Now Playing: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Rise of the Tomb Raider is the sequel to the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot. That was a solid and enjoyable – if somewhat forgettable – title that didn’t quite hit the mark. But it was a fresh beginning for a new take on an old series, one which I hoped would be built upon and improved. And I’m pleased to say that Rise of the Tomb Raider (or ROTR for short) does just that. Mostly.

I enjoyed ROTR quite a bit, but I also came away a little disappointed. I’d rate it as a better game than its predecessor, but it’s not quite the step up I was hoping for. It gets a lot right though, and actually addresses my key complaints about TR2013.

There’s far more focus on exploration and puzzle solving in ROTR. There’s actual tombs to raid, believe it or not. Combat returns, but aside from a misguided final mission, the combat segments are kept fairly short and sharp, with far greater emphasis on stealth.

ROTR features an enjoyable core campaign offering a nice variety of locations and objectives. This is accompanied by several excellent ‘challenge’ tombs. Combined, these components provide a satisfying and fun experience from start to finish. My only real complaint about the core campaign is the somewhat lacklustre story and supporting cast.

Although I enjoyed seeing the story through, I do wish the developers would realise that we don’t always need an ‘epic’ emotionally driven adventure. Can’t we just have Lara going into tombs to steal shit because it’s fun? And I really wish they’d stop trying to force a main ‘villain’ for Lara to tangle with. But if you really feel you must, at least try to make them interesting.

The main villain in ROTR is a guy named Konstantin. Because he obviously couldn’t just be called Jeff. But aside from his cool name, he’s another generic, lame ass villain that’s just evil for the sake of evil and for the sake of a dumb as f**k ‘boss’ battle where Lara fights an attack helicopter. STOP IT. Seriously. STOP IT. But I did enjoy the story, overall. Honest.

Whereas Lara in TR2013 was more reactive, Lara in ROTR is the one calling the shots and making shit happen. It’s good to see her evolving and learning from her experiences. I just hope the developers will focus more on her simply having fun in what she’s doing, without getting too bogged down in conspiracy bullshit. They seem to be pushing for this ancient order ‘Trinity’ to be future bad guys – which is fine – but hopefully it won’t become the entire focus of Lara’s next adventure.

The gameplay of ROTR is pretty much the same as it was in TR2013. A mixture of third person platform and puzzle solving, combined with a slightly improved cover based combat system. There’s far more variety to combat thanks to the selection of weapons and ammo types, plus the addition of one-shot craftable items such as smoke and explosive grenades, or proximity mines.

The stealth system has also seen a bit of an overhaul, with a variety of silent takedown animations. It’s still easy as fuck, but at least it’s fun and offers a varied range of options in terms of how you can approach the combat encounters. And, like I said, ROTR is far more restrained with its combat (although the final mission gets a bit over the top). It really does feel that they got the balance between combat and exploration right this time.

So where else does the game stumble? They’ve continued with an experience/skill system which doesn’t really bother me, but all the crafting/collectible nonsense was way too much. It essentially turns the open hub areas into little more than collectathon marathons, as you scramble from one resource node to the next, trying to scrape enough components together to upgrade your gear. They really need to tone that shit down.

The game also pads out its content with a series of mostly dumb and pointless ‘challenges’ – such as tossing chickens into a pen. Seriously. STOP IT. There’s also a few extra narrative driven side missions, but these aren’t much better. In fact, none of the additional side content outside of the main challenge tombs are worth bothering with unless you really want to hit that achievement happy 100% completion. If you can ignore that, and just focus on the core content, you’ll probably have a much better time.

Outside of the main game, there’s a new Expeditions mode which replaces the silly multiplayer of TR2013. It’s essentially a challenge mode with objectives and scoreboards, with a points based card system providing various modifiers. It’s a neat addition, offering extended play beyond the core game. There’s also some DLC content which includes a couple of okay story based missions, one of which actually has a more interesting boss fight than the core game. There’s also a ‘survival’ mode (sort of) called Endurance. It’s a cool idea, but rather undercooked. I’d be interested to see it return in the future in an improved, expanded form.

Graphically, ROTR is a great looking title with fantastic scenery and attention to detail, although they seem to have lost the visual progression Lara suffered in TR2013 – I suppose as a result of being able to switch outfits as you please. Performance is solid, so no complaints there.

So yeah, this is a step up from TR2013, but it still doesn’t quite hit that mark and become something I’d rate as essential. They get more right than wrong, but there’s still too much dragging it back down. The lame villain and predictable story. The generic and dull side missions. The padded out crafting and upgrade system.

I probably sound a bit irritated by Rise of the Tomb Raider. And I guess I am, in way, despite rather enjoying it. It is a step up from TR2013, but only a small step. It still feels like the series is being constrained by what’s ‘expected’ of it. As if it has to provide this ‘epic’ adventure worthy of the Tomb Raider name and character. But it doesn’t.

Just give us tombs. Give us cool, interesting and clever environmental puzzles. Let Lara explore shit and delve into ancient ruins just because she loves it. Because we love it too. I don’t even need a f**king story. Lara raids tombs. Because she’s the f**king Tomb Raider. It really doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

7/10