Review:
Rise of the Tomb Raider, the second in the Tomb Raider reboot series by Square-Enix and Crystal Dynamics, is truly something special. Taking what worked about 2013's already great reboot of Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider adds a considerable amount to the formula by having a greater focus on puzzle solving and exploration. There is just more to do, more collectibles and artifacts to find for world building or just interesting little niche observations, there's a high number of tombs to explore with fun puzzles to solve, overall this feels more like a "Tomb Raider" than its predecessor. But it manages to keep the excellent stealth action gameplay of its predecessor completely intact, feeling like a far more refined product overall, it's a great time. It's not a perfect game, mind, I certainly have my gripes and nitpicks with it, as you can tell from the diary, namely the story just being kind of okay. But of this sort of micro-genre of "Uncharted-likes", I think this one is easily the best, even beating Uncharted itself. 9/10
Diary:
6/20/25
I feel bad for laughing at this game right out the gate, because this is a very serious game, like, it's meant to be taken seriously. But the ice axes have just become such a meme to me at this point, I can't take it seriously like. I might be misremembering because the movie came out so long ago, but I remember the Alicia Vikander Tomb Raider film made getting the ice ax a big triumphant moment because it's an icon of the first reboot Raider game. Since then I haven't been able to take the ice axes seriously. They're a good gameplay mechanic to have, mind, I'm not saying they're a problem. It's nice that Lara isn't restricted by geography as much as her contemporaries in this same subgenre because she can scale up the sides of things better without needing to grab onto things all the time. It's just not something I can take seriously anymore either.
It feels very nice to be playing reboot Tomb Raider again. I was a pretty big fan of the first reboot Raider game (so much that I own it three times), despite being a pretty obvious Uncharted ripoff, I think it's excellent. To be honest, I kind of think Tomb Raider 2013 is better than all of the Uncharted games I've played. Like, I like Uncharted 1 and Uncharted 3, can't stand 2, but in my opinion Tomb Raider just succeeds at being a more fun game. Narratively, it's nowhere as good as the Uncharted franchise, Tomb Raider 2013 is quite messy if anything, but the reboot Raiders just have more fun and interesting gameplay to me than the Uncharted franchise, idk.
Speaking of narrative, I feel like this game is trying hard to be less... yikes... than the first game. Tomb Raider 2013 has a bad habit of forcing Lara to go through extreme circumstances to progress for seemingly no other reason than to put her in a situation where she's being put through something beyond human capability. Back in the day, some content creators I no longer watch speculated some unsavory reasons for it. I think it's moreso that Tomb Raider 2013 is engaging in the common but somewhat problematic trope in fiction that to explain why a woman is strong, you need to force her to go through excruciating circumstances. Rise is much better about this, I suspect unfortunately that it's partially because Lara is already established, but so far we aren't putting her through hell every couple scenes so. Improvement. Instead her character's whole thing in this game is trying to prove both herself and her missing father right with regards to supernatural happenings and secret ancient organizations, which, while not a new story by any means, feels much better.
Something I immediately enjoy a whole lot about the second game is the greater focus on like proper "tomb raiding". While I enjoy the first game, it wasn't super interested in the Tomb Raiding aspect of Tomb Raider. There were some tombs to raid and puzzles to solve in them that were fun, but like. It was mostly a cinematic third-person action-adventure game, there was way more gun fights and way less archaeology. The second game corrects this by just having a greater focus on archaeology. Lara now has a language system that you can level up as you go on, as she reads more of a language, she gains a greater knowledge of the language, allowing her to translate increasingly more complex artifacts. Speaking of artifacts, there are now artifacts hidden everywhere on the map for Lara to collect, centuries old documents, lost murals, hidden treasure caches, etc. It feels like a much more whole experience because of this, like the team really went out of their way to make this what Tomb Raider should be in the modern day. It's a shame they never got to follow up on it because Square Enix forced them to make an awful Avengers game that had the consequence of sinking the Tomb Raider franchise.
I am not, however, a huge fan of how the game restricts basic mechanics until the tutorial for them pops up. This is kind of just a problem with game design for a lot of the HD era, mind, they lock off basic mechanics to you until you learn how to do them and it's frustrating. Sometimes it makes sense, I don't necessarily like it but like. Lara not being able to craft poison arrows until she has an obstacle that she needs to poison does make sense. But like, they won't even let this woman hide in the bushes until they give you a tutorial for it, it's actually insane. I'm glad games don't do this anymore, it's very frustrating to know a mechanic exists and then drive yourself crazy trying to figure out how to activate it only for it to be locked behind a tutorial you haven't accessed yet.
6/25/25
I've now officially gotten the all too important Tomb Raider reboot experience of "trying really hard to be sneaky, failing miserably, and scrambling getting caught in a gun fight". I love the stealth gameplay actually. Like, I'm bad in high intensity situations, I've played so many action-adventure games to know that I can and will almost definitely fail if I attempt to go in guns blazing. Stealth makes it more like a puzzle to be solved, approaching a situation and figuring out the most effective way to confront the group of enemies to get through, which plays to my strengths much more. I'm also just very bad at aiming and so I kind of immediately fumble when put into a gunfight. This is probably one of the main reasons I don't like Uncharted as much as these games, come to think of it.
The greater focus on archaeology in this game really does add a lot because of the numerous documents hidden throughout the world to collect. It feels like we aren't just experiencing one story, but dozens. There are tons of compelling micro stories hidden around the map that add a lot of context to what is happening in the present day. The story of the Byzantine soldier having to chase the heretical prophet deep into the mountains of Siberia. The story of the Mongols fighting against the Greek invaders to their homeland. The story of a Soviet engineer writing to his family who is set to join him, wondering if or when they will make it to him. The world feels so complete with all of these little notes added to it, and it really makes the various artifacts we find throughout pop more with all this added context to it, like they're truly part of the grander narrative.
Due to the setting of Rise of the Tomb Raider, I find myself comparing this game to Uncharted 2 more than I really want to. As previously mentioned, despite Uncharted 2's reputation as not just the best Uncharted game, but also one of the best games of all time, I think it's rather bad. There are a number of reasons for this but a big one is how the game chooses to communicate its location. Uncharted 2 similar to Rise of the Tomb Raider takes place entirely within the mountains of East Asia, but it chooses to present this area in a very dull way, making Nepal look very grey and sad. And I think Rise shows that it didn't have to be this way. Rise manages to make the snowy mountains of East Asia pop amazing, even though the color scheme is primarily white and grey, it's very vibrant and interesting to look at. It almost feels like a flex on Uncharted, tbh, like we're literally going through utilitarian Soviet Ironworks and it still looks interesting. I was already like "Rise is probably my favorite of this type of game" but it showing up Uncharted 2 like this really is putting it over the edge.
That being said, the white and grey do make it a little harder to figure out where to go if you're facing a cliff face. There's a lot of discourse now about the yellow paint that shows people where you can climb in games and how people hate it despite it being objectively good game design, and I think Rise is a perfect explanation of why. Lara can scale certain rock walls with her ice axes, and the game indicates what she can scale by the wall being an off white. In the first game, this was pretty easy to spot most of the time, but in this setting it becomes very difficult. I've scanned through areas multiple times trying to figure out how to proceed only to, on my third comb over with my detective vision, realize there's a climbable wall right there. A cool solution I think the game should've done is have the cliff faces be marked by the indigenous tribe living in the mountains that Lara meets on her journey. That would've been a good lore bit and also solved the "can't really see the cliff faces" problem.
I'm really sad Rise of the Tomb Raider has been so slow going, it's like I can't find time to sit down and play it. I really am loving it, this is a real top 10 contender so far and I'm only a few hours into it. I look forward to playing more of it when I can find a couple hours to stop and play it. I've actually been really wanting to get into the Tomb Raider series as a whole, and thanks to Amazon's free games I own the entire series at this point. Unfortunately I don't have a PC that could run Shadow so that's kind of off the table for now, but the other Tomb Raiders, the classic ones, are easily on my list. I'd even be interested in playing the like PS2 ones, the ones no one likes or talks about. Maybe someday! The list is real long is the problem.
6/29/25
From my limited knowledge of the Tomb Raider franchise, namely being the original Angelina Jolie movie, the 2013 reboot game, the 2018 Alicia Vikander movie, and the episode of obscure Disney Channel sitcom Life With Derek where they, in 2008 or whatever, have the timely debate on whether or not Lara Croft is empowering to women, it seems like this woman gets betrayed a lot. It's no wonder that she turns into a go-it-alone type, I swear. I do think this game does a good job of making this wound feel fresh. Like, this one was, effectively, her mom. This isn't just like a friend or a colleague, this is a person who was, apparently, playing the long con to betray her family, so long in fact that she was Lara's main maternal figure her entire life. And was literally banging her dad, so she was kind of actually Lara's mom. And I like that it does matter to Ana that she's known Lara her entire life, that she's pushing for the main villains to recruit her, make her see their way of things, not kill her. She doesn't want to admit it to herself, but she cares about Lara more than she's willing to admit.
It took me an embarrassingly long amount of time to realize that the Assault Rifle is an automatic weapon. I felt so stupid when I finally realized, like, of course it is, that's the whole point of an assault rifle. Here I was sneaking around trying to get headshots with it. I'm thankful for a big automatic weapon like this, as I have previously mentioned, I am really bad in a gun fight. I tend to freeze up in the midst of more active combat in honestly any shooter, happens in Splatoon, happens in Fallout, happens here. So just giving me a weapon that lets me really even the playing field in more intensive combat encounters is super helpful for me. I still tend to lose in those kinds of encounters but, you know. I'm better equipped for them. Though my aim is awful and I burn through ammo constantly.
Potentially hot take, actually, I know it's a hot take, lots of people complain about this but uh. I kind of love sections where the game strips away all your resources from you and you have to start from 0, fighting your way through to get your equipment. I don't know, you'd think I wouldn't because you know. I'm famously bad at video games, I've said it a million times in this blog, but like. I don't know, there's just something to having a peak of power and then having to start back over again, re-evaluate your strategies, play with new toys, that sort of thing. Granted, it can be argued that Rise does this too early, we're not even at the halfway point it feels like and we've gotten this sequence, but like. I really like it. I like having to rethink my strategies and, honestly, it's a great way to introduce new mechanics like the assault rifle or the explosives crafting. The Gulag was a very fun sequence, what can I say.
I got VERY distracted in this section. I don't normally bother with DLC, it's a very rare game that can make me want to come back to do post game content, I'm very much a "when it's done it's done" gamer. But the game popped up a mission with the title "Baba Yaga" and you know what, I'm there. I want to fight Baba Yaga. It is very silly though that Lara is kind of taken aback by the possibility that a witch exists, like, that's the most eccentric thing she's even encountered and it's like, girl, you're up here in Siberia hunting for the secret to immortality, I think a witch is pretty tame all things considered. Granted, there is a 0% chance it's a real witch but like, if there were, this is like not even in the top 5 weird things that reboot Lara has encountered, let alone Lara Croft as a whole.
The Baba Yaga storyline is great so far, though. The Batman Arkham games have given us a lot, the way they shaped open world games and especially superhero games cannot be overstated, but my favorite part of their legacy is that we have these weird, trippy, pseudo-horror sequences in action-adventure games now. It's usually a fun time, a chance for the devs to get away from their usual game's setting and themes and go all out on being weird. The Baba Yaga toying with Lara, forcing her to go around and around in circles until she's completely lost, chasing a vision of her father, forced to relive the trauma of her father's death all over again in a shockingly real vision. So good. And then the Baba Yaga and her infamous house looks amazing on top of that. Baba Yaga gives such strong forest witch vibes, decked out in her eccentric clothes and wearing a deer skull on her head. And the house is just fantastic, I love that it doesn't actually have bird legs but rather it has like. Flooring and scaffolding and stuff twisted into the image of bird legs. It's been a fun little side story so far, even if all it has turned out to be is just "a woman using Scarecrow fear toxin" basically.
The Voice of God tomb is a standout moment in the game, just an absolute peak part, I'm surprised this location is optional. I really like how the temple surrounding it is full of documents being like "we were lost in the mountains until we found this place, then we knew this is where we belong." Like they give you a lot of context on what the Voice of God means for the people who now call these mountains home, that it's a place they make pilgrimages too, but they never tell you what it is. They very much want you to see it for yourself. And after you solve the simple but fun timing puzzle, you enter out into this breathtaking view of this massive canyon with natural formations caused by erosion that makes the entire thing a giant woodwind instrument. Absolute highlight of the playthrough so far, I was speechless when I saw it.
7/1/25
It was really neat seeing how "Baba Yaga" kept the myth alive. Yeah, that's right, I made like no progress this part because I wanted to finish that Baba Yaga storyline. I don't feel good about it either. It was really cool though, seeing the illusions that the Baba Yaga made, simply to suggest that the Baba Yaga is real, allowing the hallucinogen to take over and fill in the blanks. Placing scarecrows all around to have the mind fill in that they're monsters created by her, building her base deep within a winding path in the woods so people get lost, repurposing a lift to look like the Baba Yaga's famous house? It was great, good stuff here. I almost want to go back through the Wicked Vale, see if there are any other neat little details about her trickery that I missed.
The boss fight was also just super cool. It can be difficult to design a really cool boss for this kind of game because, while the combat is super fun and super good, it's all very samey. Like, this is the type of combat that is built for either stealthy take downs of groups of enemies or all out gunfights, so it's hard to make a boss in this context that really pops. But the Baba Yaga fight is very cool and very unique, resembling something of a Zelda puzzle fight. You enter into a big room where the Baba Yaga is hanging over the center and you have to rope her to various gears and time it so that the fire of her own machines damage her. All the while under the effects of the hallucinogenic flower she is refining, creating a visually intense boss fight. It's not like one of the greatest boss fights of all time or anything but it's nice to have a really cool, unique boss in this kind of game.
I genuinely forget how many optional tombs there were in the first game, it didn't feel like a lot. Like maybe I was just not looking that well or maybe the game did a worse job of communicating there was one nearby, this game actively notifies you when you're near one, but it feels like they're everywhere in this game. It's really nice being able to find an ancient ruin a few times an area with a fun little puzzle to complete. This might be a controversial take, but I enjoy the shrine structure of BotW/TotK WAY MORE than traditional dungeons, because it feels like I'm getting more fun puzzles to solve more frequently over getting a couple big puzzles to solve every 2-4 hours. Tombs in Rise of the Tomb Raider feel like that, there are a couple scattered around the area, you delve deep into them, solve a little puzzle, get a treasure, and you're out. It's a good vibe.
7/4/25
There are so many chase sequences in this game, my lord. I feel like this is my fourth one where I'm having to run away from an instant death barrier chasing me. People talk about those little "going through tight hallways" moments in these games as hiding loading screens in these games, and first of all, hiding loading screens? Not remotely a problem. I don't get why people are so upset about having an organic loading screen in the gameplay. That being said, I'm pretty sure these chase sequences are loading screens because they literally always happen to lead into a more intensive scene with a lot of enemies/gunfights or a significant change in a pre-existing area. And again, like, organic ways of hiding loading without breaking up the gameplay are good, I enjoy them, I just keep getting chased and it's hard not to notice.
So like, Jacob is 100% the Prophet we've heard so much about, right? Like, okay, the Prophet is allegedly a miracle working Greek who was forced to flee East to avoid persecution from the Byzantine Empire and is, allegedly, immortal. Like finding the source of immortality is kind of the point of this game. And like. Dude's name is "Jacob". His name means many things that are thematically appropriate. "To follow", which the Prophet gained a cult of followers who would then follow him into the East. "Supplanter", given how the Prophet supplanted the common understanding of Christianity. "May God protect", indicating how he believed he was doing God's true will despite the common understanding of the faith at the time calling him a heretic. On top of that he's a distinctly European face leading the native populous of this section of Sibera, who are otherwise very Mongolian looking and/or mixed to have Mongolian features. His diary entries are also very interesting, how he talks about how he has dead wives and new flames and how he struggles to maintain these emotions, but these women he talks about all have names that are now the names of children and teens in the native village he runs. Like he talks about his dead wife "Sofia", and also Sofia is the name of his young daughter, which I guess that's not unheard of, naming your child after your wife, but like. Suspicious. Very suspicious happenings here.
The Geothermal Valley is yet another fantastic location in this game. Like I love how they did this "lost city hidden in the mountains", that it exists on a series of hot springs that naturally heat the area and because it exists in a very remote location deep inside the mountain range, it kind of maintains its own ecosystem. It feels surprisingly plausible in the midst of all of this. Like, I kind of made fun Lara for not believing in witches when we are hunting the source of immortality, but I do enjoy that this game gives a grounded explanation for the 99% of weird seemingly supernatural stuff happening in it. It makes the 1% that is supernatural stand out way more and feel that much more special. The Geothermal Valley is also just like. Beautiful. Such a pretty place, the locales in this game are amazing. I really hope we get another proper Tomb Raider game like this in the future, man.
I once again need to highlight how much I love that this game cares about Lara Croft the archaeologist. Like there was a point in this section where Lara uncovers ruins and immediately starts geeking out about the mosaics on the ground, trying to figure out what they mean. It's so endearing to me. I also love that they are putting forward an effort to make sure Lara practices ethical archaeology. Aside from any damages that may happen from puzzle solving, Lara always leaves Tombs and Crypts basically how she finds them. She leaves documents where they are, only noting their contents, artifacts she'll leave behind, she's careful not to overly touch anything, only moving some dust to read the contents. She leaves everything to the people they belong to, even if said people may not exist anymore, and I appreciate it. There's literally a sidequest you can do in the Geothermal Valley where a person asks for Lara to find lost artifacts and she goes "of course, they are yours to begin with". Idk, it's so easy for this kind of game to get into the Indiana Jones treasure hunting 30s archaeology mindset where you're just taking stuff, it's nice to have Lara do an ethics.
I really like how this game continues to play around with resource management. Like, at the point of the game I'm at, Lara should be fairly well equipped, having two guns to deal with enemies effectively. And in this context it could be very easy for a player to lose the desire to want to use the bow. But then the Geothermal Valley happens and being a valley of people who live a simplistic, agrarian lifestyle, it's like. Yes, they do have ammo that they're raided from the Soviets and the villainous Trinity organization, but it's very scarce and very limited. You, as the player, have to make the decision on when to use your now limited gun ammunition, meanwhile the bow once again becomes a more effective tool as the valley is full of resources to craft arrows. They even introduce fire arrows for you to utilize, arrows that contain small flasks with oil that ignite on contact, once again bringing the bow into focus. It's really good game balance, I like it a lot.
7/6/25
I got a grappling hook! I don't care what game it is, I'm always excited about a grappling hook. I once again am appreciative of how much this game doesn't restrict Lara's movement to just the ground and ledges. Lara has already been able to do so much more than certain other action-adventure protagonists cut from the same cloth, and now not only is she not restricted by cliff faces but also not by large gaps. It almost makes me wish this game was less of a linear cinematic action-adventure game because I'd really like to take Lara's kit out for a spin in a more open format. But also like, we have enough open world games now, it's fine. Anyways, grappling hook, on board, certified good game.
I have mentioned the archaeological aspect of this game a lot so far, but something I really adore about it is how you can track the development of this agrarian native civilization evolving from the Prophet's ornate, luxurious civilization. Loads of documents detail the fall of the Prophet's city of Kitezh around a thousand years ago, and the subsequent adaptation to a "harder life". You enter tombs and find abandoned places of luxury, in this section in particular I found what was once a luxurious bathhouse the ones who fled Kitezh used to bury their dead. There are loads of artifacts scattered about the map and it's always so neat seeing Lara note that this is an expensive bowl or vase or basket or whatever, clearly made only to be decorative, that the people have had to make into a practical piece. I distinctly remember one artifact was an expensive piece of pottery that the natives had to poke holes in to make room for plant roots to grow out. It's great environmental storytelling, love it.
Bomb arrows were not something I expected to be in this game. I just really like how this game continues to make the bow feel important even as we gain more and more guns and, moreover, more powerful guns by finding pieces of them around the map. Like, obviously, the bow is always going to have SOME advantage, as it has infinitely renewable ammo without having to find it or loot it off enemies, but the trick arrows really add a lot to both combat and puzzle solving. I mean in theory, I always forget to use them in combat as I try to get stealthy headshots with the bow, inevitably get caught, and then get in a gun fight I struggle to win because I'm bad in gun fights. Like the main thing you get out of doing the Baba Yaga storyline is a bow that turns your poisons arrows into hallucinogenic arrows, so if the opponent survives the poison, they will turn against their fellow opponents for a little bit, I've used it like twice. Love the trick arrows though.
This also makes me really appreciate the notes that the Tomb Raider games take from something like Metroid. I'm not going to go on a whole "Rise of the Tomb Raider is secretly a Metroidvania" thing because it's not, not even a little, but I do like that you're encouraged to return to previous areas after you get pretty telegraphed things like the fire arrows, bomb arrows, the grappling hook, etc. to unlock new stuff in said areas. I actually have to go back to the first major hub in the game, the Soviet Installation, to finally unlock the last cave come to think of it. I just love incentivizing continued exploration of previous area, and I think the way Rise does it, having these larger hub areas stitched into the more linear ones is a very nice way to do it.
The story is ramping up majorly. I did admittedly cover quite a lot of the game in the last section which is why, but like. Lara is getting caught up in more moment to moment gun fights as Trinity is going on the offensive against the natives. They've now infiltrated and assaulted so many of their sacred places and Lara has had to do a lot of work taking out the hostiles. A point I actually like about this is that the natives are adapting quickly to this new style of warfare, picking up their guns an effectively arming themselves against the invaders. This is something you also see in the native's documents, an anxiety that their lifestyle may be forced to come to an end as they are fighting a threat that, and I quote, "gets stronger each generation". A lot of them talk about the children and how fewer and fewer survive each onslaught, them seeing their own extinction happening before their eyes. And so, whether they like it or not, survival means adapting, adapting to this modern warfare.
I also like this darker side we're seeing from Lara. That her being betrayed by the last person she considered family has kind of broken her to a point where she's letting her desires get in the way of her archaeology. She holds the woman at gunpoint, something that she probably wouldn't normally do, making it clear she is honestly kind of okay with murdering her to a point where the woman, who had previously been like "we should recruit Lara to our side" is now like "kill her on sight". And her being too close with this adventure, due to her father dying as a result of looking for the source of immortality and it causing him to be disgraced as an archaeologist, is really clouding her judgement. I talked about Lara largely partaking in ethical archaeology but this is a line she is willing to cross, despite the protestations of the natives, Lara NEEDS to find the source of immortality, she needs to bring it back in the world, and while she claims this is for the good of mankind, she is obviously only doing it to avenge her father, posthumously prove him right in the eyes of the world. The natives even take note of their ally's ambition, stating openly that while they are friends of Lara today, they WILL be enemies of her someday soon, knowing they will die to protect their most valuable treasure and Lara will die to obtain it.
Speaking of hostile natives, a third faction has entered the fray. The natives tell stories of a group of theirs who, rather than flee the lost city of Kitezh, stay in the Catacombs protecting it. They call them "the Deathless Ones". They are ruthless soldiers, utilizing the power of Greek Fire to make sure there is nowhere their enemies can hide. As an aside, Lara really should try and get a barrel of Greek Fire, we don't know what that was and it could solve a centuries old mystery. Anyways, the Deathless Ones are REALLY effective threats. We don't see them at all until literally the end of their "introductory dungeon", instead they introduce them as shadows on a wall and distant voices in the dungeon. As well, we see them mowing down heavily armored Trinity members with nothing but arrows and greek fire. They seem so otherworldly, like they aren't human, they even speak an Archaic Greek that, unlike the other languages of the game, Lara cannot seemingly translate. Or at least hasn't been given the opportunity to. I really like this introduction, even if it ends up at another chase sequence.
I am even more convinced that Jacob is the prophet. Like, the game is doing a very clever job of making that point ambiguous, I think you as the player are supposed to clock this as a possibility and then have the game play with your expectations by making the timeline messy and then cleaning it up and then making it messy again. So like, they'll introduce Jacob's former wife and lover and it's like "this feels like it happened long ago" but then later go "actually this happened within the last generation and this is the current' Sofia's mother that Jacob is writing about" but then also, also, Jacob's journal entries are scattered about in odd places that make you wonder how he could've gotten there and/or known to come there in a single lifetime. There's also a very interesting journal entry where a citizen of the native camp talks about a mysterious stranger coming down from the mountains with no memory and while most people believe it was simply one of their brethren, they are convinced it is, in fact, the Prophet returned to them. And the description given notes that the stranger has long, unkempt hair and a sort of shaggy beard, much like Jacob. I'm not going to act like this is a huge call, in my opinion it's a very obvious twist, but you know.
Something I am starting to get annoyed about, though, is the Survival Caches. Throughout various maps, there are survival caches, buried there by explorers and hikers and natives and what have you that went through the area that contain supplies. These are nice little additions, you can find some needed and/or rare crafting materials on the fly with them, but the thing is that the game will not let you pick up a crafting resource unless you need said resource. Which I guess is good, you aren't wasting material when your pack is full, but the problem is Survival Caches are a collectible. And because of this, you can just have to go back for a collectible a dozen times not being able to obtain it because the material it contains is something you are already full on and like, how can you keep track of that, you know. Just a very minor annoyance, nothing huge at all, it's not like I'm going to 100% this game anyways but like, it is a thing:tm:.
As I near the end, I don't think I have that much game left, it's making me really sad I can't jump into Shadow for the forseeable future. I know Shadow of the Tomb Raider is not nearly as good as 2013 or Rise but like. It just makes me sad, you know, knowing this story has a conclusion that it'll be a long time before I reach because either I need to build a PC that can run it (yay, more complaining about how hell PC gaming is) or swallow my pride and just buy it for console even though I technically already own it. At least I have the entire classic Tomb Raider collection to move onto. I'm really excited to try them out actually, I may be repeating myself here but I'm even looking forward to eventually playing the "bad ones". I own basically the entire Tomb Raider series at this point besides like, the top down twin stick ones, so hopefully I'll be able to revisit Tomb Raider in the not-too-distant future and continue to be like "Lara Croft is just better than Nathan Drake and I don't know why Uncharted has the pedigree that it does, it's like if Joss Whedon wrote an Indiana Jones film."
7/8/25
To literally no one's surprise, Jacob is, in fact, the Prophet. Again, it's such an obvious twist it's difficult to even call it a twist, his name is Jacob. I do enjoy that he is like immediately going "yes, I am immortal, but no, it's not a God given ability". And that despite that, his faith is still outwardly strong. Jacob is a very interesting character, I like him a lot. Like, as someone who isn't in the faith but grew up surrounded by Evangelical beliefs, I find it very interesting when nuanced depictions of belief are put forward. That Jacob's belief in the Abrahamic God is strong despite his objective knowledge that some things aren't of God. It reminds me of a bit from a video I saw, I forget if it was a Miniminuteman video or Dan Olson's excellent video on the Paluxy River Tracks, but it was a quote that was like "how upsetting it must be that your faith must be backed up by science in order to be valid, thus you must live in fear of any scientific discovery that it may undo your entire belief system".
The Orrery is yet another all timer location for this game. I really wish I had a reliable way to get screenshots off my PS4, because man this game has so many beautiful, iconic locations in it. This giant mechanical model of the solar system, seemingly far beyond the prowess of anything in historical record, is just mesmerizing, even Lara cites her appreciation of it. It's also a really fun little puzzle, having to use your rope arrows to move the model around so that you can climb up further in the structure, only to then have to time your jumps and swings and stuff when you get up to the top to access the path forward. It's not a groundbreaking puzzle by any means but it's a real good one and like. I don't know if it's the final puzzle of the game, but it kind of feels like it? It's a very "use everything you've been using for puzzles together" kind of puzzle, you know?
I think I kind of saw where the game had to cut corners to ship on time in this section. Rise of the Tomb Raider is typically very good about all the areas feeling interconnected. There are some points where you can't readily go back from an area, don't get me wrong. Usually a tighter area with lots of cover for tight stealth/combat situations ends up having a point where you leave it and then can only go back via Fast Travel points to pick up collectibles. But in this section there's literally just a point where Lara has a conversation with someone and then the camera cuts to an entirely different area of the map and we're just here now. And then when the section is concluded they just cut back to the Geothermal Valley in the same way. Either they couldn't think of a real way to get Lara from point a to point b with how the map is laid out or they had to cut some corners because modern game development always has to cut corners. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a couple areas meant to fill in these gaps that got cut for time, tbh.
It took me literally until this section to remember Jonah is a character we're meant to know already. Now, granted, it has been many years since I've played Tomb Raider 2013, I beat it in 2018. I only know that because it was a game I did for a different blog I was running at the time that was basically just this but worse. And he looks radically different in that game anyways. But like, the cast member I remember from that game besides Lara was Sam. Lara's best friend and professional documentarian, which is also definitely something they took from Uncharted. I don't really remember Jonah and I think it's really weird that he's like the guy now. He's Lara's equivalent with Sully. Like, the actor is great, he performs the character super well. It's just the character is not that interesting and a lot of this game is built on Lara's friendship with him. Like the moment that Jacob and his people decide to truly trust her is her "this has gone far enough" where she's willing to give up a chance to find the Divine Source of immortality to go rescue her friend. And it's a nice moment, but I barely remember who Jonah is.
The next segment will be the last, I left off in the pathway to the Lost City of Kitezh. I've really loved this game so far. It's obviously not a perfect game, I've had more than my fair share of criticisms with it, but like. Of this kind of action-adventure game, this one is easily my favorite. Do not be surprised when this makes the best list this year, like, currently I'm placing it at the #6 spot on my spreadsheet. See y'all on the other side!
7/9/25
Something I don't think I ever drew attention to during the diary was how much I love Lara's campfire inner monologues. First of all, it's just good game design. Lara will recap the recent events of the game when you sit down at a campsite so if it's been a minute since you've played you can get a nice refresher on what you were doing leading into this point. But also I just like getting Lara's thoughts on things. It's not that Lara isn't a proactive protagonist, she is making a lot of her own decisions in this story, but often times she is very guarded and is carrying less than half of a conversation as she gets exposited too by the other characters. So it's very welcoming to get these looks into who Lara Croft is, her true thoughts and feelings of the people surrounding her. This also being a journey about Lara's relationship with her father, she ends up remembering a lot of exchanges with him, and it's just really nice. You're always reminded of how personal this quest is for her.
I really liked the final optional tomb you could do in the game. Not because of the puzzle, which is in my opinion one of the worst, there's a lot that's kind of unclear about how it works. But I, a, like that it's entirely set in a cavern underneath the Valley where the natives fled to after the fall of Kitezh, showing why it's so unnaturally warm up there, but also 2, how the Prophets followers believed that this was a portal to hell. The final tomb, the Exorcism chamber, takes place inside a giant cavern of volcanic activity where people were imprisoned based on the belief that they were demonically possessed. What is actually happening is that the gas that is emitted from the chamber is causing adverse neurological symptoms, causing them to act odd. There's even a note from a prisoner in the exorcism chamber who has a rare moment of lucidity and writes about how she knows it's not demonic possession but she does not blame the priests for the abuse they're putting her through. She is aware that there is a sickness within her that cannot be cured, and that the priests simply believe they are doing their best.
I was so excited to find out I get to use a trebuchet. Like first of all, shoutout to the puzzle design again, there was a really fun little puzzle to operate one of the trebuchets I liked. But just man, having this giant weapon to pilot in the end game, it so good. It does the thing a lot of good video game end games do where it gives you a massive power trip moment right before the end. You just have so much destructive power as you rein down Greek fire from the skies, it rules. I also love that they make you take down a bunch of enemies with the trebuchet, so cool. By the way, Lara did indeed learn the recipe for Greek Fire, this trip wasn't a total waste after all.
I kind of feel like the Deathless Ones lose a bit of their luster once we're actively fighting them. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely some hard fights with them, some of the hardest mob fights in the game are in this section. But like, okay. So the Deathless Ones were introduced brilliantly, right? Keeping them largely in the shadows, never showing too much, etc. And then in this part of the game, Lara starts to see the full scale of their army as they march on Kitezh to once again defend the city from Trinity's invasion, and it really ups the intimidation factor. You realize there is something truly inhuman about them, that these are not men, these are monsters. The documents in this section reinforce this belief, painting the Deathless Ones as something truly terrifying, an undying force that will continue to chase you across your lifetime should they be allowed to.
And then the game drops two tidbits that ruin the whole thing. 1: The Deathless Ones are weak to fire, like, to the point where if you hit an unarmored Deathless One with flames they immediately burn up into ash. While this does bring up a lot of interesting questions about how the Divine Source actually works, it is kind of silly that this imposing final threat is basically just Paras. 2: the Deathless Ones are not actually conscious. Something about how they obtained their immortality and/or how they keep returning from "being killed" has caused them to lose all sense of humanity. Now this could be scary, except that they now just roam around, patrolling the areas they used to when they were alive, meaning they become incredibly predictable and easy to manipulate and take down. Like they can still be a problem in more open combat but like, just traversing the world they're kind of nothing because they don't really have any awareness to speak of.
I completely understand why the Divine Source doesn't have that many or, really, any answers to the many questions raised about it. Because like, that's not the point, right? The point of the story is Lara letting go of having to find these answers, having to redeem her father posthumously. The Divine Source is better off with nobody knowing what it was or how it worked, that it simply must be contained or destroyed. But I do think that there's a really big question that the game should've answered on how it works, and that is why the Deathless Ones are how they are. For context, the Divine Source is also obviously what has been keeping Jacob alive for these past centuries, and in his case, the Divine Source has very few adverse side effects. Jacob is still Jacob and has been Jacob for centuries, and that's his penance. He is unhappy with immortality, thinking it to be unnatural, and seeks his own death. And then when Ana takes the Divine Source, she too remains who she is. But the Deathless Ones didn't. They turned into this unfeeling, inhuman army that so do not resemble the people they once were that they literally have become a faceless collective doing a perverse mockery of the lives they once lived. And I would've liked maybe some speculation as to why that is, a document that puts forward a theory on why the Deathless Ones are the way they are, because I feel like understanding that aspect of this whole thing is really important to the motivation to destroy the Divine Source.
Remember what I said after the Baba Yaga fight about this kind of game being hard to design bosses for? The final boss isn't good. Like I think it's the best they could do with the gameplay style they have, you have effectively three phases, a wave based fight against a helicopter where you have to shoot it out of the sky using Greek Fire while it summons enemies and destroys more of the arena between each hit, a phase to refresh on your stealth takedowns where you engage with a couple waves of Deathless Ones and have to take them all out without being seen, and then the final battle against the game's main antagonist Konstantin where you have to perform two stealth takedowns on him as he strips you of all your weapons except for, you guessed it, your climbing axe. Part of the problem is, admittedly, I'm bad at aiming! The first phase requires you to be able to hit the Greek Fire barrels that the trebuchet is firing at the helicopter at just the right time so as to cause the explode on the helicopter, which means both timing your shots and often leading your shots. I'm not good at that. I have probably added like an hour to this playthrough just waiting for enemies to stop moving so I can headshot them because I'm bad at leading shots. So that's on me but also just like. The final boss fight is just kind of frustrating in general in a way that isn't particularly rewarding? Like I said, it's not a problem that this game doesn't have great boss fights, its gameplay is not designed for boss fights. It's just really noticeable when it does have a boss fight and it kind of sucks.
I did really like getting to be able to explore Kitezh though. Even if it was just a small area, it was super nice to actually get to roam around the lost city and have things to see and do. I was very worried Kitezh would just be another hallway area because this type of game tends to start having its hallways when you near the end. But I feel like for the game Rise of the Tomb Raider was, having a more open area with its own secrets and even a final optional tomb makes it feel more right, you know. There's also this sort of "lost world" quality to it, a sort of Journey to the Center of the Earth vibe, because the entire city is technically underground but it's still teaming with life. The entire city has been buried under a giant glacier (Lara pronounces this "glass-e-er"), which makes it feel like Journey, but a lot of flora and fauna, presumably the descendants of animals originally brought into the city to use as livestock or entertainment. I'd be very interested to see what the genetic makeup of the boars that roam this city is like, being likely not true boars but rather the descendants of feral pigs.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination. As you could probably tell from my diary, I had a lot of criticisms with this game, a lot more than I feel like I usually do? That being said, I still think Rise of the Tomb Raider is among the best, if not THE best of the cinematic action-adventure shooter genre. It's certainly the best one I've played. Like, despite all my grievances, I do love this game, I had a blast playing it. I'd be surprised if this didn't make my best list for the year, at the time of writing this it's in a solid #6 position. 9/10
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