In the Croft Manor chapter "Blood Ties", among the many letters you can find in the manor, some of them are written by Winston (the butler of the Croft family). In one of his letters, he describes an incident where Lara, as a young girl, lured and locked him into the refrigerator room. This is a clear reference to Tomb Raider II (1997), where it is possible to lock Winston in such a room. In that game, you can freely roam the Croft Manor, exploring things or climb obstacles, while the feeble Winston would constantly follow the player around slowly carrying his serving tray. However, players of the game became frequently annoyed by the butler and the sound that his rattling serving tray was making due to his shaky hands. As a result, players discovered that they could lock him up inside the refrigerator room so that they could peacefully explore the manor without any distractions.
At the title screen of the game, among all the articles of newspaper clippings, there is one with the main article in bold saying "University Shooting Leaves 8 Dead, 10
Wounded." This is a reference to the novel "Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals" written by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent. The novel is about the journey that Lara goes through between the first game and second game where she helps save her friend Sam Nishimura from the ordeal on the island of Yamatai.
Upon finding one of the relics in the game, Lara will say: "Another sculpture, but this one appears to be a game." Searching the relic further will lead her to say: "These pieces look familiar... I know I've seen something like these before..." The pieces are a reference to the game Tetris (1984), and surprisingly enough all of the pieces from said game can be seen by looking hard enough.
This game was originally an X-Box One exclusive, release on November 10, 2015. A Windows version was released on January 28, 2016. For the Playstation 4 release, a special version was made to celebrate the franchises' 20th Anniversary. This version included all downloadable content for the game, including special "skins" which enabled the player to have Lara appear as her earlier versions. Also included was a new mission, Blood Ties, that used the Playstation VR.
The trailer shows Lara Croft on a cliffside overlooking a mountain range. It was originally thought that Lara would be travelling the world, but it was later told by the developers the setting is in Siberia.