The VR modding and classic gaming communities achieved a major milestone this week as Team Beef officially released Beef Raider XR.
This pioneering mod takes the 1996 classic Tomb Raider and catapults it into the realm of modern VR, as well as Mixed Reality, with players stepping into the boots of Lara Croft or commanding her across their living rooms in third-person. We covered an early version of the mod and, even in its pre-release state, it already showed huge potential.
One of the masterminds behind this transformation is none other than Simon Brown, AKA Dr. Beef to the VR community. Together with a dedicated team at Team Beef, the group has consistently delivered fully immersive VR ports of beloved classics spanning back to the early days of the Gear VR. Beef Raider XR is the latest achievement, offering Quest and PCVR gamers a chance to relive Tomb Raider’s iconic adventures, but this time with the option of a first-person perspective and six degrees of freedom.
What’s New in the 1.0 Release?
The full 1.0 release of Beef Raider XR brings a few enhancements and some additional polish to the game. The transition from a third-person platformer to a full-fledged first-person VR adventure is now complete, allowing players to experience the iconic world of Lara Croft in an entirely new way. This shift delivers an amazing sense of immersion, as players experience the world through Lara’s eyes… Well, the world as seen through the lens of 1996 graphics.
Even though the game retains its original assets, the first-person VR transformation delivers an exceptional level of immersion. To make all this work, players need to use the original Tomb Raider files from the 1996 release or from the recent remaster, but either way, those nostalgic graphics and blocky triangles remain intact.
Gameplay Enhancements and Challenges
With the move to a first-person perspective and 6DoF, plus a dash of Mixed Reality, some players might encounter a bit of a learning curve at first as they get used to playing this classic platformer in a fully immersive way.
The original jumping and climbing elements were never designed for a first-person view, which can feel rough for some initially. Team Beef recognized this and incorporated a way to toggle between first and third-person views, helping smooth out those tricky sections.
Gameplay example provided by Team Beef
The movement controls, initially a concern due to the original game’s limitations, have also seen significant improvements. Team Beef used a variation of classic pre-analog stick directional pad controls but modified them for better comfort in VR. Overall, the system works incredibly well playing in third person full VR as well as in the game’s Mixed Reality mode. Proper left-handed support is also now complete in the release build and its more polished feel ensures more refined gameplay experience.
A Major Milestone for VR Modding
The Beef Raider XR mod features a number of groundbreaking additions. UploadVR reached out to Brown to check in on what completing this project means for Team Beef:
“The highlight of this particular port was the fact that it allowed us to play around with mixed reality…because in 3rd person Lara helpfully does the aiming for you, it meant we could try things with this port that we haven’t with others….one of our discord members mentioned it would be interesting to see if mixed reality would work, and from there it was something of an interesting journey. Ironically, the actual Mixed Reality part was pretty simple to implement, but the control scheme and the ridiculous calculations for position and rotation and the ability to manipulate the world scale and position wrecked my head for many days!”
Beef Raider XR
We’ve been watching this port for some time and it’s a game-changer for fans of the Tomb Raider series and VR modding enthusiasts alike. Reliving Lara Croft’s original adventures has never felt so vivid.
For players eager to explore the mod, more information can be found on Team Beef’s Patreon page or via SideQuestVR.
