All good characters that exist within good stories have both merits and flaws to them, which makes them interesting. No one wants to be Superman all the time, as it leads to a boring and uninteresting character that is too invincible for their own good. A Batman is what you need to keep characters grounded. That said, call me fascinated that Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix went all-in on the idea that maybe, just maybe our favorite Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, isn’t perfect. In fact, she’s quite imperfect in a Batman sort of way. While she has been toted as an unbelievable badass from decade to decade, her most recent adventure takes away everything and exposes her as someone we never imagined her being — human. Our superhero can get hurt, and hurt bad.
The story for Shadow of the Tomb Raider revolves around Lara being brought down to reality for her actions, while raiding a specific tomb that contains an apocalypse triggering knife. Once the knife is removed, a series of consequences that are world-changing begin to occur. Croft, who usually completely understands a situation, doesn’t get what she has done. In fact, once she does, she is forced to find a way to stop the destruction of the world, as well as come to terms with her actions and what consequences came out of them. All of this plus trying to stop the evil corporation called Trinity from further destruction of the world’s most prized possessions. Pretty heavy shit for one adventurer.
Before we move to specific gameplay design, let’s talk story. The character deconstruction of Lara is absolutely breathtaking in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Her actions to get ahead of Trinity when it comes to raiding tombs results in tragic consequences that have never really been addressed prior to this game in the series. As I stated above, while there are always flaws that come up in good character creation, which should carry over to gameplay, there’s nothing quite as devastating as what happens to Croft in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The game begins with her retrieval of a knife that Trinity is trying to get and she thoughtlessly, without knowing really anything about the knife, takes it from its placeholder, which results in the beginning of the end for the world. This is a heavy plot point burden that usually isn’t dropped on a protagonist in a game, especially this early. Generally, it’s just a hero trying to stop the villain, not a hero turned into a villain trying to make up for their mistake. That latter is something that has certainly come up in films, but not with the main characters, and especially not with Lara Croft. Rarely is it with main characters that are good. Usually, it stays with main characters are turn evil to the point of almost no redemption. Bringing a character back from that ledge and making them whole again usually ends in a tragic way, which can’t be the case for Croft. Even Star Wars’ Anakin took three full movies to redeem himself, and six movies to come full-circle, and he didn’t survive. It’s a creative departure from the usual route that is taken with Croft, which makes this story a lot more special.
Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix don’t just drive Croft to the ground with this single action, rather they let her actions echo beyond just the plot. For example, her unknowing destruction from taking the knife causes her best friend and counterpart, Jonah, someone who has supported her throughout her life, as well as other games in the series, to take a chunk out of her ego after she unwittingly causes the destruction of a South American village (killing quite a few people). Because of this, he has issues trusting her judgement and what it ultimately means in the scheme of things. It’s just not a distrust for the moment, but a distrust that ends up living throughout the adventure. You can see it in his actions, his responses to her, and you’re waiting for him to finally give up on her completely. The story really drives home a fractured friendship, as well as Croft realizing that she has to be careful and consider the bigger picture, and not the moment.It is fascinating when you consider she is supposed to be the one trusted by everyone, the one that makes the decisions that help pull them out of situations, and the one that lies above all of this actual death and destruction in her adventures. In short, it’s an interesting direction to take her character, but her fall from grace is necessary for her rise from the ashes, which is most certainly going to be the next part of her life.
If you were judging this game based on story alone, it’s quite good. It takes a somewhat different route for the series, which could have just cashed it in with the same ol’ Lara Croft adventures, maybe a different title name. Crystal Dynamics took a bold approach and decided to do something else, and it paid off. It made the game memorable and separated it from the path you would expect. I’m not going to say it’s the Empire Strikes Back of the series, but it certainly is dark, brooding, and makes the characters seem a lot more human than usual. That last part is never a bad thing, as it will make you emotional connect with the Croft and what she is feeling from the people and things around her.
On the gameplay side of the tracks, there were also some departures from the usual, which isn’t ever a bad thing, ya know, unless you screw it up. Much like the story, Crystal Dynamics seemed to hit the nail on the head with certainly design additions. You want to stray away from the usual template of your series, especially one that is this big, and try to implement new challenges for the character. Some of those new challenges added were more stealth, more exploration, as well as side quests (yay!). All of which, not surprisingly, worked within the world built for Lara. In fact, the latter two help to branch the world out quite a bit, which is always a good thing. You want the experience to be extended for the player, but also mean something to them.
So, this stealth thing. There is quite a bit of stealth action in this game and to be quite honest, you might hate me for this and judge me — you will anyway, who are we kidding, stealth action is something I’ve never been a huge fan of in recent years. There are certainly places that it belongs, depending on the story, while other places it is forced. When stealth action is forced, especially when there are boundaries included, meaning you can’t go any other route, games can become frustrating and stale. If you didn’t hate me now, you’re going to hate me badly for this next part. For example, Metal Gear Solid has quite a bit of stealth thrown in it throughout its entire series. While I love and adore the Metal Gear Solid series (you have no idea my love for the story and characters), I have always rolled my eyes, tensed up, and forced myself to get through the stealth elements. Some of it is necessary, such as the stealth mission in MGS 4, where you follow a guy around a park trying to stay out of sight, while other times it’s limiting and forced, such is the case in Metal Gear Solid 2, where I hid in a locker for an entire mission wishing it was over. Again, there are times and places for stealth to occur, but sometimes developers tend to throw in challenges without much rhyme and reason to back them up. Thankfully, Shadow of the Tomb Raider incorporates stealth as an attribute you can use when you’re in jungle/plant/tree infested areas. You can push Lara into heavy amount of plants to hide her and wait for enemies to pass by for a stealth kill. You can do this in certain areas designated, but you don’t have to do that, if you don’t want. It’s an option, an attribute, and it works. It’s obviously one of the prouder elements added to Shadow of the Tomb Raider, as you have a start menu that shows Lara stealthily waiting for Trinity soldiers to pass her by. Anyway, it works because Crystal Dynamics made it work. It wasn’t forced, it makes sense within the world that Lara is trying to survive, and it’s kinda badass.
Outside of stealth, the exploration of Croft’s world has gotten considerably bigger. Granted, each release of the new Tomb Raider has seen the world she lives and works in get bigger. The tombs have gotten bigger and more abundant. The challenges in certain areas have gotten more diverse and available. The world just seems a lot bigger, even multi-tiered in some areas, when it used to be flat and somewhat sparse in depth in previous games from the series. Sometimes Crystal Dynamics chose sprawl versus depth, which makes the world seem big, but it isn’t. Anyway, I’m especially impressed with some of the underwater cave areas in the game, which have broken down cities and temples populating them. Those cities and temples feature perils, as you can easily get lost and drown if you’re not eaten by meat-hungry piranhas. The latter is not a pleasant sight, especially when you’re close to finding something truly awesome. Because the scope and depth of the world have changed, it makes exploring every nook and cranny more fun. It’s not quite to the Skyrim level of exploration, but it’s definitely a bigger world than you’ve seen so far with Croft.
Finally, let’s talk side quests. Side quests are a serious driving point for this game. You can go into villages and help alleviate any issues people might have. It brings back some good XP and makes you feel good, especially since Croft is rebuilding herself during the entire game. They add meaningful length to the game and are definitely worth a go when you feel like you have time. They do have that Skyrim feel about them, though certainly not as abundant as Skyrim. Still, it helps expand the game a bit, adds more exploration to the mix, and it works within the world provided. It’s a welcomed part of the gameplay design.
Other things to note, the gameplay has definitely gotten smoother, especially with controls. The puzzles have gotten considerably harder, which is a step up from Rise of the Tomb Raider, which seemed like a breeze to get through. Another element of the game that has improved is the skills tree. It has gotten extensive, big, and it offers up a bevy of abilities for Lara to acquire. You will be incredibly impressed with this aspect of the game. Beyond that, you have the crafting, which isn’t too far off from the last game (there are more elements to gather to help out with this one). The game also features more customizable parts of Lara’s outfits and her weapons, which helps to give the player more choices to make their Croft experience more personal. I will say that the weapons system is a bit confusing when you begin to upgrade them, though you’ll get it as you continue through her adventure. The parts and how they flow in terms of upgrading isn’t exactly visually evident right away, but after a while you’ll get the system. It still is an important part of success to the game, but not nearly as clearcut as it was in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Regardless, having more choices and reasons to change up Lara helps to make the experience far more personal.
Before wrapping up the review, you should also know that the visuals have been upgraded considerably. The light, textures, depth of the regions you explore, and small details that come with them (including active wildlife) has been turned up to eleven (ten point scale). It looks like Crystal Dynamics spent a considerable amount of time using the available hardware on the PS4 Pro to get the most out of the game, and it worked out quite well. You will be impressed with it all, especially the draw distance of the game — it’s so visually sweet.
Overall, you get a bigger adventure with Shadow of the Tomb Raider, as well as a bigger world to explore. To cap it all off, the story does the character justice by pushing Croft towards a more mature and badass persona through her obvious and logical flaws. It hits all the right notes and tries new things to give the series a different direction. In the end, it’s an impressive upgrade from the last game.
