Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis — puzzles and combat in Peru

Crystal Dynamics, with support from Flying Wild Hog, presented a hands-on demo of Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis at Summer Game Fest 2026. The demo took place in the Lost Valley area set in Peru and focused on a redesigned cog puzzle, exploration, and combat against raptors and a tyrannosaurus rex. The game is scheduled to launch on Feb. 12, 2027.

The cog puzzle sits in a shallow pond and requires two gears to stop a waterfall and open a hidden door. The demo provided one gear nearby while the second had to be located by following environmental clues and side paths rather than relying on explicit on-screen waypoints. The opening segment contained no combat and emphasized searching ruined buildings, diving into pools and finding handholds to reach hidden areas. Collectibles and rare materials appeared in side areas, indicating a crafting system that was not shown in detail in the demo.

Jeff Adams, Experience Director at Crystal Dynamics, argued the team wanted players to discover routes and clues: “If we put you in the boots of Lara Croft, and then hand you a map, or give you Waze directions on where to go, you’re going to feel like, ‘Where’s the challenge in that? Where’s the connection to the character and the headspace that she’s at?'” The studio also provides settings to increase navigation help and to adjust puzzle and combat difficulty independently so players can tailor the level of guidance.

Traversal uses familiar inputs: Circle to dive while swimming, Circle for evasive rolls and dives in combat, X for hanging and timed leaps, and Triangle to fire a grappling hook across large gaps. Players can release from horizontal poles with timed X presses. The demo showed platforming and quick climbing as core movement; movement retained a slight floatiness similar to earlier Tomb Raider titles while using modern camera and control behavior.

Combat in the demo emphasized mobility. Raptors attacked in groups and required rolling, dodging and continual movement to avoid strikes. Lara fires twin pistols by holding R2 and tightens aim with L2. Damaging enemies builds Focus, which can be spent with R1 to trigger a gymnastic flip while time briefly slows, allowing shots during evasive maneuvers. Raul Siqueira, game director at Crystal Dynamics, described the intent for combat and traversal to share the same movement language: “Lara in combat needs to move the same way that she moves in traversal, she needs to move the same way that she does with her puzzles, it needs to be distinctively hers.”

The demo concluded with a set-piece chase after a T‑rex forced its way into the jungle, requiring quick platforming, sliding down a muddy slope and fast climbs to avoid the predator. The sequence ended on a cliffhanger in the demo. Crystal Dynamics says Legacy of Atlantis draws on elements from the original Tomb Raider and the 2007 Anniversary remake while using current production values. The game will release Feb. 12, 2027.