Rise of the Tomb Raider - Croft Manor: Blood Ties walkthrough and guide

Welcome to our Rise of the Tomb Raider - Croft Manor: Blood Ties walkthrough and guide, which takes you through the story-driven part of the expansion that takes place in Lara's childhood home (so don't expect any Lara's Nightmare zombie advice here).

Releasing alongside the PS4 version of the game - and as DLC for Xbox One and PC - it's a linear spin-off that trades action for riddles, exploration and collectible hunting, and one we had a very pleasant time exploring.

It's easy to miss some of the all-important clues, as well as solving some of its riddles, which is where the below walkthrough and collectibles list comes in handy.

Rise of the Tomb Raider - Croft Manor: Blood Ties walkthrough and guides

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Blood Ties - How to get to the Library, find the Flashlight, Lighter and Master Key
How to make your way through to the Library in the first half of the Croft Manor story.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Blood Ties - Finding the Safe Combination clues, Blank Letter, Crowbar and how to solve the final Sun Shaped Plaque riddle
Crack the safe and solve the mystery in the second half of the Croft Manor story.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Blood Ties - Relics and Documents collectible locations
Find every pick-up scattered throughout Croft Manor.

...you might also be interested in our full Rise of the Tomb Raider walkthrough too.

What you should know about Rise of the Tomb Raider - Croft Manor: Blood Ties

Here's some general pointers and advice to help you along with the Blood Ties story chapter.

• To gain access to Croft Manor content, you have to play the main Rise of the Tomb Raider game up to Siberia first (around an hour's play).
• Croft Manor is packed full of collectible Documents and Relics, and is the central way of telling the expansion's story, so collect them in the order you see them. Most are obvious and out in the open, and some are essential to completion, but there's a good chance you'll miss a few along the way; thankfully none are missable, so you can return later after the story is over to mop them up.

• Some Relics allow you to examine them further in some way. While not essential, the game will specifically say there's something else to notice, and provide a little extra story insight.
• There are several 'Gear' items that open up new areas of the Croft Manor. All of them are essential to completing the story, so don't worry if don't have one yet, you'll get it eventually and can come back later.
• On PS4, you can play the entire Blood Ties expansion using PlayStation VR.
• The expansion has a number of Achievements / Trophies to unlock - Relic Hunter (Bronze, Collect 50% of the Relics in Croft Manor), Meet the Crofts (Bronze, Collect 50% of Documents in Croft Manor), Master Detective (Bronze, Open Lord Croft's Safe), Key to the Past (Bronze, Acquire the Master Key), Legacy (Silver, Finish the Blood Ties story), Home Raider (Bronze, Collect all the Relics in Croft Manor), Complete Family History (Collect all the Documents in Croft Manor).
• As you'll discover by the end, there are three Relics that can only be uncovered once you've completed the main Rise of the Tomb Raider story. They aren't at all essential to playing, but are required before you can collect that 'Home Raider' achievement.