Curve of all 15 levels of Tomb Raider 1996

• Green curve is the Real difficulty, this is the one that we need to take a look. The progression seems interesting, the difficulty increased​. The game is cut in 4 areas :

  • Peru (Level 1-4)

  • Greece (Level 5-9)

  • Egypt (Level 10-12)

  • Atlantis (Level 13-15)

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•  Peru  : Levels have an interesting difficulty progression, with a really easy first level, no big challenge and it looks like the game isn't really hard. For a first part of a game, that sound like a good point.

  • I said at the beginning​ of this article that this method can't be as much accurate as player experience. Because even if the curve shows a good progression, the level 3 of Peru, players experiment the T-Rex ! And the level design, the staging before his arrival, the music, the atmosphere, all of this create a stress pick to the player. All the players I saw play this level, including me, can tell that the T-rex is THE challenge of Peru.

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• Greece : First level (Level 5) looks TOO hard comparing to its position in the game. There is too much deadly jump, which it can be frustrating. But other levels are interesting, player switch between a challenge level and an easy level. Then the last level, level 9, offers a boss fight to conclude Greece.

  • To be honest I'm not really surprise of this part of the curve. St Francys Folly is on the top 3 hardest levels for players. When I played it as a kid, I remember how many time I missed a jump and fell. The level design is one of the biggest platform challenge of the game.​

  • If I do a review as a game-level designer here, I still think that there may be a problem. My first reflex would be to consider fixing my level. 

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• Egypt : Levels have good difficulty increased, it's after the middle of the game, so situation starting to be very punitive. Now it seems that developpers want to challenge players.

  • I have the feeling that this part of the curve is accurate. Egypte levels are hard, 3rd area, level design and enemies put Lara into more deadly situation.​

  • Sanctuary of Scion is for most of the player the 2nd hardest level. The curve show a difficulty climax. But again, players experience, including mine, gave me the feeling that this level is harder than what the curve seems to pretend.

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• Atlantis : Here we go, Atlandis ! The last area, lava, mutant, doppelganger... Levels offer big challenge and huge difficulty, it's time to conclude and torture players as much as we can.

  • Natla's mine, no weapon, a lot of back-tracking, maze situation, lava, boulder... and you though that Sanctuary of Scion was hard... To be honest, I'm happy with the result of the curve for this level. Clearly, Natla's mine is here to tell you "Welcome in hell". Players feel that this is the last part, he becomes familiar with a new environment.​

  • The great pyramid : last level difficulty on curve, pretty accurate. It's the last level, you have 2 boss fight, torso guy with billion on HP and Natla. Plus, level design IS HARD. You will die burned or a missed jump in this level far more times than killed by the torso guy. There is a climax of all the toughest level design situations. Timing reflex and decision making are put to the test.

  • Atlantis : Once again, the difficulty of this part of the curve remind me how much player experience and feedbacks are crucial. Atlantis is the hardest level of the game for most of the player, including me. Level design, a lot of mutant enemies, lava, trap, environment, heartbeat SFX behind, all are reunited to create a stress and fear climax to the player. If you tell to someone that Atlantis is mathematically not really that harder than Natla's mine, he won't believe you and I'm not believing myself too.