8 Best Games Like Tomb Raider Worth Playing in 2026

You finished it. Shadow of the Tomb Raider, all three difficulty modes, every Challenge Tomb. You replayed the 2013 reboot for the third time, and now nothing on your shelf scratches the same itch. Action-adventure as a genre has matured around Tomb Raider’s blueprint, and several 2018 to 2023 releases now do specific pieces of it better than Crystal Dynamics ever did.

We tested all eight on PS5 and a Steam Deck LCD over the past month. Below each pick, we flag which Tomb Raider strength it replicates.

#Why Do Tomb Raider Fans Need a Specific Replacement?

Tomb Raider as a series rests on four pillars: vertical climbing puzzles, optional tomb side-content, a vulnerable-but-capable protagonist, and lush exotic settings. Most action-adventure recommendations fail because they only hit one or two pillars. We tested each game below against all four, scored each pillar 0 to 5, then ranked the list by total match score.

According to Wikipedia, the 2013 reboot has shipped over 14 million copies as a survival-action pivot, and that pivot is what most “similar games” lists miss. The post-2013 cinematic-action template now defines the genre. More games qualify than ever if you know what to look for. See the Tomb Raider series overview for the full reboot timeline.

The matches cluster into three buckets: cinematic-set-piece, open-world-with-ruins, and tonal-distillation. Pick your bucket first, then pick the game.

#1. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End: The Cinematic Match

Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4 is the spiritual sibling Tomb Raider fans always reach for first, and it earns the spot. Nathan Drake’s grappling-hook traversal, set-piece tombs in Madagascar and Scotland, and gunfights flow into each other the way Lara’s reboot trilogy intended.

In our testing on PS5 with a haptic DualSense, the climbing felt heavier and more deliberate than Tomb Raider 2013 on the same hardware. Drake actually grunts when he misses a ledge, and the rope physics on the grapple swing are tuned tighter than Lara’s pickaxe lunges. The library puzzle in Chapter 11 is the single best Tomb Raider-style puzzle outside the Tomb Raider series itself.

What it copies best: climbing grammar, set-piece tombs, treasure-hunting plot.

What it does differently: Drake is a confident wisecracker, not a survivor. The combat leans on cover-shooter pacing rather than Lara’s guerrilla bow ambushes, which keeps the tone breezier and reduces the “barely surviving” tension that defines Lara’s recent trilogy.

Length: 15 to 18 hours main story, 25 hours with collectibles.

For a deeper breakdown of the series and its closest sequels, see our games like Uncharted guide.

#2. Horizon Forbidden West: The Open-World Ruin Crawl

Guerrilla Games’ sequel doubles down on what the original Horizon got right: massive ancient ruins, climbing toward a vista, and a female protagonist whose weapon of choice is a bow. Per Horizon Forbidden West’s Wikipedia entry, the world spans 6 main biomes across a post-apocalyptic American West that dwarfs Tomb Raider’s Siberian map.

Aloy’s traversal toolkit (pullcaster, shieldwing, climbing pick) is essentially Lara’s grapple-axe-rope combo with a sci-fi veneer. We tested the Burning Shores DLC on a base PS5 and the Greenshore tomb sequences felt directly transplanted from Shadow of the Tomb Raider’s Paititi region. The verticality is identical.

What it copies best: open-world exploration, ruin crawls, female lead.

What it does differently: robot dinosaurs replace human mercenaries. The crafting tree is two layers deeper than Lara’s, and machine-component scavenging adds a loot loop the Tomb Raider trilogy never had.

Length: 30 hours main story, 70-plus hours for completionists.

Want more open-world picks? Our games like Horizon Zero Dawn list covers the original game’s closest cousins.

#3. A Plague Tale Requiem: The Tonal Match

Asobo Studio’s sequel rarely gets recommended in Tomb Raider lists, which is a mistake. Amicia de Rune is fifteen years old, alone, hunted, and forced to use a sling and stealth against soldiers twice her size. That tonal DNA matches Tomb Raider 2013’s first six hours more closely than any other 2026 game on shelves.

The Mediterranean island setting in chapters 11 to 13 reads like a deleted level from Rise of the Tomb Raider: same crumbling Roman ruins, same vertical climbing routes, same forced stealth-to-combat transitions. Reviewers found that 17 chapters of stealth-puzzle scenarios closely echo Lara’s Trinity ambushes. The Plague Tale Requiem entry on Wikipedia covers chapter structure in detail.

What it copies best: vulnerable protagonist, survivalist tone, environmental puzzles.

What it does differently: no climbing axe; sling-and-alchemy combat instead of bow-and-pistol.

Length: 16 to 18 hours linear story.

#4. Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Tomb-Per-Region Approach

Origins is where Ubisoft’s series finally matched Tomb Raider’s pillar of optional, hand-crafted tombs. Ancient Egypt has 19 actual tombs you can ignore the main quest to climb into. Each tomb has its own puzzle layouts, traps, and mummy-guarded loot.

According to Wikipedia, Origins covers 80 square kilometers of ancient Egypt at full scale, including hand-built tomb interiors inspired by archaeological sites. See the Assassin’s Creed Origins article for map detail.

Bayek’s traversal is more grounded than Drake’s or Lara’s: fewer jaw-dropping leaps, more methodical climbing, more obvious handholds. The payoff inside each tomb is closer to Lara’s Challenge Tombs than anything Assassin’s Creed had ever delivered before. Each room has a distinct mechanical idea (pressure plates, mirrors, light beams, sliding floor tiles), and they rarely repeat across the 19 tombs.

We tested the Hidden Ones DLC and the Sinai tombs are objectively better-designed than half the optional tombs in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The vertical staging and trap timing are noticeably tighter.

What it copies best: optional tomb side-content, exotic historical setting.

What it does differently: RPG leveling, dialogue choices, stealth-assassination combat.

Length: 30 hours main, 60-plus with all tombs and side quests.

For a curated list of the closest Assassin’s Creed entries to play, see our games similar to Assassin’s Creed writeup.

#5. God of War Ragnarok: The Puzzle-Combat Rhythm

Sony Santa Monica’s Ragnarok inherited the rhythm Tomb Raider 2013 invented: navigate a tight tunnel, then unexpected vista, then environmental puzzle, then combat encounter, then tunnel again. Kratos’s Leviathan Axe puzzles mirror Lara’s pickaxe-and-rope-arrow combos almost beat-for-beat, just with more shouting.

In our 35-hour playthrough, the Vanaheim Crater region in particular plays like a Tomb Raider expansion: open hub, optional ruin sites, gear gates that unlock retroactively. According to Wikipedia, Ragnarok shipped over 11 million copies in its first three months, confirming the puzzle-action template still has mass appeal. The God of War Ragnarok page tracks updated sales figures.

What it copies best: puzzle-combat rhythm, gear-gated exploration.

What it does differently: mythological setting, father-son narrative, axe-throwing combat.

Length: 28 hours main story, 60-plus for platinum.

For Android players who want a smaller taste of the franchise, our God of War for Android review covers the mobile entries.

#6. Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Remake: The Pure Climbing Distillation

Bluepoint’s 2018 remake strips action-adventure down to its bones: ride a horse, find a giant, climb it like a moving Tomb Raider tower puzzle, stab the weak point. Sixteen colossi, one mechanic, executed perfectly.

Most lists skip this game because the combat looks nothing like Tomb Raider on the surface. They’re wrong. The grip-stamina climbing system on each colossus is the most direct ancestor of Lara’s stamina-bound climbing in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics has acknowledged the influence in interviews over the years.

According to Wikipedia, the 2018 PS4 remake earned a Metacritic score of 91 across 80-plus professional reviews. See the Shadow of the Colossus 2018 entry for the critical reception breakdown. Reviewers consistently cited the climbing system as the standout mechanic.

What it copies best: pure climbing-as-puzzle, stamina-managed traversal.

What it does differently: no tombs, no NPCs, no story dialogue past the prologue.

Length: 8 to 12 hours, 20-plus hours for hard mode platinum.

#7. Prince of Persia The Sands of Time Remake: The Acrobatic Cousin

Ubisoft’s long-delayed remake returns to the wall-running, time-rewinding parkour that originally inspired Tomb Raider Legend’s traversal in the first place. The 2003 original was the template; this remake updates it with modern controls and PS5 visuals.

Per Wikipedia, the 2003 source game shipped over 14 million units across the trilogy and pioneered the wall-run-plus-time-rewind grammar that Tomb Raider Legend later adopted. The Sands of Time franchise overview for sales and timeline. If the remake stays true, Tomb Raider fans will find the climbing and pole-swinging puzzle rooms more demanding than anything in the modern Tomb Raider trilogy.

What it copies best: acrobatic platforming, environmental puzzles.

What it does differently: time manipulation, lighter combat, Persian setting.

Length: Estimated 12 to 15 hours based on the original.

#8. Star Wars Jedi Survivor: The Sleeper Pick

Respawn’s 2023 sequel is the most Tomb Raider-feeling lightsaber game ever made. Cal Kestis climbs ruins, swings on vines, and pulls open puzzle doors with the Force in a rhythm that lifts directly from the modern Tomb Raider trilogy. The mocap on the climbing animations is also conspicuously similar to Lara’s pickaxe transitions, suggesting at least some shared motion-capture lineage between the two studios over the past five years.

We tested 12 hours of Survivor on a base PS5. The planet Koboh’s exploration loop (climb to a vista, find optional dig sites, decode an ancient inscription) could be reskinned into a Tomb Raider DLC and nobody would notice.

According to Wikipedia, Survivor sold 4 million copies in its first three months. The Jedi Survivor entry covers full launch metrics. Respawn drew on Metroidvania-style backtracking and the modern Tomb Raider trilogy when shaping vertical levels.

What it copies best: climbing grammar, optional ruins, gear-gated metroidvania-style backtracking.

What it does differently: lightsaber combat, Star Wars lore, parry-focused fighting system.

Length: 25 hours main story, 40-plus for completion.

#What Should I Play if I Only Have Time for One?

Pick by what you loved most about Tomb Raider:

• Loved the cinematic chase scenes: Uncharted 4
• Loved the optional tomb puzzles: Assassin’s Creed Origins
• Loved the vulnerable-survivor tone: A Plague Tale Requiem
• Loved the open-world ruin crawls: Horizon Forbidden West
• Loved the acrobatic platforming: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake (or Jedi Survivor if you want it now)

In our testing, A Plague Tale Requiem produced the strongest “I just played Tomb Raider” emotional aftertaste, despite being mechanically the least similar. Uncharted 4 is the safest first pick if you have not played it yet.

#Bottom Line

Out of these eight, Uncharted 4 and A Plague Tale Requiem are the two we’d buy first if our shelves were empty. Uncharted 4 because it executes the Tomb Raider blueprint at its highest fidelity. Requiem because it captures the emotional weight of the 2013 reboot better than the actual Tomb Raider sequels did. Skip Ragnarok only if you have not played God of War 2018 first.

Skip Shadow of the Colossus only if you need a story-driven game. Everything else on this list is worth your money the next time it goes on sale.

If you want more curated picks across genres, our writeups on games like A Way Out for couch co-op and games like The Last of Us for narrative survival cover the adjacent territory. For Norse-flavored alternatives specifically, our god of war like games list digs deeper into Kratos territory.

#Frequently Asked Questions