It's always nice when Easter eggs appear in remakes and remasters that honor the original game. And in the recent Tomb Raider remaster, they pay homage to a very special friend.
I only have vague memories of most games from my childhood (unless I played them again later). One of these games is Tomb Raider 2. This may also be because my younger self was simply too unskilled at the complicated controls and therefore didn't see much of the game anyway.
But what I do remember very well, and probably many others do too, is Lara Croft's loyal butler Winston. Unfortunately, I didn't show him the respect he deserved back then. And that won't change in the Tomb Raider Remaster, either.
Tomb Raider Remaster Rewards You For Bullying Your Butler
Explore lost ruins? Defend against cave bears in nerve-wracking battles? Solve unnecessarily complicated puzzles at the end of insanely difficult jump-and-run passages? Who wastes their time doing that when you can just as easily annoy Lara Croft's butler? Let's be honest: Who didn't take laughably long attempts to lock poor butler Winston in the freezer back then?
Meanwhile, the aging soul of the mansion has become a true legend. A legend that, thanks to the Tomb Raider Remaster, we can now admire in HD. But that's not all we've been blessed with.
What used to be a diabolical prank that Tomb Raider players devised to procrastinate the actual adventure is now genuine content. Because if you successfully lock poor Winston in the freezer again, you not only earn an achievement, but also get to enjoy an entirely new image. If you release Winston from the freezer again, the old friend greets you with his new, cool look. He turns into an ice statue.
On Steam, so far 5.5% of all players have earned the achievement "TR2 Crime and Punishment". The prank is therefore one of the more common achievements. But that doesn't surprise me at all, especially when I consider that back then it was practically the only content for me.
It's nice to see that old memories occasionally find their way into the present, especially when they make it as an official Easter egg into a remaster.