Tomb Raider 1

Box art of Tomb Raider 1

Tomb Raider 1 was the first installment of Lara Croft. It was released in 1996 for the Playstation, Sega Saturn and PC platforms.

The concept was created by Toby Gard. Paul Douglas was the main programmer with Gavin Rummery and Jason Gosling. Level designers were Neil Boyd and Heather Gibson. FMV by Peter Bernard. Music by Nathan McCree.

In this game Lara visits many locations: Peru, Greece, Egypt, and Atlantis and of course her own home, the training level. These pages are full of Tomb Raider trivia.

The story

Read more about the story on Wikireaider.

Levels of Tomb Raider 1

An overview of the levels. Click on the links to see the page.

Lara's Home Lara enters her mansion also called "Croft Manor" or "gym". Here the gameplayer has the ability to control Lara Croft and to test the controls. In Lara's home you can find a mini assault course set in a former ballroom. Her swimming pool, the kitchen, the stairs and other private rooms. The level was made by Toby Gard.

Peru

Caves The level begin with a scenery: Lara is traveling with her Peruvian companion. She opens a cave and sees that her companion has been eaten by wolves. When Lara enters the tomb the door behind her closes. It is a dark place with wolves, bats, bears, doors and many more. Lara has to find her way to the exit in this Peruvian maze.

City of Vilcabamba In this level Lara has to travel through the City of Vilcabamba, an ancient civilisation. It has been inhabited by animals. There is a waterpool (a canote), swinging blades and many more. It is a mix of Incan art, Maya and Aztec art.

Lost Valley Lara continued her quest and discovering a giant waterfall. Lara finds out there is an incomplete machine that controls the waterfall she must find the cogs. A couple of these cogs are in a lost valley with dino's that are still alive. Her she finds the things she needs and finds the Tomb of Qualopec.

Tomb of Qualopec Inside the waterfall is the legendary tomb of Qualopec, one of the rulers of mythical Atlantis, beholder of one of the Scion. After a series of traps, solving puzzles and hiding for the darts she enters the tomb. After taking the scion she runs and the roof collapses. Larson is waiting for her to hand over the first scion piece. But Lara has different thoughts...

Greece

St. Francis' Folly In a cutscene Lara enters the building of Natla. She discovers that the second part of the scion should be in St. Francis' Folly building and that Pierre is at this place. Lara Croft enters the building on the hill on an Island. The entrance is filled by cans with beans by the 'litterbug' Pierre. The building is filled with animals: tigers, bats, monkeys, fishes, and crocodiles. It has rooms to obtain a key to get to the next level.

Colosseum After the madness of St. Francis, Lara Croft enters the colosseum, a huge arena. In that arena, Pierre is watching her solving puzzles, shooting animals, and shooting Pierre. After entering the Emperor's seat Lara swims to the level.

Palace Midas Lara finds herself in the legendary palace of Midas. The one with his touch that turns everything gold. She has to find three lead bars and turn them into gold. In this level you can aspect the garden of Midas, a waterwork called the aqueduct, solving puzzles, walk past flames, and kill animals. Lots of fun.

The Cistern The cistern is inspired by sewers beneath Constantinopel and other historic cities. In this level she needs to find a lot of keys to enter the exit. What makes things worst is Pierre shooting randomly at Lara. Yes, he's annoying (but you already know that).

Tomb of Tihocan Lara travels in a huge level filled with traps, pushable blocks, animals, blades, and centaurs that protect the tomb. Inside the tomb she discovers what happened with Tihocan and Natla. The level is filled with Greek-Roman art.

Egypt

City of Khamoon Lara travels by bike to Egypt. There it is, the lost city of Khamoon (a spoof of "Tutankhamun"). It is filled with Egyptian art, a sphinx, puzzles, crocodiles, murals with hieroglyphics and even walking mummies that explode.

Obelisk of Khamoon Text Lara has to obtain four items and a couple of keys hidden in the level. Stairs that disappear and become slopes, mummies from the sarcophagus, running animals, crocodiles and lots of ancient Egyptian art.

Sancuary of the Scion Lara enters a huge cave with a huge sphinx in it, like the one in Gizeh, Egypt. After jumping on blocks, sliding down, swimming in water, gripping blocks, she enters the room beneath the sphinx with statues of Horus and Seth. After many puzzles and shooting mummies Lara Croft obtains the last Scion piece..

Atlantis

Natla's Mines After taking the last piece of the Scion, Lara speaks with Natla and her goons. The goons robbed her guns and tried to kill her but she escapes, hiding in a boat and finding the spot of Atlantis. The main goal of the level is to find her weapons back and fight with the goons.

Atlantis At last Lara Croft finds Atlantis! The level is filled with moving flesh and muscles. Her she fights with Atlean soldiers, the doppelganger, centaurs, lava, and more.

The great pyramid Lara Croft has to defeat Natla, but first, she fights the giant freakish experiment with no legs. After shooting more enemies, centaurs, lava, hiding for boulders, and jumping from ledges she enters the main room and fights with Natla in her true form. The pyramid collapses and explodes..

Gold levels

The Gold Edition of Tomb Raider was made by an American team from Eidos. Not the original team of Core Design. The team included: Phill Campbell, Rebecca Shearin, Mike Schmitt, Gary LaRochelle and Kris Renkewitz. The game was released only on PC and on Macintosh.

Return to Egypt Lara Croft travels back to the City of Khamoon, she got unfinished business to do. Here she finds a trapdoor and an undiscovered city filled with cats. Some of the cats guide Lara Croft to the level. The murals and hieroglyphics are changed.

Temple of the cat The second Egyptian level. Lara Croft enters the temple of the cat. A place filled with cats, crocodiles, mummies, keys and lots of Egyptian art. Falling boulders and more.

Atlantean Stronghold This level was meant to play after Lara slid of the Great Pyramid. And it should be the first level of Tomb Raider Gold: Unfinished Bussiness. But it is the third one. Lara has to explore several rooms to get into the central stronghold. This level is quite challenging as well as the next level. Including the Atlantean baddies, lava traps, boulders, and more. Lara enters the hive after diving from a huge platform.

The Hive Is forth and last level from Tomb Raider Gold Unfinished Bussiness. The challenges are boulder traps, lava traps, fighting with the Atlantean baddies. It contains a chessboard, a huge amount of boulders, and more puzzles...

Other things

TR1 anagrams A word play of some of the characters of Tomb Raider 1. A word play of some of the characters of Tomb Raider 1. Including Natla, Atlantis, Tihocan and Qualopec.

Tomb Raider 1 Easter Eggs Easter eggs found in the game. Some of the eggs are mentioned by the original developers other ones found at Tomb Raider Forums and others found by myself.