KHFanXIII's review of Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

I'm not going to be scoring this as I am waiting until I have played through the entire franchise so I have a more comprehensive view of this series. This is more like my general thoughts after having played all of the games in this "Survivor" trilogy There were some huge Uncharted style set pieces in this game. I mean, it was always obvious to tell this reboot trilogy was taking inspiration from that series, but I really felt it in the action set pieces here. Not that it's a bad thing; I really like them. Playing through the game, taking my time doing any side quest or Challenge Tomb I came across, it took me about 20 hours to beat. Honestly I really liked this. There was plenty to do, but I didn't feel overwhelmed and was still able to finish the game in a respectable amount of time. I've mentioned this recently a lot, but coming from someone who has played a lot of bloated games, it's nice to be able to play something and it only take me a few days to finish. The story in this game is just meh. There's nothing really compelling or interesting happening in this, and honestly I haven't felt interested since the first one in 2013. I did find the gameplay itself enjoyable. It is a pretty fun game to play. Between the increased focus on puzzles and platforming and the emphasis on stealth, I had a great time playing this. I have to point out how cool the shootout in the refinery is tho. It's one of the few times something like this happens and man you feel so badass. Especially seeing that shot of Lara rising out of the water with fire behind her? Man, fucking awesome. There was a major focus on Jonah in this game. I'm surprised he's stuck around actually. He was in the first game but I didn't remember him and Lara being particularly close. IIRC, he was in Rise for a brief amount of time, but in this game it's like their best friends. I don't have a huge issue with this as the relationship between them in this game is the most compelling part of the story to me, but it was something that stuck out to me as odd. I do want to discuss the Challenge Tombs a bit more. Unlike the first 2 games, there's actually a pretty major focus in this game on raiding tombs (who would've thought?). They are all side content, but they're really good. They have these super elaborate puzzles and some really fun platforming challenges that I really enjoyed. I recommend seeking these out as they were a ton of fun. ### Conclusion - Summarize your overall feelings about the game, noting both the positive aspects (gameplay, set pieces, Challenge Tombs) and the negatives (story, character dynamics). Overall, I do like this game. Actually more so than the last one. It just focused on stuff that appealed to me more personally (like the stealth focus and the puzzle/platforming stuff). While it did have stuff I disliked, such as the story, I would say I still recommend this game on gameplay alone.