7/10
Having never played the original Tomb Raider games, I approached this title without nostalgia or prior knowledge of the franchise. It had been sitting in my backlog for a couple of years, and I decided to give it a shot recently.
I'm in an era of gaming where I've been gravitating towards titles with less traditional linear storylines, Tomb Raider managed to reignite my interest. Nowadays, I struggle to connect with a game's narrative, often due to interruptions, lack of immersion, or a boring story, leading me to abandon many story-driven games I've attempted in the past year or two.
I played this on my Steam Deck with a mixture of normal-high settings at 60FPS.
Story: 3/5
The narrative in Tomb Raider struck a balance that worked for me. I wasn't looking for an intricate web of character arcs and complex relationships. Instead, I wanted a storyline that would provide motivation and feature likable characters who contributed to the overall objective, and the game delivered on those fronts, with a bit extra.
Lara Croft, in particular, stood out as a likable protagonist. She possessed her share of flaws, but her actions and motivations were relatable. Her sense of guilt and her unwavering determination for her and her team's survival drove the narrative forward, making it engaging enough to keep me invested.
Mechanics: 3/5
Tomb Raider's combat mechanics played it safe with a standard approach (Arkham style combat with regular 3rd person cover-shooter stuff), and the weapon upgrades were straightforward, and they didn't particularly excite me. The allure of reaching the next campfire for upgrades didn't quite grab me. Additionally, the available skills for upgrading at these campfires didn't feel essential to me. Maybe I'm just a god gamer, but I never found myself needing more skills or upgrades.
While stealth was an option, it didn't feel particularly useful, given that you were likely to be discovered regardless of your efforts. Nevertheless, there was enjoyment in picking off a few guards before the inevitable reveal. The game seemed to have the foundation for capable stealth mechanic, but it didn't delve deeply enough into this aspect. I wished for more emphasis on stealth since it was a rewarding.
On a positive note, the parkour mechanics in the game were impressively smooth. I encountered no issues, and every movement felt fluid and intuitive.
Feel Like Lara Croft: 4/5
The controls in Tomb Raider were solid, but I wished for slightly more responsiveness. The controls were straightforward and easy to remember. I never missed jumps or had other similar issues, like in Assassin's Creed. I was never taken out of the immersion because of the controls and movement.
Visuals: 4/5
Visually, Tomb Raider was great. The game's portrayal of caves, tombs, and the decaying villages was stunning, despite a lack of details. The island setting itself was a highlight, with developers effectively conveying the ongoing struggle between Lara and the island. Progress always seemed to trigger a response from the island, sometimes hindering Lara, and surprisingly even aiding her at times. The relentless and ever-changing weather served as a constant reminder of the challenges and goals at hand, creating a sense of constant tension and danger. It wasn't until the end that I truly felt safe.
The cinematic action sequences were great as well. Action movie-like sequences were always excited, but I wish there were more of them. Additionally, the game's shift towards a horror ambiance in certain areas added depth to the experience. While I wasn't exactly scared, some parts of the game managed to create an eerie atmosphere.
The death animations in the game, although at times gruesome, added to the stakes and made me more reluctant to die. Paradoxically, they also piqued my curiosity, I would sometimes die on purpose to see if I would unlock a new animation haha
Considering that Tomb Raider is from 2013, its visual quality has held up well. This era of games, marked by the need to rely on style due to limited processing power for realistic graphics (compared to today), has aged gracefully. While it may not be the best-looking game by today's standards, it features awe-inspiring settings that contributed to my overall enjoyment of the game. I was always excited to see what the next zone would look like.
Accessibility 5/5
I appreciate Tomb Raider not for its groundbreaking innovation but for its comforting familiarity. It's a game that provides all the visual and audio cues you could ask for – red means explosion, white means climbable, green and yellow signify ammo, and so on. Some might argue that this simplicity makes the game too easy, but for me, at this moment, it strikes the perfect balance
After long days filled with work, gym, cooking, and chores, there are moments when I simply don't have the energy to dive into a challenging game that demands my full attention.
It's challenging to put into words, but Tomb Raider feels like a pure, unadulterated game. Many of the titles I've been playing lately often come off as templates that require a lot of effort on my part. How much fun I have with the game heavily relies on how much effort I'm willing to put into the game. Multiplayer games demand practice, games like Stardew Valley and Enter the Gungeon require constant wiki searches, open-world titles like Breath of the Wild need hours of thorough exploration, and complex RPGs demand deep immersion in the story.
Tomb Raider, in contrast, feels like a fully-formed experience ready to be enjoyed from the get-go. It offers a frictionless and barrier-free journey that requires no additional effort on my part. I understand that many games are like this, but this one served as a reminder of how much fun such straightforward, immersive experiences can be to me.
Overview
Overall, Tomb Raider is an enjoyable experience. I enjoyed everything enough to keep playing and motivate me to buy the next game in the series. I know to most this might not be the most exciting game, but to me it has has changed the directions of the next couple games that I will play.
Favorite Part
This next paragraph will have a couple spoilers.
I think my favorite part was the end. Everything starts to hit Lara like a train. Even the villain tells her that she isn't actually a hero despite everyone praising her throughout the game. She has also killed a bunch of people who were just trying to escape the the island. I think it can even be argued that she's worse than anyone on the island. She is not the hero, she is just another survivor. Maybe she could have worked with them so they would all escape together, but how successful would she have been negotiating with borderline feral, stranded survivors? I felt satisfied with the end and look forward to more from the series.
Reminds of me of when I watched 2001: A Space Odyssey and was confused because I had heard great things about the soundtrack, but it was just a bunch of songs I had heard before.
About halfway through the movie I realized that it was an original soundtrack and it was so influential that it became a cliche. 2001: A Space Odyssey was a cliche, not because it followed a saturated trend, but because it itself was copied by everyone else.
AC1's concept and maybe even story has held up, but you're right that the later entries feel miles better.