Lara Croft’s adventures are anything but boring. While our favorite explorer would likely prefer a quiet day at an archaeological dig site, her escapades often take explosive and often bombastic turns. It's not unusual on any given Tuesday for Lara to find herself surrounded by baddies on top of a train careening through the desert or stuck at the top of a radio tower after being shipwrecked on a lost Japanese island. 

Here are some of the most epic moments from Lara’s adventures since 1996! 

Dinosaur Firefight in the South Pacific

Tomb Raider III 

Yeah, we can’t make up that headline. This one was way out there.  

While exploring the South Pacific for the Ora Dagger, Lara stumbles across a crashed plane – its survivors under attack by velociraptor-looking dinosaurs. The only obvious solution is to use the rocket launcher turret nearby to... well, make things go boom. Girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. 

Infiltrating the Louvre

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Who hasn’t dreamed of being locked in a museum after dark? Lara Croft got to live that fantasy when she learned that one of the Obscura Paintings lies deep beneath the iconic Louvre Gallery in Paris. These levels were basically like Night at the Museum, but with more guns and lasers.  

In true Mission: Impossible fashion, Lara navigates the Louvre’s halls, skulking around security guards and swan diving over lasers. And of course, making a quick stop to say hello to Mona Lisa. 

Climbing the Radio Tower

Tomb Raider (2013) 

Lara’s never shied away from a platforming challenge, but this one hit different. Stranded on a mysterious Japanese island, Lara has to send off an SOS in order to rescue her friends. But of course, the only way to do that is for her to climb a giant rusty radio tower. (Because nothing in life can ever be too easy for Lara.) 

Watching the then-inexperienced adventurer battle vertigo and climb the structure is an epic hero’s moment that stands among Lara’s most iconic feats in the franchise. 

Opening the Gateway to Avalon with Excalibur

Tomb Raider: Legend 

After reassembling Excalibur – the fabled sword of King Arthur – Lara uses it to open a gateway to Avalon in the Bolivian ruins. The twist? It’s not just a teleporter – it’s a gateway through time itself - which Lara uses to have an all-too-brief exchange with her mother. 

Amanda – the queen of ruining Lara’s day – intervenes, causing the gateway to explode, which makes Lara Big Mad and gives us one of her most main character energy moments in the franchise. RIP to Amanda’s hearing after this. 

The Destruction of Croft Manor

Tomb Raider: Underworld 

We couldn’t make a list of epic Tomb Raider moments without including this one. Trying to one-up Lara in the race to find Thor’s armor, Amanda and friends send Lara’s doppelgänger (Doppie, for short) to bury Lara in her home. The game starts in media res with this moment, and it was even used as the cinematic reveal trailer for the title, cementing this sequence as one of the franchise’s most memorable set pieces. 

Desert Railroad

Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation 

It seems inevitable for an action series to include a set piece moment on a moving train. 

Emerging from the Tomb of Semerkhet and in hot pursuit of her former mentor Werner Von Croy, Lara sneaks aboard a train destined for Von Croy’s next stop: Alexandria. What follows is an entire level where Lara has to navigate rattling boxcars while taking out goons armed with spinning blades that can deflect Lara’s bullets. (Rude! But also: epic.) 

Mountain Descent

Tomb Raider (2013) 

While exploring Yamatai, Lara is caught in a rapid that sends her careening down a mountainside, spitting her out in a rusty plane caught precariously on the edge of a waterfall. It’s a momentary respite before the glass breaks beneath her and she’s forced to put her trust in a questionable parachute in freefall. Nevertheless, she persisted though, opening the parachute just in time to break her fall.  

This scene was so iconic that it was recreated in 2018’s film of the same name starring Alicia Vikander. 

Escaping the Sinking Ship

Tomb Raider: Underworld 

After exploring Niflheim on the floor of the Mediterranean Sea, Lara sneaks aboard Amanda’s tanker and, naturally, gets into a skirmish with a mercenary that results in an exploded fuel tank.  

Shortly after, players get to experience a thrilling set piece where Lara must escape the sinking ship. Walls become floors as the ship capsizes, and newly exposed pipes because ladders Lara use to escape just in the nick of time. All of this is set to “God of Thunder,” one of Tomb Raider: Underworld’s most epic tracks. 

Lara Emerges from the Burning Water at the Oil Rig

Shadow of the Tomb Raider 

Did we save the best for last? Quite possibly.  

Believing Trinity has killed her closest friend Jonah, Lara takes the fight to the mercenary group at the oil rig where they’ve made camp, which... obviously can’t end without things blowing up. 

In a moment that calls back to Lara falling into the ocean when The Endurance is torn apart in Tomb Raider (2013), Lara falls into a pool of burning water where she finds new constitution through flashbacks from friends and enemies. When she emerges, she’s changed. No longer the prey, but the apex predator. This sequence of raw, unflinching rage was unlike any moment we’ve ever seen from Lara before. (And really unfortunate for the mercenaries on the receiving end!) 

What are your favorite epic moments from the franchise? Sound off on social and let us know!

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Tomb Raider III

Tomb Raider I-III Remastered

Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation

Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

Tomb Raider: Legend

Tomb Raider: Underworld

Tomb Raider (2013)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider