The mission is straightforward-destroy three flying skulls, find a master key, and defeat the boss-but that does not mean it is easy. ‘Lara’s Nightmare’, meanwhile, sees Croft Manor invaded by zombies.
This is by no means a deal breaker as the experience of being literally placed inside Croft Manor is a profound one and a superb added extra for those with the means to access it. It is worth bearing in mind that if you decide to play ‘Blood Ties’ using PSVR, the default controls are set the way they are for a very good reason-the alternative twin stick controls can cause severe motion sickness in some players after only a brief period of play.
That being said, it may have been more fun had Crystal Dynamics recreated the mansion as it was in earlier incarnations and given players free reign to abuse the butler and swan dive from gym equipment as in Tomb Raider 2. ‘Blood Ties’ is also a clever way to familiarise players with the layout of the mansion before they take on ‘Lara’s Nightmare’, the other new mode set in Croft Manor, meaning that the old mansion still works as a kind of training level. Despite these changes to the layout of Croft Manor, finding out a little more about Lara’s early years is a lot of fun and contains plenty of knowing nods and winks to the original series. Still, we are still firmly in reboot territory so things were always going to be a little different. Winston is gone, the gym in the ballroom has been dismantled, and young Lara has not yet installed a pool instead, a large tree occupies the West Wing. It was great to be home, but, like the reimagined Lara in the new adventures, home is not the same as I fondly remembered it.
Having fond memories of playing the original series back on the PS1, returning to the mansion came with mixed feelings. Instead, the mission takes Lara down memory lane, remembering the time she spent with Winston the butler as a kid (including her love of locking the poor bugger in the freezer), and players even discover why Lara flexes her shoulder during her idle animation. Players are restrained from shooting anything while wandering around the dusty old mansion. ‘Blood Ties’ sends Lara on a scavenger hunt around Croft Manor to find her father’s will, in order to prove her right to the estate. The first piece is an hour-long story mission called ‘Blood Ties’ (also playable with PSVR), and the other is a score attack mode called ‘Lara’s Nightmare’ in which players must survive for as long as possible while under attack from hordes of zombies. The bulk of the new content in the 20th anniversary edition is set in Croft Manor.
This 20 Year Celebration edition also introduces co-op support for Endurance mode, which is a Don’t Starve-style hunt for food and resources while trying not to snuff it. The main game also receives an extreme survivor difficulty that removes all checkpoints from the campaign, along with plenty of new outfits and ‘classic’ skins, which replace Lara with her Tomb Raider 2, 3, or Angel of Darkness models. They may have had to wait a year, but they are receiving the best edition of one of last year’s best games (you can read Nick’s original review here), as well as all of its DLC, including the fantastically trippy ‘Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch’ and the borderline-survival-horror of ‘Cold Darkness Awakened’.
It is safe to say that PS4 owners have been the ‘winners’ in the whole Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity debacle.