Tomb Raider is a 1996 PC (DOS / Windows) game from Core Design, catalogued here for 5 defining game mechanics.
PC (DOS / Windows)1996Complexity 58/1003DPopular
Tomb Raider is a 1996 action-adventure game developed by Core Design and published by Eidos Interactive as the debut entry in the Tomb Raider media franchise. It was first released on the Sega Saturn, followed shortly by versions for MS-DOS and the PlayStation. (via Wikipedia)
The genre Tomb Raider helped define
3D action-adventure. third-person exploration of true 3D space, with the camera behind the character and platforming measured in depth.
The game mechanics of Tomb Raider
Ability Gated TraversalTraversalSpecific movement abilities acquired during play retrospectively unlock previously inaccessible map areas.
Boss EncounterCombatA single high-health enemy with unique scripted behavior and distinct phases serves as a gated progress challenge.
Real Time Action CombatCombatCombat resolves continuously in real time; player inputs compete directly with enemy behavior each frame.
Weapon SwitchingCombatPlayer carries multiple discrete weapons with different properties; active weapon is selected from inventory.
Environmental PuzzlePuzzleSolution requires interacting with fixed world objects in a specific sequence or configuration.
Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.
Study the source
Open-source engine (BSD-2-Clause). OpenLara is an open-source engine; needs the original Tomb Raider level data. https://github.com/XProger/OpenLara