Rise of the Tomb Raider for macOS

Description

Cold Resistance is one of the first skills you unlock, and it tells you exactly what kind of game this is. You are not just raiding tombs. You are surviving a wilderness that wants you dead, from the Syrian heat to the Siberian snow.

Lara’s expedition to uncover the secret of immortality plays out as a third-person action-adventure with a strong crafting loop. You scavenge for resources, upgrade your gear, and solve environmental puzzles inside genuinely impressive ancient spaces. The tombs are the highlight — quiet, clever, and a welcome break from the gunfights.

For fans of the 2013 reboot and unhurried hub exploration

• Players who enjoyed the 2013 reboot and want more of that Lara — resourceful, driven, and a bit ruthless.
• Anyone who likes exploring at their own pace. The hub areas reward wandering off the main path.
• Puzzle fans. The optional challenge tombs are the best-designed bits of the whole game.

Expect frequent firefights and Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon

• The combat is frequent and sometimes feels at odds with the quiet exploration. If you prefer pure adventuring, expect a lot of firefights.
• This is an Intel build. It runs on Apple Silicon Macs through Rosetta 2, but an M1 or later chip is not officially listed in the support notes.
• The story goes big on a lost prophet and a secret society. It is pulpy, not subtle — entertaining if you lean into it.

Drop Camera Bob to 30% before it gives you a headache

The default camera bob is aggressive enough to give some players a headache. Drop into the Gameplay menu and pull the Camera Bob slider down to about 30%. You will still get the sense of movement without the seasickness.

Next, turn off the Survival Instinct glow effect. The skill is useful — it highlights resources and objectives in gold — but the pulsing shimmer it adds to the screen gets old fast. The toggle is under the Graphics section, labelled Survival Instinct Glow. Switch it off and the same highlighting still works, just cleaner.

Mouse smoothing is on by default and makes aiming feel like dragging the crosshair through mud. Go to Controls, find Mouse Smoothing, and set it to zero. While you are there, bind a secondary key for melee attacks — the default single-key layout crowds too many actions onto one hand during combat.

A tomb run from start to finish

Start from the Soviet Installation camp. Fast-travel there, craft a few molotovs at the fire, and head east toward the cliff path. The Voice of God tomb entrance is tucked into a cave mouth halfway down the ravine, half-hidden by dead trees.

Inside, you hit the main room — a circular chamber with a frozen waterfall, a central pillar, and a shatterable ice wall on the upper ledge. The puzzle wants you to redirect a water stream to thaw the ice, then fling something through it. Here is the simplest route:

1. Shoot the wooden barrier at the top left with a rope arrow and pull it down. That releases a hanging log.
2. Use the log to swing across to the far platform and crank the valve wheel. Water now flows into the main basin.
3. Run back down, hop onto the floating raft the water just freed, and ride it to the far side.
4. Throw a molotov at the ice wall from the raft. The raft drifts — time the throw when it lines up.
5. Jump through the broken ice, grab the Codex, and climb out through the exit tunnel.

The whole thing takes under five minutes once you know the steps. The tomb hands you the Ancient Abilities skill — a faster bow draw that makes the next combat encounter noticeably smoother. The Siberian wilderness has enough wolves and Trinity patrols that you will feel the difference immediately.

What’s new

Adds the 20 Year Celebration edition content. Adds official eGPU support for macOS.

Requirements

• macOS 10.13.4 or later
• Intel processor, 2.3GHz or faster
• 8GB RAM
• 1.5GB graphics memory
• 36GB free disk space