Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration: DLC Guide

What Does the 20 Year Celebration Edition Include?

Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 year celebration bundles Lara’s Siberian adventure with the Season Pass, additional modes, and anniversary extras. The package adds everything from a quiet investigation inside Croft Manor to wilderness survival with a friend. For returning players, the key purchase decision is whether you need the full game or additional content for an existing copy.

The main campaign follows Lara’s search for the Lost City of Kitezh while Trinity pursues its secrets. Exploration, environmental puzzles, resource gathering, and combat form the core adventure. You can hunt animals for crafting materials, customize weapons and ammunition, and use trees or water to approach enemies.

The bundled additions expand that adventure in several directions:

• Blood Ties: A story chapter exploring Croft Manor and Lara’s family history.
• Lara’s Nightmare: A combat mode that fills the manor with zombies.
• Endurance Mode and online Co-Op Endurance: Wilderness survival alone or with a friend.
• Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch: An additional story adventure involving an ancient terror.
• Cold Darkness Awakened: Combat against waves of infected enemies.
• Anniversary extras: Extreme Survivor difficulty, classic Lara models, and gear inspired by Tomb Raider III.

Blood Ties and Lara’s Nightmare: Two Sides of Croft Manor

Image: Steam / Crystal Dynamics

Blood Ties shifts the focus from dangerous expeditions to Lara’s childhood home. Exploring the manor means investigating her parents’ past, uncovering family memories, and working through a mystery tied to her claim on the estate.

Expect exploration and puzzles rather than the campaign’s steady rhythm of combat encounters. Lord Croft’s office and the manor’s basement help turn a familiar family name into a place with its own history. Take time to explore these spaces if Lara’s backstory interests you.

Lara’s Nightmare uses the same setting for a different kind of challenge. Zombies invade Croft Manor, turning its rooms and corridors into combat spaces. The mode includes replayable challenges, giving you a reason to return beyond the family mystery.

Keep the distinction in mind when choosing what to play: Blood Ties centers on investigation, while Lara’s Nightmare centers on defending the manor.

Endurance, Baba Yaga, and Cold Darkness Awakened

Endurance takes the game’s survival systems beyond the main campaign. Food, supplies, and exposure become central concerns as you explore dangerous wilderness environments.

Image: Steam / Crystal Dynamics

The anniversary package adds online Co-Op Endurance, letting you tackle those conditions with another player. This cooperative survival mode is separate from the single-player campaign. Coordinate food and supply gathering with your partner so exploration does not pull attention away from staying alive.

The other major DLC adventures offer different challenges:

• Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch adds a story built around a mysterious threat and a new tomb. Its advertised story length is three hours.
• Cold Darkness Awakened pits Lara against waves of infected enemies, placing greater emphasis on combat than the manor’s investigative chapter.

Choose Baba Yaga when you want another story to explore, or Cold Darkness Awakened when you want to fight infected enemies.

Classic Lara Models, Bonus Gear, and Extreme Survivor

The anniversary extras include five classic Lara Croft models for Expedition modes. Their mode restriction matters when planning where to use them.

Image: Steam / Crystal Dynamics

There is also a cold-weather outfit and a weapon inspired by Tomb Raider III. The Season Pass content includes eight outfits, seven weapons, and over 35 Expedition Cards, alongside previously released preorder outfits, weapons, and cards.

Extreme Survivor adds another difficulty setting for the main campaign. Select it if you want to take on the Siberian adventure at that setting; the separate survival and infected-enemy modes provide other ways to extend your time with the game.

Blood Ties VR and PC Features

Blood Ties supports an optional VR experience. On SteamVR, the chapter supports HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, letting you explore Croft Manor from Lara’s perspective. The SteamVR update is free, but you still need access to the Blood Ties content.

The PlayStation 4 version also offers Blood Ties through PlayStation VR. Its comfort movement option uses teleportation, while the free movement option provides continuous movement. Choose comfort movement if smooth VR movement makes you feel dizzy.

For PC players, the broader package includes:

• Windows, macOS, and Linux versions.
• Full controller support.
• Steam Cloud support.
• 143 Steam achievements.

VR support applies to Blood Ties; the main campaign remains a separate experience.

Should Existing Owners Buy the Full Package?

If you already own the standard edition, compare your existing DLC with the additional content before buying another full-game package. Blood Ties is included in the Season Pass and is also available through the 20 Year Celebration Pack DLC.

For a new purchase, the full edition brings the campaign and Season Pass content together. Open the Rise of the Tomb Raider Steam page to compare the available purchase options with what is already in your library.