It is the second entry in the Tomb Raider series, and follows archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft hunting the magical Dagger of Xian in competition with an Italian cult.

Production began in 1996 immediately after the success of the original Tomb Raider, being completed in between six and eight months, a short development period which was physically and emotionally stressful for the team.

Original staff members Toby Gard and Paul Douglas left over creative differences with the publisher, though many remained including composer Nathan McCree.

[2] The game is split into levels: the Great Wall of China, Venice, an oil rig and shipwreck in an unspecified ocean area, and the foothills of Tibet.

Progress is based on puzzles revolving around finding keys and completing platforming sections, avoiding traps and environmental hazards in the process.

[2][4][5] In addition, Lara is able to walk through shallow water, climb ladders and other designated surfaces, turn 180 degrees while jumping or swimming, and during the Venice and Tibet levels drive a speedboat and snowmobile respectively.

Before killing himself, the cultist reveals that his master Marco Bartoli seeks the Dagger, and she tracks the Fiamma Nera to an abandoned opera house in Venice, Italy.

Bartoli kills the monk, and Lara narrowly escapes and dives alongside a submersible to discover the shipwreck, and searching throughout the remains she eventually retrieves the Seraph.

Following them through, Lara navigates a magical space of floating jade islands and animated statues, finally confronting Bartoli as he transforms into a dragon.

Lara renders the dragon unconscious and pulls the dagger from Bartoli's heart, killing him and escaping back into the real world just as the area starts to collapse, causing part of the Wall to explode in the process.

[10] Due to creative differences surrounding Lara's portrayal and the decision to make a sequel rather than an entirely new game, her credited creator Toby Gard left the company alongside designer Paul Douglas, prompting mixed feelings from the other team members.

[1] Alongside Rummery and Gibson, co-designer Neal Boyd, producer Troy Horton, writer Vicky Arnold, and composer Nathan McCree also remained.

[8][11][12] The team was also expanded so the game could be produced in time; among them was future designer Andy Sandham, transferred over from production of Fighting Force 2 to work on the CGI cutscenes.

[16] The Saturn version was officially cancelled in mid-1997, with Core Design staff member Adrian Smith citing technical limitations of the console to program an adequate conversion.

[14] It was reported that the more detailed 3D graphics of Tomb Raider II were too much for the Saturn hardware to handle, as the original game was already known to perform worse than other versions.

[20] The ponytail had been present in some early builds of the first game but had to be cut due to technical issues; a fix was developed that allowed it to appear in II.

[10] Three proposed actions that did not make it into the final game were crawling through narrow spaces, swinging on ropes, and a "hand-over-hand" gymnastics move with an unspecified application.

[1] The final shower scene, with Lara breaking the fourth wall, was a response from Core Design to the notorious "Nude Raider" fan patch.

The team were aware of the issue late in development, but a fix for it would have required adjustments to all the levels as it affected Lara's reaching distance when attempting to grab a ledge.

[32] McCree and Kemp later called their work on the game stressful due to not knowing the space they had available, and needing to cut and rearrange the music and sound up to the last minute.

[30] While Lara's original voice actress Shelley Blond was offered the chance to reprise her role, she was unable to do so due to other commitments, but she gave permission for her effort noises to be kept.

[36] The exclusivity deal with Sony meant that extra funding was made available for the game's marketing, alongside making the Tomb Raider series an icon for the console.

[56] Lara was originally given a more revealing leopard skin jumpsuit outfit for the level "Nightmare in Vegas", but was vetoed by Eidos and Core Design as not fitting the character.

[28] While released for the Mac in January 2000,[54] and included in the mobile ports and Remastered,[46][47][48] several re-releases of Tomb Raider II excluded The Golden Mask due to licensing issues.

[59] Macworld's Michael Gowan wrote that while gunplay is involved, the exploration and problem solving keep the players riveted for hours and also praised the graphics.

[76] Tomb Raider II's PlayStation version sold 221,000 units and was the German market's third-biggest console title across all systems over the same timeframe.

[75] At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, Tomb Raider II took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €39 million in the European Union during the previous year.

[10][80] Alongside this, other team members began work on the fourth entry Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (1999), intended as a means of killing off the character due to the workload and stress of developing the series.

[83] The game has received a fan remake in Unreal Engine titled Tomb Raider: The Dagger of Xian, currently covering part of the opening level in the Great Wall.

Asked about the scene in an interview conducted for The Making of Tomb Raider, McCree stated that for fans "...it’s oddly part of their childhood, hearing Winston, and locking him in the freezer.