.

[3] Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, a graphically updated version[52][53] containing new control features[54] and all downloadable content,[52][53][55] was released worldwide in January, 2014[55] for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

[56][52][53][55] Tomb Raider: Game of the Year Edition, a different version also including all bonuses but without the graphical enhancements,[52][53] was also released that month for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3[55] and PC.

[57][58] Walmart orders received a free digital download of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, access to a real-life scavenger hunt, the Shanty Town multiplayer map and an exclusive Guerrilla Skin outfit.

This edition comes with a mini art book, double sided map of the in-game island, CD soundtrack, an exclusive weapons pack, and a survival pouch.

[69] The Collector's Edition for North America is similar to the European one, but instead of a mini art book and a survival pouch it contains three iron-on badges and a lithograph.

[74] At E3 2012, during Microsoft's press conference, Crystal Dynamics' Darrell Gallagher unveiled that Xbox 360 users would get early access to downloadable content (DLC).

[111] IGN's Keza MacDonald spoke extremely positively, stating that they felt the game was "exciting" and "beautifully presented", included "great characterization" and more depth.

[88] He praised the behaviour and presence of the enemies for the way they felt like they had actual tasks to perform on the island, rather than being clusters of polygons whose only function was to be killed by the player in order for them to progress.

Game Informer's Matt Helgeson considered the updated graphics at native 1080p resolution as a good addition to the core Tomb Raider experience.

[114] The Escapist's Jim Sterling was less receptive to the Definitive Edition; they praised the visual improvements, but felt that nominal content additions to the single-player experience and the game's price point made it difficult to recommend to players outside of those who had not played the original version.

[116] Prior to the game's release, news of an attempted rape plot element drew ire and led to multiple op-ed pieces.

[130] Three weeks after its release on March 26, Square Enix announced that the game sold 3.4 million copies worldwide at retail, but has failed to reach predicted sales targets.

[132] On 22 August, Darrell Gallagher, head of product development and studios for Square Enix, said to Gamasutra that the game had sold more than 4 million copies worldwide.

[161] Later, at the beginning of August, Square Enix's Western CEO Phil Rogers confirmed that a sequel to Tomb Raider was being developed for unspecified next-gen consoles.