PS Plus subscribers are getting best ever Tomb Raider game tomorrow

June has been a great month for fans of video games so far, and it is set to get even better for the PlayStation community subscribed to PS Plus. While the Essentials are available to claim right now, we are due additions for the Extra and Premium tiers. One of these PS Plus Premium additions arriving tomorrow is the best-ever Tomb Raider video game.

The full PS Plus June 2024 Extra and Premium games lineup will be announced this week. Right now, subscribers can claim the Essential giveaways that include AEW Fight Forever, Streets Of Rage 4, and SpongeBob The Cosmic Shake. It’s not the most prolific threesome of all time, but SpongeBob The Cosmic Shake is the standout as it’s actually a very good platformer full of charm and memorable levels.

While the Essential giveaways are available to grab right now, Premium subscribers can look forward to the arrival of Tomb Raider Legend.

Tomb Raider Legend joins PS Plus Premium on June 11th

More PS2 classics are joining PS Plus Premium on June 11th. Per Sony’s blog post announcing the Days of Play sale, the imminent PS2 classics are Star Wars The Clone Wars, Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus, and Tomb Raider Legend.

It’s great news that Sony is finally adding more PS2 classics to PS Plus, and hopefully, they will all be available to purchase from the PSN store for players who don’t wish to pay the subscription fee. More Sly Cooper is always welcomed, but there is greater appeal in diving into more classic Tomb Raider following on from the fantastic Remastered trilogy released earlier this year.

Tomb Raider Legend was originally released on the PS2 in 2006, and it is arguably the best-ever video game starring Lara Croft. Regarding Legend as the greatest Tomb Raider video game is highly subjective, especially since Tomb Raider 2 has a massive following along with the recent Survivor trilogy from Crystal Dynamics.

As for why Tomb Raider Legend is arguably the best in the entire franchise, it’s because in many ways it was the perfect modernization of classic Lara Croft from the 90s. Lara Croft in the Survivor trilogy is an unrecognizable, whiny do-gooder with daddy issues, whereas in Legend she is still the charismatic and acrobatic badass from the 90s that still remains the most famous, iconic, and most beloved portrayal of Lara Croft.

Tomb Raider’s best origin still belongs to the OG PS1 series where she rebelled against her parent’s arranged marriage, which is a lot more inspiring and encouraging than the new origins introduced in Legend and the Survivor trilogy. However, even though the origin was different and much weaker, Legend still kept the core characteristics of Lara Croft while giving her a modern facelift for the technology that existed in 2006.

Not only did it keep the core characteristics of the Lara Croft persona, but Legend also kept the core characteristics of the gameplay by keeping an emphasis on puzzles with light elements of combat. Aside from a few issues with an out-of-date camera, the gameplay in Tomb Raider Legend still feels good and reminiscent of the PS1 classics, unlike the Survivor trilogy which feels like a fine third-person action shooter with tombs and puzzles shoehorned in because of the Tomb Raider name.

Unlike the Survivor trilogy also, Tomb Raider Legend kept things fresh by providing different environments and beautiful landscapes by taking Lara Croft on a globe-trotting adventure. It also introduced teammates for Lara Croft, taking inspiration from the Angelina Jolie movie, and none of the teammates were an annoying damsel in distress or a crutch of upstanding saintly virtues like Sam and Jonah in the Survivor series.

Everyone should be excited about Crystal Dynamics’ next Tomb Raider game which is currently in development using Unreal Engine 5. There is a lot of potential for Crystal Dynamics to bring back the actual Lara Croft that has been missing for over a decade, but, naturally, there’s skepticism over whether they will achieve this or if they even want to thanks to misplaced ideals.

While we eagerly await the grand reveal of the next Tomb Raider game and pray that it’s good, as soon as tomorrow we will be able to return to, and once again appreciate, arguably the best Tomb Raider video game of all time.