Rise of the Tomb Raider Walkthrough: The 11 Chapters in Order and How to Play It in 2026

Rise of the Tomb Raider Walkthrough: The 11 Chapters in Order

IGN's Rise of the Tomb Raider walkthrough is split into 11 named sections, from Mountain Peak to The Lost City. This walkthrough covers them in order, and the cleanest way to play is to follow the story missions in sequence while clearing each hub's challenge tombs, side missions and collectibles before you move on. Story-only routes leave you short on skills, gear and rewards, so treat each of the semi-open hubs as a full stop rather than a corridor. There is no multiplayer, so replay value sits in the Expeditions modes.

The 11 chapters in order

This is the full story sequence. Use it to plan a run or to check where you are.

1. Mountain Peak - Lara and Jonah trek the snowy Ural Mountains. Grab the ledge after the wind knocks you into the gorge, crawl sideways, jump right and climb. After you slip from the ice wall, swing on the safety rope and grab the right rock. The avalanche ends the chapter with Lara falling into the valley.
2. The Prophet's Tomb - Set two weeks before Siberia, in Syria. Follow the path, crawl right over the abyss and break the weak stone wall with the ice axe to exit the Lost Tomb. The Hidden Oasis section follows, then the Prophet's Tomb itself: collect the containers, read the letter and examine the fresco before you leave.
3. Siberian Wilderness
4. Soviet Installation
5. Abandoned Mines
6. Geothermal Valley
7. The Acropolis
8. Flooded Archive
9. Research Base
10. The Path to Kitezh
11. The Lost City - The campaign's climax in Kitezh itself.

Story missions versus optional content

Most walkthroughs cover the core story missions only, with collectibles, challenges, tombs and missions each getting their own sections. That split is deliberate, but it hides a trap. Skipping side content means missing challenge tomb rewards and the resources used to craft useful materials.

The rhythm that works best is simple: follow the story path through a chapter, then sweep the hub before you trigger the next one. Camps are your checkpoint for this. When you reach a new camp, tag it, spend what you have collected, and only then move on.

Clearing the semi-open hubs

Soviet Installation, Geothermal Valley and the other hubs are where challenge tombs, side missions and resource scavenging live. Resources come from plants, animals, crates and enemy bodies. Camps are where you spend them on skills, weapons and gear.

Use Survival Instinct constantly while sweeping. It highlights important objects, caches and tracks, which turns a slow search into a quick one. If you are hunting a specific challenge tomb and want a visual reference, these videos show the locations:

Core mechanics the walkthrough assumes you know

The game uses a standard control scheme built on movement, jump, ice axe, shooting, dodge and Survival Instinct. The ice axe grips flat surfaces, climbs walls and breaks weak obstacles, so any wall that looks cracked is a prompt rather than scenery.

Camps are where you upgrade skills, weapons and gear. Tag them as you pass and you will never be stranded when you decide to backtrack for a missed tomb.

Blood Ties, Lara's Nightmare and the 20 Year Celebration edition

The 20 Year Celebration edition bundles the base game and Season Pass, adding Blood Ties, a Croft Manor story, and Lara's Nightmare, a zombie mode. On PS4, Blood Ties unlocks only after you beat The Prophet's Tomb.

Blood Ties runs on its own logic and includes its own puzzles, which are separate from the campaign. Do not expect campaign skills or gear to carry you through. Treat it as a self-contained evening rather than an extension of the main run.

Which version you are playing

Release timing explains why some guides do not match your screen. The game arrived as an Xbox console exclusive first, then spread out.

The PS4 version is the one with the Blood Ties unlock quirk. If you are on PC or Xbox and your guide mentions that gate, you are reading PS4-specific advice.

Expeditions: the replay modes that replace multiplayer

Rise of the Tomb Raider has no multiplayer. Instead it offers Expeditions, which is where you go after the credits if you want more. There are four modes:

• Chapter Replay - run through chapters again.
• Chapter Replay Elite - harder replays for players who already know the layouts.
• Score Attack - scored runs that reward efficient play.
• Remnant Resistance - one of the four Expeditions modes.

If you finish the campaign and feel done, Expeditions is the reason to keep the install on your drive.

The order that makes the campaign click

Follow the 11 chapters in sequence, and treat every hub as a place to finish rather than pass through. Tag camps, sweep with Survival Instinct, clear the challenge tombs and side missions before the story moves you on, and spend your resources at every camp you touch. Do that and you will enter The Lost City with the skills and gear the finale expects, rather than scrambling through it under-levelled. Then, once the credits roll, head into Expeditions and see how fast you can do it all again.

Rise of the Tomb Raider sits between the 2013 reboot and Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the Survivor trilogy.

Sources

• IGN Rise of the Tomb Raider Walkthrough
• Wikipedia: Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Steam Community Guides: Rise of the Tomb Raider
• Tomb Raider Girl: Rise of the Tomb Raider