The second game in the Survivor trilogy (after Tomb Raider (2013)), Rise of Tomb Raider was released in 2016 and they used those 3 years very well. I mentioned in my review of the first game that it shows its age visually. By contrast, this game is stunning and the developers know it. The prologue to the story is a beautiful showcase of the new graphics and how amazing Lara Croft and the environment looks like.
I had very fond memories of this game and… well, let’s say, nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
The game improves over the first in series on how it controls and plays and what it looks like. But then it introduces elements of open world quests and exploring a depressingly boring base camp and I start to lose interest to the point that I’m considering not even finishing the game. If there wasn’t a third game in the series to play, I would skip the rest of this one.
Everything outside this open world experience is great. The puzzles are slightly more engaging than in the first game (although not quite on the level of Uncharted puzzles which is the almost inevitable comparison for this series), combat and platforming is fun and straight-forward.
The story doesn’t feel Lara Croft. Instead of portraying as an archeologist adventurer, she is in a Jean d’Arc type role leading the natives to a war against Trinity. I want Lara Croft who stays in the shadows (maybe in Shadow of Tomb Raider?) , is expert platformer and a survival expert rather than an inspirational leader of armies.
Baba Yaga DLC is ever worse as it features a classic video game boss battle. Why? When I entered the fight, old memories came back and I remembered how much I hate these types of boss fights, especially in games where they don’t fit at all.
Generally, I’m all for the suspension of disbelief with games like these. But in this game, Croft not only kills hundreds of evil Trinity members but also the local native people with whom she’s supposed be friends with. That was weird.
I can’t remember when was the last time I was looking forward to finishing a game so I could get out of playing it. I was so happy when I finally finished this one because the last third was awful. The beginning, until they got to the Siberia camp was quite fun and stunning but the open world stuff was boring and the final stretch was just big fights that I don’t generally enjoy in these games.
My nostalgia fooled me big time. I had way better memories of this game than it ended up being.