3/5 ★ – peacebrendanp's review of Shadow of the Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition.

I will not drone on about this Tomb Raider reboot series much longer. I will do my best to be concise. This game was ultimately a disappointment. Refined mechanics and interesting ideas are hampered by game design that takes a couple of steps back from the previous entry. This whole reboot series contains interesting ideas, and fine, sometimes good, execution. But, at the end of the day, I feel like each subsequent entry takes one step forward, and one step back, making the series feel pretty stagnant. Looking at the game through the lens of the Tomb Raider series, as a whole, I think these games probably feel more related to those earlier games. This is especially so with how arcade-like some of the mechanics can feel. This entry refines the mechanics of the last two games, adding plant-covered walls and mud that Lara can use to camouflage, better crafting, and refined controls all around. This entry looks very impressive, graphically, but pretty flat in terms of environment variety and facial animations. There are hub-areas that provide a greater amount of dialogue options with NPC's, but the conversations are so uninspired and uninteresting, that they are not worth the time it takes to engage with them. This goes the same for the side-missions in the game. Skip them. They are boring, uninspired, and provide little to no reward that I found worthy of the tasks. There are more in depth puzzles this time around, especially with the optional challenge tombs. However, I felt like the telegraphing of the solutions was poor, and even the challenge tombs feel less frequent (note: I did far less side-activities here, so some of this is specific to me). Also, every single time you click the "detective-vision" button, Lara repeats the same annoying hint for the area you are in. It drove me nuts. The writing is awkward here, with a lot of the deliveries feeling stiff. The writing feels very basic, and like there was never a second pass at refining it. When the deliveries aren't feeling stiff, they feel way over the top, and still kind of awkward. Regardless, the performances here are the best of the series. There are some story moments that are really cool here, but sometimes it feels like the game makes these crazy jumps in rationale for some moments. It's not quite whiplash, but it's pretty close. There are some really cool gameplay moments that are in this game. But, overall, everything feels less focused. Less guns, which is a plus for me. But, upgrades feel way too easy to obtain, and result in little consequence for gameplay. There are less firefights this time around, which is a an overall good thing. There's less detail that is reflected on Lara when she escapes a combat encounter. Gameplay overall feels better here. There are even more tools here to engage with when traversing the world. However, this whole reboot series has some really slow and stiff climbing. After playing the Uncharted games, it really shows how rough and unsatisfying the climbing can feel. I'm also currently playing through Horizon: Zero Dawn, and the climbing in that game is designed more closely to these Tomb Raider games, but it just feels so immediate and satisfying. This series' climbing has really become a drag for me, which is unfortunate, given the platforming is one of the series' strong points, generally speaking. The biggest sin this game commits is the actual design of the moment-to-moment gameplay. The previous game felt like it leaned more into the survival mechanics that were introduced in the first game. This entry feels like it peels away from those philosophies, even though Lara is once again, stranded in an unknown land. Even though there are some more survival mechanics introduced here, they just don't feel super emphasized. It feels like the game doesn't know what it wants to be. It wants to be a survival-oriented open-world game. It wants to be a linear story with big set-pieces. It wants to have big and grand puzzles with beautiful environments. It just feels all over the place, in my opinion. And, unfortunately, does not become greater than the sum of it's parts. I really liked the swimming sections of the game. As games evolve, I find myself enjoying swimming levels, despite how bad their past reputation is. And, here, the swimming levels are fun and engaging. Also, I have got to give props to the soundtrack. It’s borderline horror at points, and really is something impressive. I really don't have much more to say. This series just never broke through for me. This entry has shallow collectibles, puzzles that have thought, but don't feel fun. Story moments that did not connect with me. Gameplay that is fine, and sometimes good. I don't know. I liked the first entry the most, I think. But, overall, the whole series just isn't for me. Now I know. Console Played On: PS5 (PS4 Version) Game Played: 05/2024 - 06/2024 Review Written and Published: 06/03/2025