Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Unworthy & Unnecessary - A Narrative Critique

[@nickreed3924]

I agree. I feel that the game starts really string but then halfway through, you're playing a completely different story.

[@stijnvdv2]

I agree too. Though it wouldn't surprise me if they made the progression from the 2013 to the Lara Croft we know slower then intended to squeeze more games out of this narrative. I'd honestly would be okay with it. Unlike with the Assassin's creed game franchise where they just killed off Desmond just for the purpose of being able to milk the franchise indefinitely instead of slowly working through a story plot over multiple games. It's why the franchise after his death was pretty much dead to me coz I saw what they were doing.

[@roborbob2913]

I'm halfway through now, and I've lost interest in the game.

[@alexpuntiel]

I'd say Lara was never a hero to begin with if you're referring to the original. She was always in it for herself and her fascination with artifacts ever since the beginning, and only when something went south really badly would she intervene to aid the situation. Sometimes she would even the one to make bad things happen to others if it was convenient to her (shooting a mercenary in TR3; stealing certain artifacts while knowing the repercussions; setting off an explosion within a ship, going after her goal within said ship, and shooting those who stand in her way even if they haven't harmed her.) What is going on in the reboot is a complete misrepresentation of who Lara Croft is supposed to be, and while I'm okay with Lara being a bit more heroic, I am not a fan as to how far her characterization deviates from the Lara Croft we've known for 20+ years (lack of dual pistols included). She's always been an individualist, so while I understand your critique is coming from the perspective of having an internally cohesive narrative, I think classic Lara would try to do things on her own as much as she could (she is supposed to be the embodiment of self-reliance and resourcefulness), but she wouldn't hesitate to ask for help under the right circumstances.

[@andrews.5212]

I frankly welcome the lack of ANY DUAL wielding anything (that is not for DUELS) nobody dual wield two different weapon systems and for very good reasons: IS STUPID AND INEFFECTIVE; how do you reload a weapon if both your hands are busy? how do you aim at two targets at the same time not having the eyes of a chameleon? I actually liked how in the Reboot the dev kept gaslighting the two pistols only to just barely give any xD xD xD stupid dual wielding people! I am not overly attached to OG Lara personality was okay although a bit bare.. but it was very very cartoonish as a game, didn't took itself too seriously and you never got to question Lara's action and murdering rampages... She need the artifact... BECAUSE WHY NOT! She killing this dude... BECAUSE EVIL BAD GUYS! But new Lara is a killer! (what is the Legend bodycount of goons again?) Also she often whore very impractical outfits for what she was doing and i am not that thirsty for female expose skin without an actual reason..

[@TombRaider_Remastered]

@@andrews.5212well if you don’t like duel wielding anything, don’t like Lara’s personality, don’t like Lara’s outfit, literally practically admited you don’t like the character of Lara Croft at all I guess the reboots are perfect for you.. But don’t say her outfits were “impractical” because majority of the time she was in ridiculous hot environments that no you wouldn’t want to be fully clothed, also this is LARA CROFT for 18+ years before the reboot the bitch was a full on superhero who killed gods and did this all for fun Your “criticisms” for Lara are basically you didn’t like that she revealed skin and the franchise is unrealistic So this isn’t a series for you babes! And that’s ok. But none of your critisms are fair for the series at all when given context to what tomb raider has always been

[@RunningCordoroy]

I'm struggling to get through Shadow. it has it's moments, but damn is it a chore.

[@AvESNPR]

Me too some parts of it are just not fun at all

[@chrisdsx5]

Half the game is doing fetch quests for some stupid tribes... I couple of hours there feels an eternity... I play games for fun not for whatever the fuck that part of it was...

[@mikewade777]

The game starts with you thinking..." do I ever get to actually play!!!"..." or am I just participating in an interactive movie!!!" Going from games like, the Elderscrolls, ArkSE, Conan and Alien Isolation.. to this is.....JARING!

[@kresimircosic9035]

@@mikewade777 Exactly, this is an interactive museum, if that gameplay can be called interactive. I hated Shadow, Rise was meh, the original reboot was a good game.

[@normalperson696]

@@kresimircosic9035 I played the original reboot after playing Shadow and it is a much superior game

[@sensoeirensen]

The first reboot 2013 was way to action heavy. Hordes of enemies. Nah it wasn't that good. Rise was the best TR it had a perfect balance between exploration, story telling and action. It's by far the best TR period. Shadow is boring and tedious. The side quests are boring. The tombs are annoying, you die a lot but the worst: WAY to less combat this time. It felt like a talking sim.

[@LB-py9ig]

The worst part of it all is that Tomb Raider (2013) absolutely sets up Lara to become the OG Lara, but then they walk her back into who she was before ever washing up on the island and they keep her frozen as "scared Lara." Dude, she's killed hundreds of men. She should be halfway to feral and fully to sociopathic adrenaline junkie by now.

[@rahatzaman8120]

Rise was an upgrade from 2013 tho because in Rise of the tomb raider Lara was more confident and killed without hesitation unlike 2013.

[@manyfacesofidiots8109]

was ok , Way to much damn swimming . Rise was my fav of the trilogy

[@AMD-jw6vb]

story: mediocre gameplay: disappointing, always tries to let play you being stealth indirectly and it's mechanics sucks worst section: childhood- because basically you don't learn anything new, lara's dad killed we already know it from rise the only difference is we could see her father’s face. the new thing that we know (which isn't an interesting/a major thing to know) we get to see her mother. I really liked 2013 TR and rise, but this game really felt like a downgrade from previous game (story wise and some gameplay aspects)

[@TechInspected]

Childhood section sucked. Its alright showing a little of what got her to be so acrobatic, but having her dangling 3 storeys high and pipes breaking which makes a fail state mean a child dies in Croft manor is completely unacceptable. No parent should let a kid play where this kid would climb buildings and risk death like that. And it totally kills her original 2013 backstory where she was very clearly not a daredevil parkour expert. But in her childhood segment, Evil Knievil would gasp in shock! How could, a child that does death defying stunts in her backyard grow up to say "I hate tombs" in TR 2013? Completely ruined her growth from 2013 to Shadow.

[@nooooooooope3809]

Childhood part was the best. That and the oil fields.

[@nooooooooope3809]

@@TechInspected no parent should let their kid play fucking Shadow of the Tomb raider. It's insanely violent.

[@rahatzaman8120]

​@@TechInspectedactually in 2013 Lara was already a rock climber. Roth taught her and I think it was mentioned before "climbing the radio tower" section to boost Lara's confidence.

[@TechInspected]

@@rahatzaman8120 Its not that. Its her nonchalant attitude towards stunts during her childhood segment that she shrugs off falling platforms and handholds like it was just Tuesday. Then in 2013 she acts like she's never climbed over a 2 foot hedge, acting like the smallest jumps were certain death. Meanwhile in her childhood she was dangling over multiple certain death drops. It completely destroys her 2013 journey of discovering her capabilities through being thrown into the deep end before knowing how to swim (or being taught how to swim in theory but never put to the test if you want to go by Roth taught her in a sterile non-life threatening environment), when she was risking her life as a toddler in the mansion for shits and giggles. Meaning she was a champion swimmer in her toddler years that got thrown into the deep end at her 20's. Destroying the IMMENSE PERSONAL GROWTH she had to go through in 2013, because it implies she was just a whiny bitch who already did death defying stunts in between drawing stick figures with crayons.

[@OnaSoto]

shadow of the tomb raider marketing: *BECOME THE TOMB RAIDER* actual shadow of the tomb raider: There are no story tombs

[@UncleJemima]

i remember easily 100%ing the first two games, but Shadow was definitely a chore. i kept forcing myself to come back to it, and just as i was about to give up altogether, it ended. good luck, unfound artifacts

[@bud389]

Why stop at the narrative? The gameplay is completely flaccid, the controls are borderline non-existent save for the W and E key's, and the game revolves around collectibles and leveling up when all the skills you get from leveling and finding collectibles are essentially useless because all of the combat in the game lasts for a heaping 75 minutes in an other-wise 14-16 hour game. All the other time is spent in linear set-piece corridors, collecting random garbage, or doing side-quests that accomplish nothing and feel like you accomplished nothing.

[@stijnvdv2]

haha you obviously haven't played the original 4 tombraiders XD the gameplay and the controls though not perfect are miles ahead of the origin, where they introduced Croft Manor for just 1 purpose and that was to teach you how the clunky controles worked coz otherwise the game was near to impossible to do. Even in TR 4 you had an introduction level as Lara as a child with von Croy to teach you the game mechanics... was a rather clever way of dealing with the clunky controls. They totally fucked up in Angel of Darkness though, which nearly was the destruction of the franchise.

[@cartermoth6447]

@@stijnvdv2 The original Tomb Raiders were skill based platformers. The puzzles were secondary to the real star: the level design. Navigating those levels required skill (to know where & when Lara could make a jump) & visual memory (to remember where she had been in the vast areas). Also, in the classic Tomb Raiders the main objective was usually the retrieval of keys to open doors (or pull levers). Levels like the sunken ship in TR2 are a perfect example: Lara had to collect 4 keys from around the level in order to move on. Getting them required navigating a hostile dangerous environment & making the right platforming decisions. Secrets also gave valuable rewards like health packs & ammo. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, platforming is sticky & automatic. The loot is excessive & pointless, xp is used for combat skills when there isn't any combat to speak of. The optional challenge tombs grant unintentionally funny pointless rewards (swim a little bit faster, take less damage from explosions or even the same shotgun I already owned). And it's slow, monotonous & full of itself. No comparison with classic Tomb Raiders.

[@OnaSoto]

honestly it feels like square enix made crystal dynamics make the first 2 hours of the game, then let eidos montreal make the paititi bullshit, then square was like: “eidos you’re off, cmon crystal dynamics” for a *whopping* hour, and then square was like: “nvm guys get off eidos is continuing the story”.

[@witherwolf3316]

The big problem for me is that it *starts* with an apocalypse. The thing I liked about Tomb Raider is that it was never immediately about saving the world. What I would really like to see would be smaller conflicts. Lara beating Trinity to discoveries and getting them back to museums. Lara exploring some of her dad's unfinished mysteries, Lara trying to defend her and her family's reputation, can we please just get a story where the world isn't ending? I'm tired of saving the world I just want to go looking for the Library of Alexandria and do cool parkour and spelunking.

[@jasonbond5213]

Reminds me of AC3 actually. There is that one audio log in which you can hear Connor saying sorry to his father, but in the game there is no arc describing this change if hearts. This is the reason I want a Connor sequel. Why did he change like this? Why is he sorry for his father,what happened after AC3 that changed his opinion like that. But nope, no explanation. I personally think that Connor was disappointed and angry because the revolution developed in a way he didn't want and because he read the Journal of his father and came to the realization that Haytham always tried to do the right thing. But we ' ll never know...

[@ShimaS-0079]

The reboot series became exactly what I thought it would. It's boring and Reboot lara sucks. She will never be strong confident from older games. The writing team sucks. My problem with games these days is that the main characters just look so plain jane they could be anybody. Your main character needs to stand out. To me they removed Lara sex appeal. Why did we let sjw ruin everything.

[@wallacesousuke1433]

The og games arent any better

[@ShimaS-0079]

@@wallacesousuke1433 the og games are gone..they are product of their time and tech limits. Of course they aren't perfect

[@bcmhayes]

Tbh I thoroughly loved the exploration. I’m the kind of gamer who wants to touch every available inch of a map. And the amount of detail in environments in Shadow are exceptional.

[@KissMyArs-n9t]

Get a life that is not a game that’s wondering aimlessly

[@AkosKovacs.Author.Musician]

You know something is wrong when Lara's emblematic dual pistols became barely an afterthought for generic bow and arrow action.

[@andrews.5212]

I think that something is wrong in a character if it's most defining trait is "She DUAL WIELD pistols" and "why NO short SHORTS" as i guy who actually serve for several years i often thought: "uoah! this range would be so much better if a could shoot TWO pistols at the same time and be WAY LESS efficient at it. " "please let me expose more of my skin as possible to the elements! that's great!" gosh..

[@k.nielsen5589]

best comment

[@TombRaider_Remastered]

@@andrews.5212your comment is kinda crazy because again 18+ years before tr 2013 this was an established character it’s fantastic to want new things but your not even trying to understand that the pistols and outfit is what majority think of when you say “have you heard of Lara Croft” their either gonna name the first Angelina Jolie movie or give you one of the classic games. Stop being obnoxious and try understanding

[@wallacesousuke1433]

How are braindead auto-aim dual pistols any better and less "generic" than bow and arrow? Amazing how stupid nostalgia losers can be

[@johannesseyfried7933]

​@@TombRaider_RemasteredThe pistols are a part of her. Even I, somebody who is mostly neutral to Lara Croft, understand that. It would be like taking the whip of Indiana Jones away and replacing it with a sword.

[@aeroga2383]

I played this game for about 10 hours. Never got lost. I still spammed survival instinct cause I wanted to find all the collectibles

[@animezyon8557]

It feels like they don’t know what they did in Tomb raider because the story becomes complicated

[@MikeAAAAA95]

I'm playing all 3 for the first time within the last year. 1st one was great, 2nd was even better, always engaged, liked the story, characters, solid combat, awesome tombs.....but with this game....my God it's so boring, boring colors, characters, dont like the story, everything is way too much of the same thing. Definitely never playing this again after I beat it

[@nigh6374]

i'm going to drop it, the storyline is boring and the characters worst!

[@azoz273]

The amount of drop in quality between TR 2013 and TR shadow is one of the most extreme I've seen

[@CoffeeForAll]

I think what I disliked the most about Shadow is that whole hidden city aspect. There’s nothing interesting about finding an intact civilisation.. because everything they do is just regular people stuff. Lara finds some “ancient” Aztec item and ponders what it might have been used for or she can’t quite read what is written on one of those pillars. Well Lara, why don’t you ask one of the people right next to you? The parts that worked about the first game in the rebooted trilogy was that the ancient and utterly hostile civilisation had to be understood through clues left behind in items, environments and structures. The worst part about the second game were the descendants that live in the valley. Shadow doubled down on the least interesting aspects of the previous games. Which were littering every single square inch of every area with collectibles and the non-hostile natives with boring low effort side quests. “Collect three of something and bring them back to me” Holy fuck, that’s so interesting that they should make a movie out of it. What’s the title again? *Tomb Raider* yeah.. better make it about walking around a boring village and do mundane shit while looking at buildings that could just as easily have existed in any of the Assassin’s Creed games.

[@onerule1915]

Just finished this game yesterday and gosh , this game has so many plot holes . Couldn't connect to even one character . And the graphics of the previous game was much better than this one in my opinion . Also does Lara have any conscience in this game . I mean she's literally responsible for thousands of deaths and she's just going about her own way . So much potential wasted !!!

[@schizogony]

I would like to see a new Tomb Raider game with the real Lara.

[@RetroFrequency]

What should have happened at the oil field is that Jonah had escaped (having learned from Lara, and earlier it's shown that he can do stealth takedowns), so Rourke claims he killed him because he's a hot headed idiot and can't deal with the fact he lost his leverage. Then Jonah comes back with at least a squad of people to help (Jonah is established from the beginning as being likeable and approachable, and it would have tied in the first village you arrived at, would have given Abby a purpose too). They cause a distraction enough for Lara to pull off these impossible feats and defeat the helicopter. The game cost over a hundred million, so why wasn't it possible to even match the previous games? Edit: what actually happened: Rourke: I'm going to piss off Lara Croft. Some guy: Yessir, but why? Rourke: I'll lead her to a trap where a chopper can... Chop Her... muahahaha Some guy: Brilliant sir, but how? Rourke: I'll say I shot her friend. She will be very mad indeed, kill dozens of our troops. Some guy: ... uhh.... well, I'll trust your judgement there, I'll kill Jonah now. Rourke: NO! Are you MAD? We're not monsters! Would you like another cup of tea, Jonah? Sorry about all this.

[@MAXIMUS-yk5vs]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is The Last of Us: Part II of the tomb Raider reboot series 🙃

[@assassinsknight]

Nope Shadow bored me, Last of us 2 to pissed me off

[@arminxvs3372]

Love the 1st one, pished myself through the 2nd and just wanted to get over with and stopped the 3rd one even before the first jaguar-fight. Somehow they did not click with me anymore.

[@craftingranger7552]

I'm really sick of the Uncharted comparisons. The first three Uncharted games were literally the same thing over and over again with no payoff to the characters since the next games would just put them back to square one. I don't think people understood Shadow and maybe that's on the devs for having story threads wrap up in comics and dlc but that's honestly subjective. She doesn't know she'll survive the ritual, but she's willing to do it, she can protect everyone, say goodbye to her trauma and be at peace with her sometimes reckless decisions.

[@misanthropicattackhelicopt4148]

The thing that annoyed me about this series was she starts a whiney person and doesn't evolve past it.

[@Awesomepuma2]

I think the ark was that she was coming to terms that her parents are dead but it was only brought up in the young Lara scene. I would have LOVED to see that ark integrated into the story

[@tomf1342]

Should of sticked with the bit when she came out of the water with the fire that was a brief bit of the proper Laura Croft

[@mh294m]

Hi there, Ironically, I stumbled upon your review and I must give it to you, you explained exactly what is the problem with this reboot and how it differentiates itself too much from the original iconic Lara Croft we all know and love. The Tomb Raider franchise became a divisive thing, instead of bridging the gap between classic Tomb Raider and reboot Tomb Raider it tries to be its own thing which completely disrespects the longtime fans of this franchise and Lara Croft herself as a character. I sincerely hope that in the next game, whoever in charge of this franchise next will go back to the classic Tomb Raider timeline like Devil May Cry did with going back to the original timeline by developing DMC5 instead of a continuation of the reboot for example.

[@ben8692]

Haha I loved the cleanprincegaming dig

[@MrHarvP]

I had to force myself to finish Shadows. It gets very repetitive and boring as the game goes on. The narrative is awful and they should be embarrassed by it. It was like they took tropes and just sewed them together. They had opportunities for some real good story points mixed with an awesome and underutilized settings in video games. The fact that not once do you have to hack through bushes/vines with a machete to reveal ruins in the jungle is a huge disappointment. Having to constantly press 3 times to chop through things, which you do A LOT in this game, is also annoying. Why does Lara instantly trust and believe the first person she sees in Paititi? The exiled true queen who is leading a rebellion. Yeah because that is a common thing. That character could have been great if we go through everything only to find out she was a plant by Amaru, so Lara could find the box for them because they could not. Instead she is a generic trope character who was forgettable. I would like to see future Tomb Raiders stick more to exploration and go to Rome, England, even the US for revolutionary or civil war stories.

[@CarlosAlberto-jg9ob]

I agree 100 % with you and one more thing, what about the dual pistols? Narrative wise it was a HUGE flaw. They could have used that mechanic in the final boss. UGH!

[@andrews.5212]

why are people soo strung up with the short shorts and the dual pistols? Both are extremely impractical if you have ever done weapons training and trekking/mountaineering..

[@orbitalchiller]

@@andrews.5212 We wanna see her thighs, because she is hot. duh.

[@TombRaider_Remastered]

@@andrews.5212ok so this is like 3+ comments now your under… my guy lmaooo read the room 🤷‍♀️

[@JigenDaisuke-wh2nd]

@@andrews.5212 brooo

[@avananana]

Just tossed around 4 hours into this game, I bought it at release but never really got into it even if I absolutely loved the 2013 Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider. About 4 hours in I realized that I was just spamming the "survival instincts" button over and over again, and that, somehow, killed my entire mood to play, along with a crash but that's because my GPU sucks donkeyballs and is unstable as fuck. Man.

[@tropicvibe]

Maybe i'll play Shadow someday again but was not very happy on my 1st run through. Rise is still my favorite and here are a couple of reasons why and no offense to those that actually enjoyed this game; a) too many scripted sequences made me feel as though the game was playing itself, not me playing the game. b) Unequal amounts of exploration and combat bogged the game down a bit making it even boring at times and some of the tombs were a joke. c) In Rise I was able to use every single skill, upgrade, modification, and weapon to their full capacity throughout the entire game, something sadly lacking in this entry. d) Sometimes i would just try swinging, swimming, or climbing past enemies unless i had no choice and was surrounded or were actually in my way. On Extreme Survivor sometimes it was a lifesaver as getting killed could set you back a good 1/2 hour or more. e) In Rise if i wasn't in the mood for fighting or getting killed, i'd just spend the rest of the afternoon hunting and building up XP and on my next run just massacre everyone in sight. There are a few other things but not going to turn this post into an article so what i'll do is give Shadow another shot and see how i feel on my 2nd run through....

[@chrisdsx5]

Legends and Underworld gave me a James Bond feel. Croft was a Alpha female do anything badass... In the reboot she just remains emotionally soft, physically soft and the light hearted super confidence is never there. The missed opportunity is huge. The fun banter with her team in the old games is gone... Honestly Nathan Drake is way more Croft than Lara is at this point.

[@TheStormbringer8751]

Where the fuck is the ACTION of the previous games?

[@justnothing8692]

problem of reboot is the same thing that killed the original games fear of innovation they stuck to what worked until it didn't

[@ultimatum117052]

Love your content James but I have to disagree. I might’ve gone into the game biased as I love both of the previous games but I never played the original games. I have seen gameplay of some of them but I don’t know if it was because of the old voice actor, I always thought this version of Lara was a reimagining of the character. I also believe that the 2 halves you split the game in can be blamed on the development switch from Crystal Dynamics. I disagree that the game should be linear instead of a semi-open world because I am personally sick and tired of jumping all over the place in adventure games. The reason I love this game and the ones before it is that the semi-open world makes me feel like I am making progress and I am actually exploring the history of the area, unlike Uncharted where I feel disconnected every time it jumps location and I don’t feel like I am scratching the surface. As for the story, I am going at the angle of a reimagining of the character, not as callous and cold as she seems to be in the older games (from what I’ve watched, like I said, never played them) so I wanted to see a stronger person but still sweet and loving and I feel like I got that. I will say it does feel jarring that she starts trusting people again but it feels like it happens after she explores where the *2nd item that she needs to find* (sorry didn’t want to give spoilers) but she slowly starts doing it when she meets Abby (think that’s her name, need to start my second play through) in the first town. It seems like there was more story around there but it was condensed because there is a large are that doesn’t have you go anywhere near for side quests or anything with a lot of props. My guess is that it had some development (maybe you went back before the great helicopter set piece) but it really choked up the pacing and urgency that you had from a previous story beat. I liked the flashback and what it set up, it seemed to me that it was supposed to rejuvenate Lara and get her motivation and love for exploration and adventuring to come back instead of being arrogant and obsessed to take down Trinity as well as setting up what I thought was an easy to see part of the ending. I love the review though man, I always make sure to watch your videos completely through to get you that sweet sweet Ad Rev. Hope you see this and can see it from new fans of the franchise. Cheers from the US!

[@hamzibrahim8189]

You summed up my thoughts exactly. I find myself returning to Shadow because of its semi-open world (and DLC).

[@iurysaraiva3411]

So... Semi-open still fun 2024 to you? 😅

[@deamondeathstone1]

I always come back to the aftermath of the fight at the refinery. Where the Lara Croft I started gaming with would have told Jonah something like" Nice to know I'm still popular with they boys.", this one goes on a whiney rant.

[@peterfejes3249]

I'm sure this is a banger of a video like all of yours James! I'll be back when I got the game and played it myself!

[@Mortalfarmer]

I stopped playing when I got to the pirana's. Too many cutscenes, I was on my phone when they came on.

[@dillonmax8392]

In Rise I completed a lot of optional tombs by accident and felt really good learning new skills. Shadow I though was going to be “edgelord” Laura and it felt numb and no sense of accomplishment was achieved for me. That and I think I did like one tomb out of the entire game.

[@sandromorais2210]

How do you accidentally complete tombs lol

[@Pippin03shiz]

I 100% agree I loved the first Tomb raider but even then I was like what’s the point of this semi open world but whatever it fits the story she’s stuck on an island But rise I absolutely hated so much to the point I don’t even want to get shadow. I’m glad I found someone who agrees with me

[@luke0812]

I really liked the open world. I am playing the game on hardest difficulty with everything turned off and it has really made me enjoy the game environment alot more. I am not rushing the story in 20h but instead spending alot more time with the game enjoying the cutscences and insanely well made animations. Everybody keeps complaining that games become shorter and shorter but it's to be expected with all the cheating functions like the eagle vision or the survival instinct or even a minimap. It takes alot away from the immersion being in a completely foreign world. Maybe more people should appreciate the game's design and time spent on it. I finished my degree in game art and design and the way I look at games now after learning about all the intricacies has majorly improved my gaming experience.

[@Raylightsen]

You are not supposed to play in only one way.

[@mikewade777]

It's not really open and certainly not where it needed to be. Playing Modded Skyrim, no HUD...in a forest that was once vast tundra, surrounded by danger looking for a cave and night is drawing in....this was by choice.

[@apo.7898]

0:47 The Lara that *you* know. E.g. the Lara that I got to know first at least was the one from TR4 and 5, then the one from 6, 2 and 3 and lastly the one from TR1 / LAU and TR2013. Character model wise and 'personality' wise I prefer the one from AOD and my second favorite is TR1. And actually I probably prefer the 2013 version over the Legend one. Some people got to know that version first and if they like it then so be it. They may make another version in a couple of years.

[@wanderingcantos]

Skins. Give me skins. (Spiderman style not Buffalo Bill)

[@BlackStarSymphony]

Okay, nice. Now I don't have to finish the game. I absolutely hate the combat in this game, and I hate the stealth. I just wanted to do tombs but some tombs had those crazy people in them and I hated dealing with that. The platforming was clunky at times, the hints in the environment sometimes weren't there. And omg can we talk about the inconsistencies in the plot. Like Jonah being told he should stay of the channel because of Roark and just a little while later after he runs away with the box, he literally tells everyone where he is though that very same channel! I thought that it was compromised but no, it was for plot convenience. Bull shit that's what I call it.

[@misanthropicattackhelicopt4148]

Hate to tell you but there are very little tombs like the old tomb raider games which were great. This new series is a joke compared to the old ones.

[@TechInspected]

I was very disappointed with this game. And I agree with your points about the narrative being lackluster. Wrote my own review which includes a lot of the narrative issues you mentioned, but also included why I hate the new direction of the gameplay where it borrows heavily from Assassins Creed style gameplay and writing. I know its uncouth to link it but if it helps I don't encourage people to click it if they're not interested in more commentary of the bad decisions in this game. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6m5fI2AqcZ2jJY

[@jasonbond5213]

Anyone else who would live an Assassins Creed game with Bayek in ancient Rome?

[@diesenutss]

Sounds fan-servicey and trite

[@Paul_Jeremiah_Rabin]

Yes

[@jmc3971]

Jason Bond Yes

[@sensi17]

i liked TR and ROTTR but this one... idk, i don´t like it, it feels somehow bad ?! Something just feels so wrong. When i played the other 2 i feel joy and fun playing it. but this one made me angry sometimes bec for unnecessarily bullshit.

[@ibbyth3bot46]

when i was playing this game i decided to start it in one with the jungle difficulty which is the highest difficulty and it limits your survivors instinct to where it’s basically like useless and i actually found myself enjoying the game way more that way even though it was hard and challenging in the sense of where i was supposed to go and what i was supposed to do but it made it all more immersive for me because i felt like an actual survivor/outsider in this foreign land that i don’t know my way around and don’t understand and besides if you really do need help on finding out where to go theres always a map that you can go to and figure your way around what you need to do which in my opinion is all the more immersive. i think the game was really good but the open world aspect of it was kinda pointless i don’t find the city’s very interesting but i do like the wilderness way more so i guess there it works but i still think it was a really good game because of the story it really developed Lara more than the last 2 games in the sense of that since the first game she’s been getting all these people killed and that she’s reckless and not responsible especially in the beginning of this game where she levels the whole city killing hundreds but towards the end you actually see her become what we’ve wanted her to become. She turns into a different person when she comes out of the water and kills the guy on the floor it was so fucking badass bro and i legit took back all the stuff i said in the beginning when i thought she was a narcissistic bitch but she turned out to actually have remorse and feeling for what had happened and she ended up sacrificing herself even though she survives but i doubt she knew that. i was gonna be okay with her giving her life at the end but the ending the way it played out was amazing i like that she finally settled down but at the same time i would like this new and experienced lara to continue her tomb raiding because of who she has become at the end of the game.

[@gbdeck200]

True so much missed potential especially the story 4 big cataclysm yet they're so one note and affect the bare minimum, story and gameplay wise Imagine 4 arcs of the story, first one is as expected the flood, gives us the obvious Main plot conflict, the world in these chapters are affected by the flood, water based platforming and puzzles, and animals out of their zone, towns destroys as seen Second one was that ice storm. Completely meaningless now is our second arc, wind and ice means the old locals change up. Platforming change to more in the trees and old areas are blocked, Lara descends deeper into guilt at the effect it had on villages for years to come Third is the mud slides, again animals shift areas, areas which were tree platforming and rope use are gone as the trees are knocked over, so more like logs and bridges now, obviously areas sink in the mud so platforming obstacles, Lara shifts further to desperation to using the box to fix her mistakes Final act, volcanic eruptions. Every change gave new gameplay tweaks and dangers and the volcanic dangers affect them all, sink-able platforms, ropes that break requiring precise jumps, og bridges that move (think frogger log sections) requiring timing and patience and Lara toes full realisation she's become as obsessed as Trinity making her fathers death more impactful, he died because he was obsessed regardless of who it hurt, the people of Paititi an Lara became the same, she realizes her and her fathers arrogance and come to the realisation of preserving treasures not abusing them and stops Trinity for that not just revenge or whatever Boom entire story and gameplay now match and feel nicely connected. Sure I'd do this in a linear game with mission select than a pseudo open one but still works better than this story mess we have

[@a.z.b.1916]

To be honest it feels like a complete dev team and perspective change between TR and SOTR. They were even pushing Lara's character to a less white narrative. She looks like some well fed Indian girl in Shadow

[@TheSoldierDarius]

Game is bad. Game designers dont understand that graphics is not the most important thing they need to focus. They literally ruined Tomb Raider original story, you walk almost in straight line game tells you what to do.... health regenerates after some time.... omg. It is all about game athmosphere and gameplay. In the past action button you need to press for a reason X button to grab... now it automatically grabs edges... it feels like no effort at all to make a jump. Also... Tomb raider 3 was best tomb raider. Game designers please... dont make unlimited save game available. Its bad, very bad. No challenge at all.

[@Eqium]

I started playing Tomb raider in 1997 and I've played every one of them till I finish them all, I would love to see a Tomb Raider like no 1 with graphics like shadow that would be the best Tomb raider game ever later games have too much jungle not enough tombs

[@AwaisAliKhan-q6p]

It is was Total waste of time for me, I think the Best entry was, and is The First one, rise was ok, but shadow, its Garbage, total Garbage 🤧, i waited four years , for it, saved my self form spoilers, till i could build my Gaming Pc to play this, and this Is what i got, i was very disappointed, i even thought of quiting mid way, but it was the fandom of Lara, i completed it, and instantly uninstall it,

[@siloPIRATE]

LazerzZ: * Get given review copy of Shadow of the Tomb Raider by Square Enix * Also LazerzZ: * Roasts Square Enix over Shadow of the Tomb Raider for 15 minutes * But don't let this distract you from the fact Lara is the villain and Amaru did nothing wrong. The entire game happens because Lara moved a thing that shouldn't have been moved

[@50sjors50]

Great video as always!

[@scarecrow2097]

I am just playing shadow. I loved the first game to the point of 100% completing it. The sequel felt a bit random but I was willing to follow through, slightly disappointed with the lack of duel wielding pistols that I thought would become a feature after the first game. Shadow.....well am currently playing it but I got meh vibes from the game by the prologue alone... And by the way....I still don't get why Jonah wastes his time following Lara around,I mean it's normal that some of her friends followed her adventure after the first game and I was happy to see him in the second game but I wished to see others too.

[@RidgeForrester]

Horrible game. Have just finished it.

[@Villager1824]

I'm playing the game currently and I have to say that, although fun, these games have a trash story. It doesn't make sense at all and they missed the mark completely in all of them. The characters just don't feel alive enough for me to care about them and I often wonder why they didn't just take the time to make the games stories more refined and alive. :/

[@gentlemen.7621]

I feel like Square Enix should have given tomb raider a break after Rise, because most of the story had been done.

[@ItsBigOnDatChris8308]

3:37 *assassin’s creed KZbinr intensifies*

[@___alessioragnocapone___]

Also, the shit you find in all the secondary missions are useless, those fucking clothes

[@andrews.5212]

I personally liked this take of Lara Croft but TBH i'm not attacked to the OG or LEGEND lara because i played those only after the reboot and while i can see the appeal this Lara is way more fleshed out as a character she can be strong, bold, sensible, vengeful, fully psychopatic or extremely cerebral. FROM a CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT I can see the logical threat from the events on Yamatai weave into Shadow. Lara is a normal person although well off financially and with some trekking/survival training given by surrogate dad Roth, trust into an impossible survival first situation forced to kill hunt and wit her way out of there. The ordeal left opened her eyes to the supernatural and left her scars that she buried under stoicism, reclusion and stubborness bringing her to follow into her father footsteps, which lead to Trinity which lead to accepting to not HOLD the artifact but keeping it away from the bad guys. This makes her come to term and letting go of his father's obsession only to devolop a NEW obsession, Trinity and trying to stop MegaEvilCorp from being Evil. In shadow she is hunting down Trinity, not the EvilDaggerOfDoom, she just stumble onto that before them (trinity wasn't actually going to collect it, but "start the siege" as the radiochat says- they would have probably just secured the site for later) and that action start a spiral of selfdoubt on top of arrogance mixed with stubborness mixed with fear of loss mixed with fear of been seen as vulnerable etc etc etc.. mixed with the realization SHE HAS SET THE APOCALYPSE INTO MOTION.. most people would start doubt their actions at that point FROM a STORY DEVELOPMENT At 6:50 you say that her "let other people help her arc is dropped" WHAT? did we played the same game? I don't think so. It is clear as SKY that she start turning around after the jaguar fight when she let Jonah heal her, they have an heart to heart and after that She is way mellower, listening and doing things for others more and more (although often still arrogant and a bit standoffish) she still need to do things her way but more and more "others people need" enter the chat more and more Also FFS the scene she sees at the end is NOT a memory is THE temptation (a normal loving family which she DIDN'T have! WTF? this game isn't exactly subtle in exposition!) why you think she ask JONAH (who just told her about his dead brother) what would HE do with that power (HINT because she is ASKING JONAH what should SHE do).. The story HAS BIG problem but hardly the one you focused the more on which boil down to "i didn't pay attention to the cutscene and now i'm confused" (eg. why is Lara here? after the cutscene is which she black on white explain her goals.. "where do i need to go" AFTER the cutscene were it is told) I can understand many criticism thrown at Shadow because i have many myself but many review seems to have hardly played the game... And sorry if you or other missed those part because you skipped cutscene or didn't pay attention why are we even talking... so i'm sorry but those statement earned a dislike is just false.. Yes the series lack "great puzzles" and "tombs" but the series host dungeons, ruins, installation in which you need to interact with the enviroment to go on.. (yes it's linear, as the OG TR, all are linear, no puzzle can be solved in multiple way and there is only the correct one and finding it is often a CHORE for no reward but progressing the plot) The game is certainly the weaker of the three on a story aspect and many part felt rushed, the whole Amaru Paititi Trinity ordeal was confusing and felt throw in as an afterthought, it was clear that Amaru goals were not the same as Trinity but they kinda forgot to tell US the player. ABOUT the WHOLE SACRIFICE BIT, while certainly out of left field.. the whole point of SHADOW is that LARA is not being kindhearted soo when you say she is i say WHAAT? did we played the same game? She has deep care for other but she is shutting herself to avoid loss, vulnerability etc etc She is hunting down Trinity either for revenge (which she lies to herself about not being revenge) or because she has nothing else to define her in this moment, she causes the apocalypse for her fear, arrogance and stubborness. her whole journey through shadow is one of selfacceptance, allowing herself to be vulnerable again to open to people and to drop the anger and fear she hold soo close to her... ABOUT THE GAMEPLAY Yes the open world felt a bit tacked on and unneccessary. My rule is these games is never to use the fast travel to revert to a location is not diegetic for my character to be at so no collectible from me and i'm in now way a completionist (70% is completely acceptable to me MAIN STORY plus some side plus some FLAVOUR, organic).. ABOUT LOCATIONS i have a big problem with a lot of people's opinion of "many location" necessary into an action adventure story. DOING a GLOBETROT make sense only if you are doing something that require globetrotting.. Most activities DO NOT. if you go from Syria to SIBERIA to follow a trail isn't enought GLOBETROTTING? If you go from Mexico to Perù isn't ENOUGH? Why should be the local on different continents if the mcGuffin you are chasing doesn't require to be split into seven ways? WHY? also they go to different locals there are several different distinct areas in ALL three reboots they so happen to make logical sense into not being all over the globe but into a more concise area.. It make more sense that if you are looking for something your search get narrower... if i need to find the resting place of a lost tribe i follow clues: battle there, migration there, mention there... Why should i go to China to solve a mistery that lies in Mexico? I go Least detail INTO MORE detail not least deatil INTO even less detail.. p.s. talking about confusing story and what are we doing exactly in Tomb Raider LEGEND (each level i was WTF am i here for again? WHY am i shooting these bad guys? ah right no reason but pew pew... why i went to this tomb? No reason! it took half the game to have a modicum of sense In Shadow is INSTANT, AVOID THE APOCALYPSE - that you unleashed because you are actually being chaotic evil Lara..

[@kofiashiadey9494]

🤫

[@sergioantonio9234]

I absolutely loved the first game of the trilogy, but the series went downhill after that.

[@sketchtheparadigmyork1217]

It’s not that bad. I honestly blame the fact that the first two were so great, and Rose was one of the best in the series. How do you follow that. I don’t think Shadow deserves the massive amounts of hate it gets, because its just the third best game. Not the worst.

[@urbiznesnunuv6938]

I’m so glad someone else points out that rise is kinda mid

[@KissMyArs-n9t]

NO TUMBS WORRH REMEMBERING NO PUZZLES JUST ROCK CLIMBING WTF IS THIS ITS NOT TUMB RAIDER

[@JohnOxiles]

Game is a chore to play and finish. I got it on a very huge discount but was still disappointed.

[@LC-yv9ey]

I hated that there was less fighting

[@EMANSCOOLCOOL]

This hurts me... ive LOVED all 3 games, favorite is rise of the tomb raider, i will admit, shadow could of been better, but its still a good game to me, ive found a mod for rise that makes it, also shadows best cause ps1 laras in campain

[@ObitoUchiha-id1nq]

Well it will be diffrent as crystal dynamics didnt make it edios montral did. It was definatly boring. The kater half just shift to this village stuff which feels so out of touch with previous games. 2013 was just a blast but more action focused . Rise in my opnion felt like a proper game with everything in balance with good graphics. Shadow just a let down. Side quest was soo boring and puzzle of side quest were tough as main quest didnt feel like doing them after main story.

[@BishopNelson]

Worst critique ever. It went right over your head that they were subverting your expectations. OBVIOUSLY.

[@petrofsko]

My favourite tombraider game to date by far I'm playing on deadly obsession love the open world jungles, water and caves villages, city I enjoy the challenge tombs doing a lot of them in between the story and crypts uncharted 4 still beats this in character driven story involving multiple character facial animation is still unbeaten along with epic setpieces but shadow is a great alternative with way more climbing exploration and amazing visuals also

[@animalisticprik]

Terrible critique.

[@lordsaint4956]

Eagle vi.. i mean survival instinct button Lmao

[@eddieescobedo9975]

The first game I genuinely would encourage everyone to play. It’s awesome. So good. The thought of playing it’s 2 sequels bores me already. Also what’s wrong with making Lara sassy and feminine. It made sense for the first one

[@I_plus_Emelia]

Is NationWide on your Side?

[@elimpoluto9952]

For real dude. I loved the first TR reboot and thoroughly enjoyed RoTR, but SHADOW blows chunks - aweful game.

[@KissMyArs-n9t]

This is not tomb raider it’s uncharted mixed with COD

[@orbitalchiller]

I love the game exploration but stopped caring for the story and skipped all the cut scenes. I wish there was an option too to make her shut the f up.

[@4i4kov]

AC Rogue and SOTTR spoilers below! AC Rogue: Protagonist is tricked into destroying an entire city. Is so distraught he attemps suicide. Miraculously survives and vows to stop his former brethren from killing more innocents in their pursuit of power. SOTTR: Protagonist destroys entire city after ignoring clear warning. Is confronted by villain about it: "Eh, you would have done the same thing anyway." "Not really." Is confronted by friend about it: "Peru. Now." *Continues murdering people who want to improve the world, while half of it is getting revaged by the apocalypse she caused.* *Gets her hands on a way to reverse the damage.* *Decides she likes the world this way.* I'm supposed to like this bitch?

[@jamestucker2311]

How hyped are you for rdr 2?

[@lobiankk77]

This game has only two good parts: The very beginning, up until Lara's dream, and the oil refinery section, the entire rest of the game is some of the lowest level, fanfic-like nonsense i've ever seen... Just finished it today, and really hope they bring Rhianna Pratchett back, 2013 was very good and Rise was just awesome, but this game just sucks, dude.

[@PetrisonRocha]

Terrible plot, ridiculous final boss fight, boring characters. Worst yet, Lara is always all covered up and we can't even zoom at her ass anymore (not that I would ^^), fuck PC culture. Amazing graphics and great controls though, which made me play it to the end. TBH, I'd just want Tomb Raider to go back to its roots, this new Lara is all whiny and sad, boring AF. A refined Tomb Raider Underworld or Legend would be much better than all this movie-game nonsense.

[@TommasoFirmini]

Maybe they didnt want it to seem to similar to the uncharted games, where you go to different areas of the world, get a clue and go to the next

[@Alrahmahstudios]

Great review M8

[@Raylightsen]

This trilogy felt very darn lame. The first was ok, but hated so many stupid explosions, rise of tomb was a bit better but laura felt so weak and that stupid kind-hearted bullshit makes laura looks lame. Shadow of tomb (this game) is awfully bad and too darn slow paced with boring as heck parts. And her British accent is terribly annoying to my ears.

[@ericfaith2810]

I pre-purchased TR IV-V rwmastered. That's it. Im done. No more. The more realistic they made it, the worse it became. I didnt like the Call of Duty Aocalypse Boring! Lara

[@wannasalad]

I don't understand why Lara was made to be the villain of this story if she did the only logical things any person would have done? And the bad guy is clearly Amaru but he always shifts the blame to her and she never has a comeback? I don't know why they dropped the witty and clever Lara of the two previous games (oh i know why, the lead writer quit lol) but she's terribly missed in this one. I agree with most of what you said about Shadow. Lara is such a compelling character you can't help but expect more coming from her, especially after having been given such a great character narrative in Tomb Raider (2013) and then Rise explored some, but not all of her potential.

[@Rithy2105]

The controls are also shitty. Uncharted is so much better. How is this possible 😅

[@Iudex_170]

Legit there is to little combat

[@teuscandido]

Shadow is my favorite from de reboot, i love this game ❤️

[@RM-cz9cx]

I’m playing now because it’s free on PSNow, and yeah, this game sucks

[@badabingbadaboom9251]

I really loved the narrative and characters, lara's a badass and i absolutely love that

[@twilightverdict]

The first one was good, second one even better and third one was piece of fail, wtf happen??

[@nigh6374]

i'm at 50% of this game and it SUCKS! :D