Tomb Raider chronology

[LetalisK]

Hey, so, I've never played Tomb Raider before and I figured I might as well get them on steam. I'm wondering a couple things before I buy a bunch of games. First, what is the chronological timeline of these games? Second, is there a specific order I should play them in otherwise? Also, I'm pretty sure Anniversary replaces Tomb Raider 1, but does Legend and Underworld replace Tomb Raider II and III? Here are the games in the pack:

Tomb Raider: Legend
Tomb Raider: Anniversary
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Tomb Raider 2013
Tomb Raider I
Tomb Raider II
Tomb Raider III
Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation
Tomb Raider V: Chronicles
Tomb Raider VI: The Angel of Darkness
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light(not part of the pack, but I have it already from a previous Steam sale, just have never played it)

 

[The Madman]

Anniversary is a remake of the original Tomb Raider and it's very, very good. My favourite Tomb Raider game in fact, I'd highly recommend playing that first. You can also skip the actual first Tomb Raider game since it hasn't exactly aged well and Anniversary covers the same ground anyway. 2 and 3 meanwhile are alright and might be worth checking out later if you're enjoying yourself, but it's The Last Revelation that's probably best of the originals, itself a prequel to the first Tomb Raider game dealing with Lara Croft's origins... y'know, before the newest game redid it again but this time more gritty, less tomb raiding, and more shooting.

Chronicles and Angel of Darkness can be skipped, Angel of Darkness in particular is just *bad*. Legend is alright, again a bit too shooty and not enough jumpy for my tastes though, and Underworld is supposed to be good but I've never personally played it. Legend and Underworld do their own thing unconnected mostly to the original games.

Finally new Tomb Raider and Guardian of Light really have jack all to do with the series thus far. New Tomb Raider is a 3rd person shooter with its own 'gritty' reboot of the series, and Guardian of light is an arcadey action thing that's fun but again not terribly relevant to the originals in any way.

Hope that helps, enjoy.

 

[Gatx]

My understanding is that plot wise, there's the original Tomb Raider storyline with the PS1 games and Angel of Darkness which I think was a PS2 game(?).

Then they rebooted it with Legend, Anniversary and Underworld.

Then it was rebooted again with the newest one.

Guardian of Light is just a fun standalone and unimportant to any of the overarching storylines.

 

[FinalDream]

Then they rebooted it with Legend, Anniversary and Underworld.

It's a reboot only in style really, you can tie the games together from Angel of Darkness to Legend. Loosely. I prefer it really since Underworld is heavily linked to the Tomb Raider 1/Anniversary and a great wrap up before the recent reboot.

 

[LetalisK]

but it's The Last Revelation that's probably best of the originals, itself a prequel to the first Tomb Raider game dealing with Lara Croft's origins...

So should I disregard the numerical order and do Last Revelation before Tomb Raider 1/Anniversary?

It's a reboot only in style really, you can tie the games together from Angel of Darkness to Legend. Loosely. I prefer it really since Underworld is heavily linked to the Tomb Raider 1/Anniversary and a great wrap up before the recent reboot.

The order I was thinking of doing it was TR2013 -> TR:Anniversary -> TR2-6 -> TR Legend -> TR Underworld with Guardian of Light thrown in there whenever. I've also read TR Legend is heavily a prequel as well, so I'm not totally sure. I'm also not looking for perfect continuity either, just looking for the order of play that would make the most sense.

 

[Woodsey]

Up to Angel of Darkness they're all in the right order, although one is a prequel. But it's safe to assume that if a prequel is made after it's safe to play after.

Anniversary, Legend and Underworld are their own reboot trilogy, I'd play them in the order they came out again in spite of Anniversary again being a prequel.

The reboot (Tomb Raider) can be played whenever, I guess.