Just to get it out of the way immediately, when the original Tomb Raider titles came out I was not a fan. While all sorts of people were raving about the series, I couldn’t get past the seriously wonky controls, and gameplay that you could absolutely see the potential in but that never felt properly realized. After going dormant for a few generations though, the series came back with a vengeance. While I was reluctant to go back to a franchise that had fallen flat for me, I could see glimmers of hope in the footage I saw, so I took the plunge. Finally, this was the version that made me a believer, and I couldn’t be happier to see it finally coming to Nintendo fans in a form that’s incredibly satisfying.

In order to really give the gameplay the attention it deserves, we’ll get Lara herself out of the way first. Rather than picking up with her adventures well into her career, this eventual trilogy of titles did a great job of starting at the beginning, when she was still finding her footing and discovering what she was capable of when pushed. This helped turn the character around quite a bit for me, making her quite relatable and going through the shock of everything around her being pretty crazy, truly fighting to survive. While I know people aren’t terribly keen on “Quicktime segments”, in this game I always felt they were well-utilized since they came up infrequently and helped suck you into the cinematic action that you’d normally just see in cut-scenes. They make her vulnerable, disturbingly mortal since you’ll typically fail a few times and likely watch her perish in a variety of ways in the process. Rather than just being a piece of eye candy with guns, this title helps Lara feel much more real.

Of course, none of the story beats or character development would mean anything if the gameplay came up short, but what’s impressive here is the breadth of styles of play the game has, doing almost all of them very well. Exploration and traversal are buoyed by a growing number of tools that will help her get around and find her way up to those tough-to-reach spots you’ll see in the distance earlier on. Combat has a tendency to be quite tense, whether taking on wild animals, armored goons, or groups of bad guys who’ll continually try to flush you out if you linger in any particular spot too long. Then, of course, there are the typically well-designed and smart puzzles you’ll encounter when you come upon one of the game’s namesake tombs. The mixture of these elements is generally seamless, keeps gameplay from feeling bland, and demonstrates a great deal of care on the part of the original developers in crafting a top-tier experience.

Now, being brought to the Switch and Switch 2, in general it’s impressive how well it performs and even more so how well it has held up since its release. The Switch performance I’d consider quite impressive, if a bit compromised, but if it’s your only option to check this game out it’s a fair choice. With the Switch 2 I can’t say there’s any sign of compromises of any real significance, and that includes its performance in handheld mode, which made for a real treat. For anyone curious, the Switch 2 version also includes support for mouse controls, though the initial sensitivity setting is pretty ridiculous and should be adjusted down. While I’d consider that support a novelty, and good to have as an option, it’s also not terribly ideal since there are multiple buttons that get used on the right controller, and without a keyboard to accompany the mouse controls, it just feels weird honestly. Putting it all together with a very budget-friendly price tag, and for the money whether you’re simply looking to jump back into the game once more or this will be your first time playing, this is an outstanding value and a very strong port of an iconic title.