This iteration of Tomb Raider was originally released on the PS3/Xbox 360, back in March 2013. The game, back then, was a reboot of the franchise, delivering a much darker version of Lara Croft than fans have been used to. It’s not long into the beginning of the game that Lara shoots someone point blank, under their chin, and blows a hole in the top of their head, with bits of gore and flesh splattered all over Lara herself. There is a reason this game has an 18+ rating, and it was a little shocking to see this dark, coming of age version of Lara play out before our eyes.
The game was a critical success, and as a Tomb Raider fan myself, it is considered one of the best games in the franchise. Nintendo initially missed out on this success but has now caught up some 13 years later with the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition on the Switch 1 & 2.
Since this game is now over a decade old, I’ll briefly mention the game itself before going on to the performance and look of the game on Switch 2.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the story of this game or the actress who plays Lara, Camilla Luddington. I felt her dialogue was way too wispy, detached and, in short, was trying too hard to be epic in every scene. Maybe that’s more of a director issue than the actress herself. I felt the story with the Stormguard and quasi-religious cult didn’t really hit the mark either.
What did hit the mark in a big way were the action, puzzles, graphics, audio and the world at large. Crystal Dynamics really did a great job of trying to compete with a certain other PlayStation treasure-hunting icon (Nathan Drake of Uncharted) at the time. The game back then, as of now, is still a blast to play, and aside from the aforementioned Uncharted series, there still isn’t really anything of this quality like it.
Because of this, I can understand why Aspyr and the franchise are trying to gain relevance again on the Nintendo platform. How does the game actually perform on the new hardware, though?
For the most part, it’s excellent on the Switch 2. However, if you compare the game to how it runs on other platforms, even the base PS3, things start to get a little complicated.
For me when playing the game on the Switch 2, I found the overall experience to be superb. The game ran at a solid 60 fps the entire time. I am very much a frame rate over fidelity person. In my opinion, higher frame rates make even average games look better. I never play any game in “fidelity” mode.
However, I do have one big gripe about the Switch 2 version’s visuals, that being occasional weird hatching on backgrounds. A lot of the game is set in open-world environments, which means a lot of the time, there is foliage in the world or part of the background. It was very noticeable that some areas of foliage had this very strange and very noticeable hatching across it. I’m not sure if it was a cheat to cut corners in shading or something else, but I noticed this a lot.
The worst part was, I noticed it while moving, i.e. I didn’t stop to look for issues. What’s the issue, then, I hear you ask? The issue is, it catches your eye when this happens even while moving and draws you out of the experience. You catch it out of the corner of your view thinking something was different in that direction, wondering if it was a collectible, only to find it was hatching across a surface.
Aside from that, textures, character models, and the overall environments all seemed a little starker and brighter than I remembered. That’s not a criticism, more of an observation.
So, if you only have a Nintendo Switch 2 and have never played this game before, then Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (currently £16.39 on the Nintendo UK Store) is absolutely a must-buy, must-play game.
However, things become a bit muddier if you also have a PlayStation 3, 4 or 5 and compare the performance of this game on the Switch 2 to them (yes, even a PlayStation 3)! Digital Foundry did an excellent comparison video, for which I’ll leave a link below.
In short, the video basically confirms that the remastered PS4 version (released on the 31st January 2014) has better visuals but struggles to maintain 60 fps. Some people might even prefer the look of the original PS3 version still to this day. The Switch 1 version could only really match the PS3 version in performance, but that’s not a bad thing as it still was a great game to play on that console.
The video also explains that, as I suspected, the Switch 2 version is brighter due to the fact that they have cut shadows and lighting from it. The compromise for doing so was probably how they got the resulting solid 60 fps performance. So, the point here is, if you want to get the best visual experience of the game at a lower 40 to 50 fps, the 2014 PS4 version is the way to go. If you wanted a slightly subdued and barely noticeable dip in the visuals with occasionally distracting hatching but at a solid 60 fps throughout, get the Switch 2 version.
For me, it is a slam dunk, that to play the game again, I’d play the Switch 2 60fps version. Solid 60 fps is always King!
The only other thing to note is that the Switch 2 version does come supported for the Switch 2 mouse controls and the gyroscopic ones too. However, they are incredibly difficult to be accurate with, so I stuck with the normal controller throughout. The game also includes a working multiplayer. The multiplayer, even when the game first released, wasn’t very well populated and wasn’t much of an experience, and that’s still the case now. It’s fun for about thirty minutes, but that’s all. However, I appreciate the fact that it’s still there and still works.
There is one more fly in the ointment, though. Up until recently, the PlayStation Store had this game retailing for under £10 at a bargain basement price of £3.29. Because the game has been re-released again to be relevant on the Switch, they have bumped the price back up to £15.99. If you have a PlayStation and want this, you might want to wait a little while for the price to come back down. The Switch 2 version, as mentioned, retails for £16.39.
Either way, for these prices, the experience the game provides is worth every penny. It is one of the best games of the PS3 generation, and one of the best Tomb Raider games of all time. Despite its age, even today, it’s still a great game to play for the first time, or like me, to replay all over again on new console technology.
Summary
Yet another gaming great in one of their best adventures has made their way to the Nintendo platform. If you have never played a Tomb Raider game before, this is an excellent starting point. It’s a superb game and arguably the best version on the market too. Visually, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition is actually slightly better on other platforms and doesn’t have the annoyingly weird hatching bug, but when running at 60 fps throughout on your Switch 2, you’d never be too bothered anyway.
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Publisher: Aspyr
Platforms: Nintendo Switch 1 & 2
Release Date: 18th November 2025
