Tomb Raider II Gets Stunning Unreal Engine Treatment

The original Tomb Raider games were among the first great shooter/adventure games for consoles. Sure, there were others before, but Tomb Raider created a legacy that is still loved, and is still getting built upon to this day. Unfortunately, like most games released in the 90's, the graphics really haven't held up. But someone is trying to fix that.

We've seen a lot of games getting remade using the Unreal Engine 4, lately. Spyro the Dragon and Knights of the Old Republic, for example. Sure, it's more than likely that none of these projects will ever be completed, but it's still great to see what they would look like, had they been made today. The latest game to get the Unreal treatment is Tomb Raider II. Take a look at the screenshots below.

The screenshots look fantastic, pictures aren't enough to do something like this justice. After all, the Tomb Raider games are about action, and exploration. So how well can user Nicobass's creation move around? The gameplay test video below shows that Lara can run, jump, climb, dive, and shoot just as well as she could back in 1997. There are several more videos of the various tests that Nicobass has put together.

It's a truly amazing time that we live in. A time where the tools needed to put something like this together are so easily available to the masses. It's unlikely that this remake will get anywhere near completion before Square Enix steps in and shuts it down. But here's hoping that the guy behind this is able to continue his work, and eventually release something. As it stands, he hopes to have a playable version of the Great Wall level sometime in September or October of this year.

This isn't Nicobass's first rodeo with Lara Croft. He's been working on various 3D models of the character over the years, which you can see on his DeviantArt page, though it hasn't been updated for some time.