Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Zero Punctuation)

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[@TheManOfManyNames373]

Lara Croft: Oh boy, here I go killing again!

[@dontmindme5879]

Yes!!

[@ashessakura7518]

Kyle Wainwright Basically XD

[@Nokaret]

Croftbopulous Lara!

[@dellefranz]

Small edit: Croftboobulous Lara

[@Enchie]

Her moto is "kill, kill, kill; slaughter, slaughter, slaughter!"

[@adrianmedeiros8431]

You know what I loved about original Lara? She was an unapologetic thrill chaser. She didn't need a moral standing, she hunted ancient artifacts for fun

[@amitgabay3721]

That sounds great. Just "oh me? I'm a multimillionaire 20 year old and I came here to your mud hut of a village to see how you unwashed peasants live. Also please point me to your most sacred artifact so I can hang it on my wall"

[@johnhorne3052]

That's why I hunt people.

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

Also she had lovely triangle tits.

[@Fordo007]

Personally I wish they wouldn't try to give Lara motivation for being a tomb raider... I liked her better when she was just a rich girl who liked history and wanted to discover and raid tombs for the fun of it. Making it all about 'duty' and stopping bad guys and honoring her father... makes it seem like she's only doing this for those reasons instead of just being someone who genuinely likes doing it.

[@Keaze]

But if we didn't force some cliched motivation onto her, what would we make a bunch of prequels be about?

[@eloujtimereaver4504]

The prequels would also be about the doing it for fun bit.

[@Stroggoii]

Women don't have agency. They can't just do shit because they want to. have you not attended your mandatory women's studies classes at college?

[@JohnyScissors]

Because then they would have to develop a person who enjoys putting herself and others in danger, along with a smattering of murder, as possibly not an amazing person and how could players identify with a murderous thrill seeking crazy person like Trevor, Michael, Franklin, Niko, John Marston, Doom Marine, Duke (classic flavor), Nathan Drake, or Indiana Jones. I mean really who would wanna play a character like that

[@kalashnikovdevil]

Who doesn't enjoy a little smattering of murder now and then though?

[@GriffinPilgrim]

"What have I done? What am I continuing to do!?" Gold.

[@Ceb773]

"What have I done again? What have I done some more?"

[@BFedie518]

Yahtzee: "It's an--all together now--" Me: *"RANDOM DOCUMENTS AND AUDIO LOGS"* Yahtzee: "Pre-determined action sequence" ...Oh. I guess that makes more sense.

[@stijnvandevyver7958]

Yeah, i also miss old Lara Croft. Tomb raider legends reminded me of a combination of James Bond and Indiana Jones. They were fun. The game industry seems to think characters can only be interesting if they are angsty and/or have a troubled past. Not everyone needs to be a reskin of batman.

[@Kentama]

It's because there are two many gamers still trying to prove to mommy and daddy that video games can be "mature" entertainment.

[@murrfeeling]

...and the mommy and daddy are the gamers themselves!

[@ihatestairs9034]

Von Steiner Yeah that’s why I liked the older games, it didn’t take itself too seriously and had a lot of fun with itself. Felt a lot like an Indiana Jones film, now it feels more like a Hunger Games movie.

[@daevious_]

The funny part of that mindset is that God of War 2018 proved you can have an emotionally resonant story and still have room for German suplexes.

[@Johnny-Thunder]

The truth has been spoken.

[@nickolascharles]

The end of the origin story of how Lara Croft became a murdering psychopath

[@Bird_Dog00]

that's one of the many things wrong with the reboot trillogy: - another one would be this whole trillogy thing - they said "enough with Lara being an overpowerd psychotic killer and world herritage site demolisher! Here's Lara as a young, innocent girl freshly from university." and then went on to turn her right back into what she has been before, just with a truckload of angst this time...

[@Daniel_C_Griffin]

But she's already that, and way worse than she ever was. Remember in Anniversary when she kills Larson? The only human she kills in the game and is a bit mortified at having done it? New Lara is fucking nuts. I've NEVER seen a girl so into removing jugular veins as she.

[@simd3082]

Time for reboot!

[@SpankSandwitch99]

That would be a good twist. Delve into how all the PTSD, loss, and treasure fiend tendencies have marred her mind, and now she's become a villain. She isn't a relatable, reliable, or even good hero. So next game, they should just cut their losses and dive into what they have created head first.

[@jamesoren7238]

To be fair they wrapped that up in the first couple of hours of the first game: land on beach supposedly helpless, go for a walk in the woods, climb a hill, then just start wasting fools left right and centre before commenting to your friends (who are totally fine with it) over the radio just how easy it is to kill people. From there on the game's basically just running around the island conducting a purge and occasionally getting briefly distracted by a tomb that's barely even a subplot of the game, and is always the least challenging/time consuming thing in the game... most of them may as well just have a "press X to raid tomb then go back to massacring island" quick time. The second game... is basically the exact same thing. I just want them to reboot it as this - and sit down, because this is fucking left of field thinking - a game about raiding tombs.

[@Jake_Eyes]

People always forget "of Chernobyl" when they list off all the games with "Shadow" in the name.

[@KR4K40]

OY BLYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT

[@ArifRWinandar]

Also, "The Hedgehog."

[@ahmedboukhalfa288]

Cheeki Breeki ?

[@Pariahmary]

SUKA BLYAT!

[@ksg8176]

anuu

[@TheFoolishSamurai]

How did a badass, fun-loving treasure hunter turn into The Big Sad?

[@somberleo]

A better question is how did The Big Sad turn into a badass, fun-loving treasure hunter, because this "origin" trilogy sure didnt answer that.

[@samuraijack5919]

Neo Machine I know right?

[@GldnClaw]

She started watching Sad Horse

[@dangerwarg9682]

Look no further than the people responsible for reinventing her into a "weak and vulnerable girl who is not bimbo". I don't remember if it was mostly in interviews or a trailer but you'll find it easy if you look up the first New Laura game.

[@valdish9620]

She became a feminist.

[@icklenellierose]

Thank you. I was waiting for her to pull up her bootstraps in this one, but she just went back to panicking and yelling and saying "s***" every other word.

[@lowleypeasentmr.l8836]

Wait you have your own channel? Does all the ox box and extra crew have their own channels?

[@kadosho02]

I could not your thoughts about the game on OX. Sigh. SotR is such a mess

[@felisasininus1784]

Holy s***, Ellen was here! Also she panics and proceeds to slaughter everyone, don't forget that important part.

[@Maribel80ify]

I played Tomb Raider (2013), thinking it will be with vulnerable Lara, sneaking around, avoiding fights, trying to survive against an army of soldiers, before she is "the tomb raider" NOPE 1h in the game the local mushrooms must have gave her a blood lust or something. She is splitting heads with her axe and cutting down squads of soldiers, while moments ago she sobbed if she killed a fly. Devs are saying this is the origin, to what?, her breast growth? because she has the psycho part down already.

[@TheNocturnal1]

The Avid Gamer oooo eternal

[@Kuuenbu]

They do this because the vast majority of the game's target audience and nearly all "official" reviewers don't notice such things.

[@gibberconfirm166]

True. Mainstream reviewers don't treat game narrative or character seriously, and players have conditioned themselves not to care. Many games are a tonal mess of misfired attempted characterization. Take Fallout 4: why isn't the player character a chipper, can-do 1950s Dad who murders raiders because he's in a pre-war Fallout violent American nationalist psychosis, regarding mass murder as blandly as mowing his lawn? That could have been the joke. It might be even funnier, with the Mom: she's a prim 1950s homemaker and complete genocidal psychopath, trying to spruce up the neighborhood. But there IS no joke, and no character there, at all. It's almost like the game doesn't want you to treat its own content (i.e., murdering people,) as actually happening.

[@Trynt33]

And then you pulled out the first gun, shot an enemy and saw "HEADSHOT! Bonus XP!" Clearly they didn't know what kind of game they were making

[@nachocheese9328]

This review was completely spot on, especially the part where all the cult leaders are all stuffed into a helicopter which just ends up crashing and killing them all...kinda sounds like I'm describing an action-comedy movie now that I'm typing this out.

[@jayarby8494]

Next up: Dawn of the Tomb Raider Then: Birth of the Tomb Raider Then: Genesis of the Tomb Raider Then: Awakening of the Tomb Raider Then....

[@TheNukaColaMan10]

Jay Arby I'm not helping

[@brainflash1]

The Last Tomb Raider Croft: A Tomb Raider Story Tomb Raider Christmas Special

[@luiseatoll6368]

Tomb Raider Revelations Tomb Raider Reloaded Tomb Raider Aria of Hollows Tomb Raider Two Souls Tomb Raider Exodus Tomb Raider Ascension Tomb Raider the Dark Descent Tomb Raider Dead Souls Tomb Raider Romans Tomb Raider Copernicus Tomb Raider Isaiah Eh, I can't resist.

[@DavidCastro-rw9lb]

The pubescent start of the Tomb Raider Then shy steps forward of the Tomb Raider Then it comes the reboot.

[@highgrove8545]

Origin of the Tomb Raider

[@Mathmachine]

1:44 THANK YOU! I've tried liking this new Lara, but they stripped away everything good about her when they made her more "realistic". People seem to think classic Lara was just eye candy and nothing else, they forget she was witty and funny and had a strong personality and presence...at least in the first couple games.

[@ashessakura7518]

Mathmachine She also was a bit sarcastically flirty in the first four games, I find her original personality to be really enjoyable and fun to watch and play as~

[@harry_kaiser]

witty as well as titty

[@jordanwillis9543]

I feel you, I feel the same way about new Kratos. I don't know why they keep making video game characters more "relatable". I am so glad they're going back to classic Devil May Cry fashion.

[@ssfbob456]

We have Nathan Drake for that now.

[@NidorinoAlliance]

+ssfbob456 Nowhere near a satisfying replacement for OG Lara. I find him to be really unlikeable and insufferably smug. But Chloe in Lost Legacy is probably the best Lara and best Tomb Raider game we’ve gotten since the ps2 trilogy.

[@mistermann4163]

Oil refinery? Secret Society? Ancient temple holding something important? In a part of a 3rd world country? Is this resident evil 5?

[@moonraven6145]

No Wesker sadly, at least he was an over the top fun villain rather than.... erm, guy from Shadow of the Tomb Raider

[@CNWhatImSaiyan]

MisterMann Does Lara punch rocks?

[@wesleythomas7125]

It's * legally distinct* enough not to be, but more or less.

[@Screwpaulrose]

I lost it at "PREDETERMINED ACTION SETPIECE"

[@dinasticks8654]

So there is a gold thing and the gold thing makes sad things happen and the sad things cause plot to happen.

[@Daniel-zg5mb]

To be perfectly fair, though, you could boil down many good stories to this: Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones, Infinity War/any Marvel movie with Infinity stones, and plenty more. Whether you enjoy Tomb Raider or not, this plot structure doesn't isn't inherently bad.

[@rymbr8271]

Yes

[@TheOdd]

That whole sentence is correct, except for the plot bit.

[@pickledparsleyparty]

unless you ALSO have the silver thing! complexity!

[@pickledparsleyparty]

+Daniel I would call this instance of McGuffin chasing bad, because the McGuffin is ONLY a McGuffin. It's not a character development catalyst. It doesn't help the story take on any allegorical meaning. It doesn't do anything except give the character a reason to agree to another sequel. McGuffins can be good when they're more than just McGuffins. One really weak version of a good McGuffin is one that teaches the character that she doesn't really need to chase McGuffins by the end. Shadow's McGuffin started out looking like it was going to be good (the bad guys wanting the McGuffin is not reason enough for you to have it, Lara). There was even one scene between Lara and Jonah that teed this conclusion up for the story. And then the rest of the game says "eh, fuck that good intro let's just kill, steal and use dad as an excuse for the third time in a row." And the final boss was, for the third time in a row, absolute amateur material. Uh oh! He's turning into a god! Quick! Run around this arena and put bullets in him!

[@link4universe]

This has to be your best written episode this year

[@arrownoir]

The next trilogy will be about how Lara started wearing those shorts.

[@hydrocannons7573]

Also, how the surgeon fucked up her breast augmentation surgery to make her tits look like triangles.

[@drakep.5857]

In the next one you get to see the origin of her bra.

[@HORRIOR1]

You know it has been a shitty trilogy when Yahtzee makes THAT laugh at the end.

[@anibharath1967]

Eh yahtz and the majority seemed to have enjoyed the first two, eidos just had to fuck up the last game

[@MartinHerchel]

Not really he just said that tombs were fun and game functional, but bland.

[@wingsclippedwolf]

A shitty trilogy..a shitrilogy?

[@aelechko]

​@@anibharath1967have you watched the other ones? He does not like them.

[@Montesama314]

Come on, writers: Women getting beaten up is NOT the same thing as actual character development! Has no one heard of "women in refrigerators"? If you're going to have the character suffer, they need to DO something with that pain afterward. Sometimes, that means a superhero life change (like Batgirl to Oracle), or just going anti-hero or evil (like Robin II to Red Hood). Lara doing things because she "has" to and suffering just to make up a reason for her to kill people surely makes for a boring narrative after a while. Even Nathan Drake, Lara's arguably psychopathic predecessor, had a drive of his own, even when it was easier to turn back. While he sometimes claimed he "had" to fight the game's villain (U1, U2, and U3) or get the treasure to save his family (U4), it's shown over the games that deep down he WANTED to get the treasure, and because fighting in dangerous ruins was the only way he could get hard for his girlfriend/wife Elena. He got his ass kicked, but that was part of the adventure, not the sole way for him to develop as a person. He had his version of a character arc over four games by figuring out: "Hmm, I tried treasure hunting while slaughtering goons and it was kinda fun, but too dangerous for me and the people I love. I tried NOT doing either and I got bored out of my skull for a couple years. Hey, maybe there's a way to get treasures legally, WITHOUT fighting villains and evil henchmen!" That's not much, but at least it's something better than: "Some guys killed my dad. I guess I'll just scour ruins for magical artifacts for the rest of my life because... well, those are related, right?"

[@Fickji]

I'd like to argue in favor of the "women in refrigerators" troupe for a second here. It is suppose to be bad not just for the ones that find "her" (could be a man/child in the container too) but for the reader/watcher as well. It's tragic and a waste of life and fills one with righteous anger to hunt down and cut into tiny pieces the one who stuffed the person in said box. It's a revenge and tragedy gimmick. And happens in real life as well. Think victims of Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer. Or Seven's "what's in the box?!?!".... On to Lara. I do think that the full on anti-hero persona would work best with Lara Croft as a character. The fact that instead of doing it for her parents or to stop an evil cult/group that she should just realize she likes following myths and legends to the harrowing traps and pitfalls of puzzle solving. But the fault for this remains in the developers hands. It's like they think if they don't have some dead beaten horse troupe to give her "depth" that just the pure fun loving adventuring Lara would be boring. She wasn't boring in the first few Core games. She just got boring when she became Emo whiny Lara in Angel of Darkness, Underworld, and now this. I still plan on playing this new Tomb Raider game. But I'm doing what I did for the last one. Wait about a year for that sweet sweet Steam sale to slash the price (of the special extended definitive all included edition) by about 75%.

[@mjc0961]

"Hey, maybe there's a way to get treasures legally, WITHOUT fighting villains and evil henchmen!" Ugh, please don't remind me of that utterly stupid ending. Yes, Naughty Dog. The fact that Nathan and Elena are now being supes legal by getting permits absolutely means that no people treasure hunting illegally would ever get in their way. Can you imagine how much different the previous games could have been? Zoran Lazarević would have been like "Oh fuck, that guy has a permit. Guess I'd better go home and give up on my quest for power now, because he is legal and I am not." Katherine Marlowe might be the leader of a 400 year old cult, but that doesn't mean shit compared to a permit! Oh wait, they're both evil and have armies and would have gone in and tried to kill Drake anyway. And so would any other number of people who might want whatever treasure inside whatever ruins Nate and Elena get a permit to go look for. Absolutely fucking stupid. Naughty Dog must have let some intern write that ending, because god damn.

[@Montesama314]

Well, obviously there COULD still be supervillains, but that's not really the point of why they retired from adventuring. They realized their love lied in the sense of discovery, rather than the thrill of outsmarting and killing a few dozen men before dawn. Sure, some Mediterranean pirates MIGHT interrupt Drake and Elena's new salvage job and gun them down, but it'll be out of some sense of bad luck, not because Drake wanted to actively confront a small Italian village's dictator and prevent him from using the "Curse of the Cask of Amontillado." Otherwise, considering the world they live in, Drake and Elena might as well not work at all. "Nathan Drake's new bank teller job just went into overtime... because THE ACES GANG JUST STARTED THEIR BIGGEST HEIST YET! Can he use his wits and data entry skills to make it out alive? Uncharted 4: Drake's Direct Deposit."

[@nathangamble125]

SJWs seem to suck the fun out of everything.

[@Montesama314]

This isn't really a "social justice warrior" problem, hell, it's the opposite: there was an injustice. Feminists created a site cataloging such incidents IN RESPONSE to the trope of "women in refrigerators", the hurting of female characters to give (usually) male characters more development. A classic example was the original Batgirl's paralysis, until Gail Simone (who coined the term "women in refrigerators") and John Ostrander got their creative hands on her and turned Batgirl into Oracle. The incident that the term is based on was the killing of Kyle Rayner's girlfriend Alex DeWitt by the villain Major Force, stuffing her corpse in a refrigerator. Why? Because evil, and to make Green Lantern hate Major Force more personally. Now, I could see feminists saying "We MUST have female characters leading our video games" being a bad thing: just because a woman is in a leading role doesn't make her relatable or interesting. We've all seen how "Ghostbusters" panned out. However, if the response from developers to women's anger about representation in gaming is "well, let's have the woman suffer and call it development," then someone else is in the wrong.

[@GretgorPooper]

The original Lara was a brave unstoppable badass, and while that is obviously not a deep personality, the developers of this new Tomb Raider trilogy's attempt to make her deeper seems to involve making her clueless and whiny at every little thing in lieu of character development.

[@InfernalMonsoon]

It really is a case where a simple character done right is way, WAY better than a "deep" character done dreadfully. They tried SO hard to make her this victim in an awful situation every time when in reality she's a fucking monster and the writers being utterly clueless of that fact or ignoring is astonishing to me. I would have preferred it way more if they made Lara embrace that thrill of the kill and accept she's the hunter - that would have made her so much more interesting and unique.

[@niktri8312]

"Ah, what a delightful thing it always is to see a video game join the hallowed ranks of Things That Have Shadows" is such an underrated line.

[@argnator]

She's a strong female character because the writers "Said so" and put that same kind of weight of statement into the game. That's all this brand of writing is. They say something is a way, and you believe it, and there is nothing underneath at all. It's a surface and then a void, no lake beneath the ice. No depth. "This moment is sad. Everyone is saying that it is sad. They will continue to say how sad it is for minutes afterwards until the haha funtime quippy action starts up again. But in the future, when this moment is discussed, people will say 'how sad' when referring to it. Therefor, it is sad." Movies, games, books, comics; it's all just "Feel as a I say, not as you should" and they end up writing either boring or hilariously incompetent shit while dictating to their consumers what they SHOULD be feeling because I SAID SO. It's MY art piece, so you have to FEEL what I WANT you to FEEL! Because that worked fucking great in the 2016 election.

[@thediethrower1803]

I agree with most of your statement but telling people how they should feel *did* work in the 2016 presidential election

[@ThePhilosogamer]

argnator "Feel as I say, not as you should." I am going to quote the shit out of this line. Thanks for that.

[@ericrohe8421]

I liked the part in the last game were lara made the Shocking Discovery that work conditions in a Soviet gulag were quit bad. Is there anything as funny in this one?

[@Dr_Bille]

You'd be surprised how little the truely privileged know or care about the working conditions of others. But yea that is still fucking hilarious

[@titanicww2345]

Also the Soviet Tablets were so lazy. There is the same words written in cyrillic. Really annoys someone who can read Russian. I mewn come on change it up it is not that hard.

[@moonraven6145]

She calls subterranean people (don't ask) creatures, soo I guess she's also racist in some way, oh and she doesn't like sacrifices.. cause you know they were bad n stuff

[@rjfaber1991]

+Raging Raving - I'm not sure the Yaaxil are supposed to be Homo Sapiens, so "people" might be stretching it a little. Then again, as far as I could work out, with zero explanation coming from the game itself, the only reason why the leader of the Yaaxil is an attractive young woman while all the other Yaaxil look fucking disgusting is because this leader figure is supposed to be some magical mirror of Lara herself, in the same way that these Maya gods Ix Chel and Chak Chel are supposed to be, so there's a lot of mixed messages there. I liked this game (and indeed the others in the trilogy) rather a lot, but Shadow in particular just seemed a bit disjointed and rapidly thrown together without much thought being given to how things fit together, which the Yaaxil are just an excellent example of.

[@PewPew_McPewster]

Now that this "trilogy" is finally over I'm looking forward to the reboot where Square finds a development team that uses the Old Lara visual and persona to ripoff Dark Souls as opposed to Uncharted in a "labour of love".

[@blondbraid7986]

I just want her to go back to dual-wielding guns and use combat mechanics that aren't super generic third person shooting.

[@AimForMyHead81]

Why did you put "trilogy" in quotes?

[@PewPew_McPewster]

@@AimForMyHead81 in case I'm wrong a few years down and they wanna try for one more entry in this series.

[@AimForMyHead81]

@@PewPew_McPewster Hmmm I doubt that, they'll probably just reboot it again.

[@Fickji]

At this point I wouldn't mind if they ripped off more of the Assassin's Creed vibe as long as she was doing it for the love of exploration and trap puzzle escape/solving and left the evil "Illuminati" conspiracies and dead parents cliches at the door. Makes you realize how good Core was in making all the old Tomb Raider games unique story experiences not loosely tied to each other by "reasons". Except for Angel of Darkness. Which wanted to be a trilogy.

[@BiTheBooks]

Seems Lara's superpower in this series is "ludonarrative dissonance" because there's an apparently insurmountable divide between her character and her actions. Honestly, I can't imagine her kill count really justifies how many artifacts she's collected by doing what she does.. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if she is legitimately psychotic. It's almost as if every time the developers were saying "this time, you'll get to see how Lara became the Tomb Raider", they were secretly prodding the execs to help get them back on some semblance of track. In short, this trinity of games isn't about how Lara became the Tomb Raider, but rather how Square Enix made Lara into Batman.

[@AimForMyHead81]

Since when does batman kill?

[@OtakuUnitedStudio]

I like how the treasure Laura is after is the gold plated limited edition San Diego Comicon exclusive Dragon Dagger.

[@lurkzie]

I liked the first reboot from 2013 cos she was stranded on a deadly island trying to survive so it made sense that she was killing people and animals trying not to die...now shes just a psycho with a taste for blood who uses treasure hunting as an excuse to go around killing people doing their job.

[@metal0n0v]

Tomb Raider: Origins Tomb Raider: Odyssey Return of the Tomb Raider Tomb Raider Revamped Tomb Raider HD Remaster Tomb Raider vs Dante from DMC vs Captom HD Remaster ft. Knucles

[@Arto257]

"Bug-fuck nuts" is my new go-to insult for crazy people.

[@billbeis7691]

when games take themselves too seriously they tend to lose their fun factor , that series is one of the many examples

[@gagejoseph91]

I'm not sure what the question is, but the answer is "Because western developers have no clue what makes a character deep, what characters are allowed to and work best as NOT being deep, and are more focused on ham-fisting fads into games to try too hard to appeal to the kiddies than making an ACTUALLY fun and consistent game."

[@Square_nothing]

Seriously though, "i must or i have to" are basically the magic words for moving the plot when you're a lazy ass writer, bonus points if you drop an "alone or by myself" in there to justify a solo mission in the game /movie /TV show

[@jacobs2099]

5:14 there's a place like that in Mexico called Tula, where there's an ancient mesoamerican city right next to a huge oil refinery.

[@beefcake8134]

I've had to watch this video three times so far. The bit at 2:58 launched me into a fit of giggles and I kept missing the rest of the review

[@danielwareking]

Yeah this series is just so dull, I can't be bothered. THANK YOU for going into detail on why Lara is a terrible character in these games. Just a bundle of daddy issues and completely ambiguous "This is my destiny" tropes that go absolutely nowhere.

[@tmsphere]

A game is more than its plot. God the originals didn't have plot but were incredible, wtf is this a book reviewing club?

[@danielwareking]

I'm just annoyed by games that feign some sort of cinematic ambition and yet have the writing of a Michael Bay movie. The weight that these games try to give to Lara is completely unsupported. She's just annoying to spend time with, which is a problem when she's the protagonist of a story-based video game.

[@dangerwarg9682]

Dusty48 New Laura and the reboot games are a product of trendy and (possibly) SJW quotas. It was obvious from the very start, right down to when in the trailers they said they're reinventing her to be this "weak and vulnerable" mess who isn't a "bimbo" like the original. She can't be weak cause then nothing gets done, her constant tripping and falling into trees, rocks, and other things that'd kill her doesn't make her vulnerable, and the people responsible for this did in fact make her so god damn dumb making her a bimbo. She isn't strong either. She's either when the plot/game demands it. Otherwise she's a plank. She's not cool. She's not inspiring. She's less than mediocre and could be swapped out any character either of the three reboot games trended toward at the time.

[@danielwareking]

God, portraying women as non-sex objects is now an "SJW agenda" for you people?

[@Kuuenbu]

The sad part is this is still going to be the future of the series, once you look past the vocal minority towards how its sales stack up to the classics.

[@MadDgtl]

i thought they almost stumbled into something poignant at the start when it shows the big action set piece actually destroying the town and the lives of the people in it and Jonah wants to stay and provide actual material help to them instead of going off to chase the macguffin which Lara claims would be the REAL best way to help them, but then they just slammed it into reverse and had Jonah on the plane with you literally at the start of the next scene

[@kalkazar13]

This was one of the best reviews he's done in a while. Love to hear him rip into something that sucks and has a big enough budget behind it so that you don't feel bad

[@ChasoGod]

I always wonder why don't the mercenaries just go "Wait she killed how many of us? That's it I don't care if i become a god if this plan works I just want to live. So I'm out of here!".

[@pajamapantsjack5874]

Shadow of the thumbnail

[@alexknj1]

Yo can I get source of the profile pic, for research of course.

[@theunchosendude5446]

You shouldn't But the character's name is Sydney.

[@luismoralesacevedo3100]

Pajamapants Jack SAUCE!!!!!

[@RagingBadger68]

Luis Morales Acevedo it’s in their channel’s “about” page

[@raccman8294]

Hi pajamapants

[@jonathancapehart4061]

The march on Washington joke didn't age very well...

[@Nitrinoxus]

I get the distinct impression that Yahtzee had more fun with that final melodic laugh than he had with the entirety of the game he just finished reviewing.

[@chrisjones5949]

♪ Pre-determined action setpiece ♫ I wish he'd do that little ditty in more videos.

[@wyattblue]

Wow, I never knew that playing with a shadow could be that fun!

[@xProRapidZzz]

Can't wait to see this game reappear in the "Worst of 2018" list

[@Kroododile553]

Robson Parker *pbbbfffffttttt*

[@titanicww2345]

Nahh Most Bland of 2018 more like.

[@MrDewott123]

titanicww2345 It is possible for a game that he called boring to enter the bottom 5. Check his top 5/bottom 5 of 2016 video for a good example.

[@tomasnovicky6886]

"If getting the shit beaten out of you is enough to make you a complex and interesting character, then my knob deserves its own Scorsese-directed biopic." I died.

[@aqj2014]

that laugh at the end is the laugh of someone whos gone insane..which i cant blame ya for honestly

[@ridwana4037]

You know you're early when the thumbnail doesn't load yet.

[@paradoxacres1063]

I always come early....

[@TheNxtGmer]

Paradox Acres haha, premature ejaculation

[@matthew1882]

Petition to make the knobfather an epic trillogy

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

Why is Yahtzee Shaming chest high walls for looking after family?

[@featurelength5086]

Chest High Walls was a hardworking family back when they first got their gig with Marcus Fenix, that guy was a walking refrigerator. Pile of bricks had to work hard to keep up with that kind of pure beef. Nowadays they coast on shrimpy little mountain climbers and personally I'm just tired of it.

[@nono9543]

Making your character a victim doesn’t make her more interesting

[@LordArikado]

She's not even a victim. The bad stuff happens to everyone around her. The worst New Lara gets is repeatedly impaled, which she then just walks off like it was nothing.

[@nono9543]

She may as well be a Superhero at this point. I get that the whole point is to make her more interesting to a broader audience but it's been 3 games. She acts like she doesn't even want to be here.

[@katla9782]

I can’t! wait for the next reboot! Which’ll actually be a Crash/Spyro -type remaster to maximize the pointlessness

[@BlaizeTheDragon]

Well you're sort of right. I checked back here after the remaster trilogy to remind myself why the reboots are so fucking bad by comparison

[@fwheels7776]

If getting the shit beaten out of you is enough to make you an interesting character, my knob deserves its own Scorsese directed bio pic..... Fkin LOST IT!🤣🤣

[@MrMortull]

Oh God, I think I can actually hear the sad remains of Yahtz' soul dribbling out of his ear towards the end of this one. Mr. Croshaw, are you in need of a holiday? I really wouldn't blame you.

[@Kmpodonico]

"If getting the shit beaten out of you is enough to make you an interesting character, then my knob deserves its own Scorsese-directed biopic" One of the best critic phrases I've ever heard.

[@HarryBillyBobGeorge]

I got the next 30 years of overused titles. Tomb Raider Revelation Return of the Tomb Raider. Beneath the Tomb Raider. Escape from the Tomb Raider. *C R O F T* Attack of the Tomb Raider. The Tomb Raiding Menace. Tomb Raider of the Lost Ark Temple of Tomb The Last Tombsade Tomb Souls. Tomb 2: 2 Fast 2 Raider Tomb 6 Raider 7 Tomb R8er Tomb Raider World

[@pausetimemugen6301]

DavidtheWavid Asterix and Obelix XXL2 featuring a male Lara Croft.

[@paft]

'Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation' was actually a title.

[@redgemaster291]

Wouldn’t be surprised if they rebooted this franchise yet again and call it “The Tomb Raider”

[@dissuede6949]

DavidtheWavid "Beneath the tomb raider" being the awkward spin-off porn version. And the cancelled sequel to that, "Killing of the womb hater".

[@futonrevolution7671]

By then, we'd get a bunch of product placement, like TUMS Raider.

[@brainflash1]

4:33 Shouldn't that be "So the weed would get off him"?

[@ItsMeLouJee]

Thank. You. For. Your. Painfully. Honest. Reviews. Humanity. Needs. More. KZbinrs. Like. you. ✊🏼

[@SPM0717]

He's not a KZbinr. He uploads these reviews to The Escapist site.

[@Chubbybig1]

Best video yet. I’m in tears! 😂

[@hedgehoundable]

So when are we going to get back to the good old days of Lara shooting wolves and dinosaurs in the face? I've quite had enough of Square shilling their super advanced engine that realistically gets her dirty now.

[@moonraven6145]

"k, guys for the next game, we are going to have realistic clothes physics, as well as our next gen TressFX Omega Hair technology" "can... I just have a fun game?" "Get out"

[@brimbles4999]

been awhile since we've seen him tear something apart at the seams jesus christ

[@CaptainAngryface]

Flute sword for the green ranger is a reasonable treasure to become a tomb raider for.

[@angeldeb82]

LOLed at the running gag of Lara killing imps in different ways! XD

[@paveldundr6390]

So when is the Knobfather coming out?

[@VertSecretStash]

In knobvember I think, it might be knobtober

[@ClarenceDass]

I played Uncharted 1 to 4 for the first time before playing the first Tomb Raider reboot and it was so dull and souless compared to Uncharted, so I gave up half way through. Couldn't be bothered to keep up with e series after that.

[@fragmentalstew]

All we need is a "Return of the Tomb Raider"

[@Magmafrost13]

"Who would've thunk you'd make a sequel of a reboot thats a prequel to a big established franchise wow Im so blown away" - Lyle McDouchebag

[@ruaangrobler3035]

I'm a long time Tomb Raider fan; possibly my most-often-replayed series of games. These latest ones are incredibly beautiful on a technical level but ultimately 'meh'. It used to be adventure set in exotic locations with clever puzzles, a sense of isolation and an almost spiritual sense of accomplishment as you discover interwoven connections to other rooms, new sights or just amazing ideas. It made me feel like I was travelling, learning and appreciating things. Incredible music, deep atmosphere (considering the graphics at the time) and a game engine that made me feel like I was in control. It was my style of escapism. It's slipped into being another action coma where things are always on fire or breaking apart, Lara included. They try to make her a strong feminist icon but her entire world still revolves around daddy issues. Even in the recent excuse-for-a-movie she couldn't accomplish anything without a man doing it for her - not that I care particularly much for feminist agenda being forced on every remotely popular female character these days. The point I'm making is that old-Lara, regardless of skimpy outfits, was a much stronger human. We've also gone from protagonist vs environment (which was unique) to protagonist vs army, which puts it in competition for just about every other AAA title. It also means Lara is motivated by survival 90% of the time, which is awfully boring and generic as well as external, vs her old internal motivations. She also destroys all the gorgeous locations she goes to with complete disrespect. It's gone all cut scene, pretty linear path and action. I would love to see a return to an emphasis on beauty over action. In my ideal Tomb Raider, you'd hardly need guns - A game that would stimulate the eyes and brain, not just trigger finger - leave footprints not mass destruction. I haven't even bought this one (Shadow) yet...that's how little I care for the new ones :( - I will, but only when it's on sale, because ultimately I HAVE TO (you see what I did there) own them all.

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

Its free on epic right now so maybe save your money if you did not buy it yet. if you are not averse to epic that is. As for me i thought it was the first game in the reboot series (gotta LOVE this forsaking of numbers, where i had to go on the net to see if this is the first or second game or whatever) and now i do not know anything. Oh well i guess ill explore for a bit and see if its any fun while ignoring the story.

[@ruaangrobler3035]

@@xxXXRAPXXxx Thank you!! Just grabbed it. Also love epic FWIW - hoping to build my own indiegame one day with Unreal Engine (you can check my channel if you're curious -progress is mega-slow though since I have a heavy dayjob). Yaaay - much appreciated and all the best :)

[@xxXXRAPXXxx]

@@ruaangrobler3035 I uninstalled it already because i really hate singleplayer games that try to force me to stay online. But have fun mate.

[@CooperQueen45]

I think they had potential with these. They’re fun to play in my opinion but I only see the smatterings of the story that wanted to be told like the random one scene where you play as Lara as a child or the offhand comment in the definitive edition where she “hates climbing” which I think the kid scene undoes. I think she’s supposed to be some sort of reluctant accidental hero that grows into the role. Like maybe she’s only known the bookish side of the actual tomb raiding and now she has to be thrust into the physical bits of it but it all happens too fast for sake of game play. The game suffers from lack of attention to detail regarding the story they wanted to tell and pacing. I think if Lara had been more of a fuck up in the beginning maybe the growth would have felt earned but that first kill is too easy. We get over her inhibitions too quickly. And the fathers death ends up feeling like a throw away line to give the illusion of motive. That’s story web day one detail not finished product detail. I like playing these games but I don’t find the story particularly compelling.

[@rjfaber1991]

All good points. I think it's acceptable for a character to develop a violent streak as fast as Lara did when their life is in genuine danger (adrenaline will do a lot), but three games in, you'd expect her to either become psychopath-esque and start to develop an actual liking for killing, or to start suffering the effects of PTSD brought on by what she had to see and do in her first adventure. Instead, she seems to have become indifferent to violence, which is a good way of not letting her character development get in the way of gameplay, but I doubt is something that would happen in actual human beings.

[@Erimentos101]

You're both so right. The violence made sense in the first game because of her personal motivation to save her friends. Instead of having her show reluctance due to trauma or what have you, they just doubled down in the next few games. They should've made the adventure come to her instead of the other way around to keep up the reluctant hero feel. The violence undercuts any interesting hints of character development

[@axelprino]

I miss the old days when the devs were a bit more self aware of how much of a psycho Lara was, like that line in TR Legend when she gets asked by one of her sidekicks if she knew from what organization was that random armed guy she just killed without a second thought and she replies "not the foggiest". At least that trilogy inferred that she went a bit mental after having to fight atlantian mutants, dinosaurs and other monstruosities in TR Anniversary.

[@xxEpicxGunnerxx]

I sang along with the "its a pre-determined action sequence"

[@VertSecretStash]

I HAVE TO MAKE A CLEVER REFERENCE TO THE VIDEO

[@piratafrustrado]

I MUST GIVE YOU A LIKE

[@nicklager1666]

So in short an unstoppable god boss but only as far as game logic goes got it. Im a bit disappointed that the origin story didnt include how she Went from ballon breast lady to normal breast size lady.

[@blondbraid7986]

She got punctured by one of all the spike traps she's climbing on?

[@CareCORE]

Last phrase is why I love you......

[@reallycool]

the pun at the end was worth it alone.

[@VictorDrakesjc]

Great review! You missed the opportunity to call it Shallow of the Tomb Raider, though. 😇

[@needlessToo]

I think he clearly explained why I couldn't play the first one more than 2 hours. I loved all other TR games however stupid they were, but these new incarnations feel so shallow and far from reality while trying to feel realistic and relatable, it makes me want to throw myself off a cliff. A cringefest is what it is.

[@XxRobloxPlayerxX1]

It took me over a year to actually complete the first game. The second game I couldn't even be bothered and I stopped playing in the middle of the first mission. Honestly, it is just a boring version of uncharted. I can't think of any other way to describe it.

[@Kikinhocapoeira]

AoD is my most favourite Tomb Raider game tbh...

[@frostaegis8653]

the delivery on that last joke! oh god, I can't stop. x,D

[@Sjono]

I seriously can’t believe they used the origin story tagline for all the games in his reboot timeline

[@paradoxacres1063]

Knowing that Yahtzee will one day review *HuniePop* it fills me with determination!

[@salc1n380]

Ahh the good old days

[@georgesears934]

Paradox Acres Jesus Christ, you’re STILL here?

[@GretgorPooper]

Unlikely. When has he ever reviewed a hentai game?

[@Call-Me-Flores]

He reviewd Doki Doki Literature Club

[@gabrielshadwick886]

That doesn't fucking count as a hentai game. Its more like the scary version of katawa shoujo . WHICH I GOT 100% ON! used a fucking walkthrough to get the rest of the endings. Which that ended up making me take a nap for 5 hours to calm down. Also saving at some spots so I can reload and get the other paths. DDLC Is Horror yes but its more of the mind fuckary what the fuck is going on horror. Which I like.

[@lovelosta]

I'm glad I resisted the urge to get this game.

[@joehudak9196]

You know I watch your videos because if I can hear the worst thing's about a game and still be interested in said game I my like it not this game but others. THANK YOU FOR ALLWAYS BEING HONEST WITH A LITTLE HUMOR.

[@DannyMexen9]

But she must, Yahtz, she must do what she must.

[@ChaplainRaziel01]

I made a joke with my friends that’s Warhammer 40K related. Basically I said if Lara Croft entered the 40K universe she would become a Chaos God since her kill count equals several planets worth of humans. Her favored weapon would be her ice pick since that’s half of her kill count, she nigh invulnerable and she’s a killing machine that puts seasoned military trained mercenaries to shame.

[@sunpsyco7073]

you're giving her just a bit too much credit there, personally I'd say greater daemon of Khorne.

[@Hagashager]

@@sunpsyco7073 Definitely a Khornate High Deamon Champion or something.

[@sunpsyco7073]

@@Hagashager word you are looking for is bloodthirster.

[@futonrevolution7671]

She's the Tau, but less fun.

[@sunpsyco7073]

@@futonrevolution7671 nah tau can't do melee.

[@geardog24]

Oh no, Lara tomb raided the thumbnail.

[@GaragebornGrey]

predetermined action setpiece is my favourite jingle

[@AngelBeeps]

Did anyone else notice how the plot of this one was almost a carbon copy of the last one except set in South America as opposed to Syberia?

[@shayliakara]

I still loved the game.

[@MrClickity]

Maybe they're just going with an alphabet theme for the names and started with R for whatever reason. Rise of the Tomb Raider Shadow of Tomb Raider Trial of the Tomb Raider U...niqueness? of the Tomb Raider

[@tyrus1235]

Ultimate Tomb Raider Vengeance of the Tomb Raider WWE: Tomb Raider Edition

[@MrClickity]

Tomb Raider X Yara Croft: A Tomb Raider Story by Telltale Games [RIP] Ziggurat Raider

[@francesco8000]

That crazy laugh at the end was pretty damn great.

[@BronzeDragonWOHS]

I would pay like hell to see a game where the artifact people were fighting over was the freaking Dragon Dagger! Loved your use of it here. XD

[@ChilapaOfTheAmazons]

I actually like the new psychotic Lara. She knows what she wants and she doesn't care how many bodies of innocent people will be needed to get it. 😈

[@aelechko]

She doesn't know what she wants. She just hears something and fixates on it then when it's done never mentions it again. She's a cretin and a shit character.

[@TheRatzor]

I Agree this Lara sucks, go back to normal Lara, Ill take back flipping summersaults dual welding demon slaying, Apparently "unrealistic" Lara back any day! all this Lara does is Shout Johans name all day and kill people Great character development Legend, anniversarry and underworld IMO stil the best when it comes to Lara!

[@sashaciochina1166]

Lara after Trinity shows up: "Blood for the blood God! Skulls for the skull throne!" ............ What? That's from a different universe? Well heck, the way she kills you could swear by the almighty Emperor she's a Khornate Berserker .

[@samuelsmith2707]

This person would make a perfect voice for audio books.

[@IapitusMcHeimer]

I didn't ask for an Australian who talks at Rap God speed in a mix of large words and swearing, but that's what I got and I'm ok with it

[@gabrielshadwick886]

Ok that is probably the best comment I've seen today.

[@titanicww2345]

Welcome.

[@technobabble123]

He's British, though.

[@mjc0961]

That's good, because you didn't get one. He's British, not Australian.

[@XanCrews]

Why isn't there a thumbnail? Aren't the thumbnails done a week prior because the videos go up on The Escapist first?

[@MrHatman26]

I've tried to go to the Escapist website multiple times, but it only seems to load in HTML... And last week it didn't even load at all... 🤔

[@riccogee]

This is one of the best reviews that you've ever done.

[@BrawnyFanta]

That end laugh would make a great ring tone