Review: Rise of the Tomb Raider

Before I begin, let me first say that I have never played the classic Tomb Raider games. I do own some of them in CD (remember, local library book stores are your best friend) but never had the chance to play them. I was actually introduced into the series by sheer coincidence. My best friend recommended me the rebooted Tomb Raider (2013) when I asked him where to spend my leftover Steam funds that I got for my birthday. That was back in May, and since I was moving, I didn’t have the chance to play it until July. This game, Rise of the Tomb Raider, was just me falling into the tricks of Steam sales. I saw the 20th anniversary edition on sale for 75% off, and I just could not resist the temptation; I used my gift card that I got from my other best friend. Again, this happened back in June, and I couldn’t play it until very recently, just because school was starting and I was overwhelmed to start another single player game until last week. And I must say, this experience has been an absolute blast. It has improved upon the first game in pretty much every aspect. The main three areas that I want to point out today are:

1. Narrative
2. Character Design
3. DLC Storyline, Blood Ties

1. Narrative

Narrative is one of the most powerful aspects of this game. We first experienced how Lara became the fearsome warrior we all know and love through the first game in the rebooted trilogy. We now experience the second act before the climax (Shadow of the Tomb Raider). The more powerful enemy before the true enemy. A “middle boss”. A Battle Tendency before Stardust Crusaders, And what exactly do we get in the second part of Lara’s story? We get how she overcomes her troubling past to become the true Tomb Raider. Lara now travels to Siberia in order to find the lost city of Kitezh and the legendary Divine Source to prove to her late father and the society that his research was not in vain- immortality is not a myth, but rather a factual thing. Lara is constantly haunted by the memories of her father committing suicide right in front of her; she also faces the fact that Ana, a mother figure in her early life as her birthmother died soon after she was born (explained later in more detail in the Blood Ties DLC), was actually a spy from the evil religious fanatics Trinity, who tries to annihilate the entire city and the indigenous people of Kitezh to “purge the sinners”. Through this difficult situation, Lara realizes something- she is struggling to accept herself. She desires recognition and acceptance; she is still a young girl, in a sense. However, she witnesses the humble way of life of the Kitezh people and is also faced with her friend’s abduction by Trinity. She finally decides that the Divine Source should never be used for personal gain, and, in the end, decides to destroy it. And you know how all of this unfolds in-game, besides cutscenes? Enter Lara’s monologues and relics/documents. Lara’s monologues happen periodically whenever she reaches a campsite or whenever she is faced with a certain situation. It is a constant build-up of narrative and lore- not a massive dump during cutscenes- where we see Lara’s true identity and growth; she recollects previous events and becomes direct with the player, almost as if the player was peeking at her secret diary. She also sometimes plays the voice records of her late father, providing hints at her past and giving incentives to players to be more vigilant for relics and documents, another core mechanic for narrative in this game. While exploring the massive open world of Rise, players can obtain certain historical relics and documents. Some are well hidden in the corner, while others are presented sort of as a “prize” after a platforming challenge. The game presents us with either a physical object that we can look around and even find more insights about or documents/records, where backstories of villains or the historical worldbuilding takes place. The pacing of this is very appropriate, as more vigilant players will be awarded with pieces of lore content while less vigilant ones will miss out on that opportunity. Placement of these are also very well designed; some of them require a tool to obtain, and they might require some backtracking. This makes backtracking much more interesting; even though the player is spoiled with information (“you need this item to open this box/solve this mini dungeon“), it still provides enough incentive for some players (lore nerds, like me) to go back to areas and explore a bit more. Let me digress a bit and talk a little more about the mini dungeons though. They are mostly simple platforming/timing challenges and are not that hard (a pretty consistent problem throughout the series, to be honest). One big improvement over the previous game’s mini dungeons, however, is that they actually provide useful skills for Lara (the previous game only provided extra documents and relics with some bonus experience; that felt a bit underwhelming compared to the bright golden VFX Lara is showered with whenever she opens the “big box”), such as new arrow techniques, new ways to approach combat, etc. And of course, it doesn’t forget to drop some of that lore in between, elaborating on how that new arrow technique is actually from an ancient Byzantine scroll and such. Now that shiny golden VFX, that grandiose music, and that clear facial expression of wonder and excitement all makes sense and feels natural.

2. Character Design

In the previous Tomb Raider, there were more than 10 Endurance crew members, most of them dying by Solarii attacks and only a handful actually playing a meaningful role in the story. Even Roth, Lara’s mentor and her family friend, didn’t really play a significant role in the story (at least until he died for Lara, now all that emotions flow in, etc.). Rise takes a different approach, minimizing the amount of essential characters and focusing more on narrative buildup. The result? Much better than the first game. There are some problems (like how Jonah is just completely forgotten and then used as a cheap narrative mechanic to reveal that Jacob is actually the Prophet), but minimizing the main characters in the game down to 6 (including Lara and the two main antagonists) was a wise decision. With all that extra space, they can now focus more on each individual character; even with immense time spent on Lara’s internal conflict, there is now plenty of room to explain (in a non-optional way) the abusive narrative between Ana and Konstantin, the fatherly love and sacrifice of Jacob, etc. Character design now makes much more sense also. Main villains are full of character, as Konstantin is a religious fanatic and a warmonger (indicated by a huge scar on his face and slightly blank eyes) while Ana is a manipulative, egotistical sociopath (she always either holds her arms or puts them in her jacket pocket, presumably symbolizing her cunning nature and her fear of death). Lara now doesn’t wear a sexy tank-top but opts in for a stylish modern coat (character customization can kick in but I will explain later). Jonah has grown a thick beard (I guess for more contrast in the snowfields of Siberia), while Jacob looks literally like Jesus but in a fur coat. Lara’s customization options also makes more sense; it is a bit weird that she can wear her desert outfit in Siberia, but at least there are no tanks tops in here. They also included some genuine “fan-service” by putting in the orange coat that Lara wore in Tomb Raider 3 when she traveled to Antarctica. Now I can proudly say that the days of Lara as a sex object is completely over.

3. Blood Ties

The aforementioned documents/relics system is completely optional. From there a new idea is born: what if we remove action from a game where action is the key element and focus the entire game around optional content? Enter Blood Ties. In this short and sweet little expansion, documents and relics are not just optional, they are mandatory. The player gets to explore the ins and outs of the Croft Manor, a place where they were only introduced partially through short cutscenes. Lara returns to the place after her journey to the city of Kitezh, only to learn that the manor is going to be taken away from her by her manipulative uncle unless she can find her mother’s will, which she though was nonexistent. This DLC revolves entirely around lore and a bit of platforming puzzles (thankfully, Lara doesn’t painfully die whenever she fails a puzzle, unlike the main mode). The mode focuses entirely around lore, on her upbringings as a child, her relationships between her parents, a small backstory of her family lineage and the story of how their parents met, etc. I was actually surprised on how much story you can tell when you take away the core part of your game; an adventure game without adventure can still work. Of course, there are some shortcomings. Few of those that I want to point out before I wrap this up:

1. Action is mainly the same as the previous game. Lara still uses her climbing axe to both bash at enemies and to climb craggy walls, but… nothing is new, really. I did like how they integrated backtracking on mini-dungeons though; some mini dungeons in the intro area are only accessible after you get the items required (yes, as I mentioned before, the info/item you need are spoiled to you by a “friendly” in-game UI).
2. There is a new cosmetic cards system and… it is generally useless. I still don’t know why they put it in.
3. Lara’s skill set gets a bit confusing towards the end. It is not as bad as Ori but still, there are 5 different arrow types and 4 weapons with multiple grenade types. Choice paralysis.
4. The Deathless Ones are definitely amazing (who would have thought that Byzantine warriors could be this cool?) but they feel rushed in terms of pacing. They appear towards the middle-end of the storyline and you engage in direct combat with them towards the very end of the game. Even then, they are not the fearsome berserkers we saw in the first game in the form of Stormguards (the Oni’s)- they just take some extra hits and you obtain an item to one-shot them almost immediately after you encounter them for the first time.
5. Map UI was very, very unfriendly. Navigation was clunky and it certainly didn’t feel organic.
6. Diversifying language choices (Lara can read Greek, Mongolian, Russian) was good, but they are set in different parameters- as a result, unless you found different documents to level up your Russian proficiency, you can’t read that propaganda plaque that the Soviets have put up on their gulags. Players are missing out vital pieces of lore even if they discover it just because they didn’t find enough. I think that takes away a lot of the player’s accomplishment of finding that relic/wall painting/plaque/whatever.
7. I struggled on some of the boss fights (namely the flamethrower guy and the first phase of the final boss battle with Konstantin) because of the lack of communication. Maybe if the player doesn’t get it at first, it might be nice to use some of that UI info spoiling techniques you got there to actually spoil some useful information, like how the flamethrower guys have gas tanks on their backs or how you can shoot the trebuchet fireballs to hit the helicopter.

In conclusion, Rise of the Tomb Raider was a large step forward for the entire franchise, especially in terms of storytelling and world building. Devs have spent great time and effort to rebuild Lara into a very complex character after their complete deconstruction of the character in the first game. Even though the game falls short when it comes to some of its gameplay and UX elements, it is definitely a one giant step forward for the whole franchise. It definitely is worth its name: the Tomb Raider has Risen.