Gameplay features Lara navigating levels split into multiple areas and room complexes, fighting enemies and solving puzzles to progress.

Due to the strain of developing Tomb Raider titles non-stop since 1996, and general fatigue with the character, the Core Design staff wrote the narrative to end with Lara's death.

[6][8] In addition Lara can sprint, walk, move certain objects, take manual control of the game camera to look around the area, climb, monkey swing using suitable overhead surfaces, crawl through narrow spaces, roll, and jump across gaps.

A shotgun, Uzis, revolver, grenade launcher, and crossbow can also be found across the game; all have limited ammunition, and some have multiple types for different effects on enemies.

[10]: 172 The Last Revelation opens with a flashback to a teenage Lara Croft in 1984, when she and her mentor Werner Von Croy are exploring a section of Angkor Wat for an artefact called the Iris.

Guided by her friend Jean-Yves, Lara explores ruins beneath Karnak and enters the tomb of Semerkhet, human ally to Set's rival Horus.

Having foreseen Lara's actions, Semerkhet left instructions for summoning Horus into the world at the turn of the millennium by cladding a stone statue of the god in his Armour and empowering it with the Amulet.

Reaching Alexandria, Lara and Jean-Yves race against Von Croy's minions to retrieve the Armour of Horus from the buried ruins of Cleopatra's palace, while Set's forces move in to guard ancient sites.

With help from the Egyptian Army sergeant Azizas, Lara gathers triggers for a truckload of explosives to kill a giant serpent blocking the path into the Citadel of Saladin.

Lara rescues Jean-Yves, then pursues Von Croy into the Crusader vaults beneath the Citadel to retrieve the tablet containing Set's binding incantation.

[16] The development team began by reading books on ancient civilizations, then designed levels based on these, which Sandham shaped into the plotline.

[17] A trip on location was initially planned, but production deadlines meant it was cancelled, with the team instead going to the British Museum's Egyptian section and finding books on the region with lots of reference images.

[12] In an early draft of the planned finale, Sandham had Lara decapitated, but dropped the concept as Core Design's executives would not stand for it.

In a series retrospective, Sandham noted that Core Design's attempted killing-off of Lara provided some catharsis for the team despite knowing it would likely not succeed.

[12] The puzzle elements focused back on the solving of problems rather than exploring large environments for keys as had been happening in earlier sequels.

[21] The cutscene design, which had real-time sequences merging into gameplay and "natural" zone transitions linking the narrative, was inspired by the cinematic style of Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid.

[25] The game's music was composed by Peter Connelly, who had previously worked on Tomb Raider III and been credited as "Additional Sound Effects".

[26] He drew inspiration from the original Tomb Raider scores created by Nathan McCree, in addition to the music of John Williams, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer.

[27] Connelly reused a piece he had written for Tomb Raider III, the final boss theme that did not make it onto the disc due to time constraints, in The Last Revelation.

[26] The Dreamcast release included an exclusive music track created by British DJ Paul Oakenfold, which played in a bonus art gallery.

The Gold Edition was scrapped for unspecified reasons, and Campbell would move on to Quantic Dream to help develop The Nomad Soul.

[51] Stephen Frost of Next Generation highlighted a lack of innovation in some areas such as the controls and basic gameplay design, but overall felt the game to be an enjoyable entry in the series.

[11] In its review of the PC version, Edge, felt the graphics were held back by catering to the PlayStation's limitations, and while enjoyable was lacking as a sequel.

[47] Steve Smith of GameSpot also noted solid technical performance, and felt it was the best of the sequels produced up to that point, praising the more coherent story and its positive influence on the gameplay and puzzle design.

[50] Vincent Lopez for IGN was less enthusiastic than Zdyrko due to the lack of innovation in the gameplay and engine design, while noting that the PC version was technically stable.

[8] UK publication Official Dreamcast Magazine was positive about the series' return to Sega consoles, enjoying the game design and content but noted that its graphics looked dated for the time.

[49] Next Generation's Jess Lungridan was highly critical of the port, feeling that its technical problems undermined the presentation and compounded previously-raised issues.

[68][69][70] A new team within Core Design began work on Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness, a title for the PlayStation 2 that was intended as a reinvention of the series.

The game ran into multiple production difficulties during its three-year development, including narrative cuts explaining Lara's survival of the events from The Last Revelation.

[66] After a mixed to negative reception at its 2003 release, Eidos Interactive took the franchise away from Core Design and gave it to Crystal Dynamics for future entries.