Set to end the story of where the 2013 Tomb Raider began, Shadow of the Tomb Raider by Eidos Montreal and Square Enix dives in to the personality of Lara Croft and her adventure. Somewhere, the overall messages of the game get very extreme and have left some bigger questions. Although the game is still good to play, something feels odd about it.
This time, Lara Croft takes off through Paititi, a legendary city. Her mission is to stop the Mayan apocalypse that she created. Running through and battling the military is her way, as well as getting stuck in tight spots and taking on a lot of damage. So not much has changed in that sense at least.
Since this is suppose to be the final chapter for Lara Croft to end her story from the 2013 reboot, there could have been more focus on her personality. Her descent into the jungle is one thing but there seems to be a recurring theme that everything is Croft’s fault. For the most part she starts the game severely injured and then every fight after that point, and even death, is very violent and seemingly over the top. These problems for her don’t make anything clear about who she is as a person. Croft is also suppose to be experienced at what she does now already. These things don’t match up well when looking at the game as a whole.
As always however, the game looks stunning. The design and color palette are filled with the right balance and shadows. Croft is also equipped with weapons of choice, but has to craft as well. In this semi-open world, Croft can partake in side path quests to open tombs and do puzzles to reveal more items to craft what she needs. The puzzles are closely related to the ones in Uncharted so some players will find them easier than others at times.
Swimming is now a feature in the game and the developers used feedback to adjust how long Croft can now hold her breath underwater. Mechanically the game controls like Rise, the previous Tomb Raider, but Croft can now rappel down cliffs, which comes in handy. In combination with these additions, stealth is very important because this now helps Croft remove herself from battle and hide, craft and do anything else that may be important, like not dying.
Overall, the biggest thought on this is, has this story gone on too long? Shadow of the Tomb Raider seems to be putting Croft up against everything and exhausting the limits she originally had (not wanting to kill anyone). There appears to be violence and gore just for the sake of violence and gore and no real wrapping up of the plot at hand. The game still plays well and is what we can all expect of a Tomb Raider game, but this time, the game seems to leave too many unanswered questions.
7/10
Available on PS4, Xbox and PC
