DLC for Tomb Raider: Underworld
Beneath the Ashes is an all-new level that extends the Tomb Raider: Underworld experience. Lara Croft returns to the remains of Croft Manor in order to find a powerful artifact hidden in a mysterious centuries-old labyrinth deep beneath the estate. This download features a brand new action-packed adventure full of new challenges to overcome, an all new enemy and six new outfits.
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Because of exclusivity deals, Microsoft was able to secure two distinct DLCs for TRU, this one and Lara's Shadow. This means the only way to play these officially is with a 360, an Xbone, or a Series X/S. Thankfully, advancements in Xenia - Canary build, at least - allow the entire game to not only be playable, but achieve 60fps as well, albeit with modifications and tinkering done and if your PC has the specs for it which thankfully mine does. I'm actually unsure if being sarcastic about how to DL a premade ZIP file will get me hounded by the admins this time unlike before, so... just YouTube it I guess.
What's the content? Well, a 30-45 minute level that takes place below Croft Manor again, centering around a search of an artifact that can control the Thrall cause... actually it's never explained why Lara needs it, she just does. If I can sum it up, I'd say it's like the England level in TRL, just a bit weaker. The atmosphere's pretty thick but admittedly I did wish for more visual variety than just the sickly green bricks and filter, It's a lot more linear this time around, and unfortunately it means the puzzle and platforming bits aren't as strong as they were in the base game, but there's still quite a few that are good. There's a section where you climb around and about a mechanism first to get to the other side, and then once getting the water to flow onto the wheel below, it activates and now you have to do it again, this time now having to time your jumps so you can reach the other side without being grinded to death. The grapple also gets a fair bit more mileage here, containing some creative segments when it comes to traversal, as well as having more instances of wrapping around objects in order to manipulate the things you have to use for puzzles. It's neat stuff!
Still though, it's a DLC for Underworld, so you know what the flaws are: Still has some problems with telegraphing where to jump to next, still have to deal with the awkward control scheme (though this time I haven't had as many weird issues, barring those that come from emulation of course), and once again, despite it being much easier this time especially if you pick the shotgun, there's an unneeded amount of combat encounters. I truly don't get why TRU has been placing this much emphasis on the combat, it's always been the weakest part of the series and it's the weakest part of the base game too. While I do need to stress most of the people that made this DLC aren't the same ones that made the base game, I don't even think the change in demographic's a reason cause it's not like the shift in audience expectations for these sorts of things had happened then. Uncharted 1 was already a thing by this point and, despite that game being bad, didn't even place that much priority in combat either, and to reiterate, this is one of two DLCs you pay 10USD for, you could've easily had this one be about the exploration and puzzle-platforming with the other focusing on combat. Such a strange set of priority here.
Regardless, this is fine. Fun, even. Not really something I'd recommend unless you like Underworld and want more of it, though.
What's the content? Well, a 30-45 minute level that takes place below Croft Manor again, centering around a search of an artifact that can control the Thrall cause... actually it's never explained why Lara needs it, she just does. If I can sum it up, I'd say it's like the England level in TRL, just a bit weaker. The atmosphere's pretty thick but admittedly I did wish for more visual variety than just the sickly green bricks and filter, It's a lot more linear this time around, and unfortunately it means the puzzle and platforming bits aren't as strong as they were in the base game, but there's still quite a few that are good. There's a section where you climb around and about a mechanism first to get to the other side, and then once getting the water to flow onto the wheel below, it activates and now you have to do it again, this time now having to time your jumps so you can reach the other side without being grinded to death. The grapple also gets a fair bit more mileage here, containing some creative segments when it comes to traversal, as well as having more instances of wrapping around objects in order to manipulate the things you have to use for puzzles. It's neat stuff!
Still though, it's a DLC for Underworld, so you know what the flaws are: Still has some problems with telegraphing where to jump to next, still have to deal with the awkward control scheme (though this time I haven't had as many weird issues, barring those that come from emulation of course), and once again, despite it being much easier this time especially if you pick the shotgun, there's an unneeded amount of combat encounters. I truly don't get why TRU has been placing this much emphasis on the combat, it's always been the weakest part of the series and it's the weakest part of the base game too. While I do need to stress most of the people that made this DLC aren't the same ones that made the base game, I don't even think the change in demographic's a reason cause it's not like the shift in audience expectations for these sorts of things had happened then. Uncharted 1 was already a thing by this point and, despite that game being bad, didn't even place that much priority in combat either, and to reiterate, this is one of two DLCs you pay 10USD for, you could've easily had this one be about the exploration and puzzle-platforming with the other focusing on combat. Such a strange set of priority here.
Regardless, this is fine. Fun, even. Not really something I'd recommend unless you like Underworld and want more of it, though.