Rise of the Tomb Raider is a “post-post traumatic stress disorder” simulator and action-adventure metroidvania game developed by Crystal Dynamics as the second part of the “Survivor Trilogy” featuring a younger Lara Croft as she navigates mass murder, action adventure and supernatural mysteries. The sequel to the previous game started around two weeks after finishing up the final touches on the previous Tomb Raider game and for the most part it was made in a decent time frame aside from cut plot points (discussed later in plot) along with different changes due to feedback like less quick time events and such. However, I feel what most people remember about this game specifically is the temporary Xbox One exclusivity, which oh boy pissed quite a few people off. At E3 2014, Microsoft announced an exclusivity deal that limited the game’s release to Xbox One and Xbox 360 (worked on by the porting gods Nixxes Software) and as such had pissed everyone off, including the person I was streaming the game for who went on an entire rant about it. However like most of their exclusive deals, this was only temporary as the game would later release less than a year later on PS4 which included all of the DLC plus new costumes and content along with added VR support for PCs. Overall, the game was released with critical acclaim as the best game in the entire “Survivor Trilogy” from fans along with over 1 million sales by the end of 2015.

Rise of the Tomb Raider came for me at a time around Christmas of 2017, one year or so fresh out of high school and into my first job working minimum wage at the local old folks home being a dishwasher. I had previously 100 percent completed the other Tomb Raider reboot game on the Xbox One as it was a Games for Gold for one of the months. I had enjoyed that game and at the time I delved into achievement hunting on the Xbox One, at least to a certain extent even if I was frustrated at the constant backtracking for collectibles and the like. While everyone’s kind of doing their own thing, I’m going to shoutout Realmofwolvesx for the game; while I don’t talk to them much these days due to life stuff, they’re pretty big balling. Initially, I had played this at some point in 2018 and had beaten it all the way through, beating the base game and the collectibles while temporarily giving up on all of the Expedition side content that I had gotten with all of the DLC. However, I had been streaming games for a friend recently around the Thursday of every week and she had been requesting that I delve into the Tomb Raider reboot games in the backlog. Having picked up the first Tomb Raider reboot on Steam for free a while back, I figured I’d replay this game and give it a spin just because of the release chronology but also because I genuinely liked this game more than the previous one. Honestly while Tomb Raider is a solid title, I feel this game is the step up for what you would want in a sequel, even if they don’t change a whole lot of the fundamentals of it.

So here’s what I’m going to do here. Rise of the Tomb Raider has SO MUCH content that sitting down and rewriting them all is going to be a huge pain in the ass, and also there isn’t much in the way of expounding the formula other than adding new additions here and there. What I’m going to do is copy and paste certain bits from the Rise of the Tomb Raider Wiki Page (here: https://tombraider.fandom.com/wiki/Rise_of_the_Tomb_Raider#Plot) and I’ll give my general thoughts on it because there’s A LOT of content and DLC that factors into the character development. However, I will be giving my thoughts in between on gameplay, graphics, atmosphere and art design as well.

“The game begins with a small camp in Siberia, where Lara Croft is gazing at the huge mountains that await them. Jonah tells her that the others won't be accompanying them anymore except him. The climb soon becomes challenging, with Lara nearly falling down to her death. As Lara reaches the top, she sees the ruins of Kitezh from afar, but the storm strikes the mountain and separates the two.”

Just for the first bit, what I’ll say graphically is that this game looks pretty fucking good. I love the hostility of the weather and pardon the terrible pun, the cold open that sets the tone for what the adventure is going to be like. You are Lara Croft and you’re thrown into the middle of it, however after the previous game she knows how to handle things a bit more. However, I’ll be honest I was very much confused about the fate of the Endurance crew. It’s revealed more in the comics but truthfully, the fact that Jonah is here just feels…strange? I don’t know, he was cool in the last game but I never really thought he was the “go-to” person for Lara as I always felt that him and Sam would be the ones to stick it out. However, she would later get removed from the series anyways via the comics and it just feels…off. I don’t know, I don’t hate Jonah but at this point I felt “lets see how this goes”. You also get introduced to Ana, Lara’s stepmother sometime around this scene and if you look really closely in the background you’ll find references to Yamatai and apparently previous Survivor Era comics and a book. The whole cutscene is basically Lara saying “she has to do this” while Ana is saying “don’t”.

“The scene then reverts to Syria, where a man drives Lara through the northwest borders of Syria's deserts. The man tells her that they are heading for a war zone and she better be sure about this, to which Lara exclaims that they are close to an oasis near a canyon up ahead. Suddenly a chopper appears and chases them, in which the man tells her that it's just local militia. Lara realizes that the man is lying and the chopper is actually Trinity. The man admits to telling Trinity because they paid better than her. Then the chopper fires, crashing the truck and killing the driver. Lara survives the explosion and falls off a cliff. But she survives with the aid of her climbing ax. She explores the mountain cliffs and eventually finds a secret entrance that leads her to the Prophet's tomb. After exploring inside, she finds a marker saying that the prophet tomb is near and murals depicting the prophet performing healing miracles and preaching to the people about the Divine God. Lara soon learns that Trinity was after a prophet who they believed was preaching about a Divine Source. They supposedly killed him and his followers and had been looking for the Divine Source many centuries ago. As she evades the deadly traps in the area and nearly drowns, she finally finds the shrine dedicated to the tomb of the deathless prophet. After finding a way to raise the water level by opening the floodgates, she reaches the top and finds the tomb. However, as she opens it, she is surprised to see it empty. The area is soon stormed by Trinity's armed forces led by a man named Konstantin. As they open the tomb, Lara comes out and aims a gun on them. Konstantin asks where the Divine Source is, to which Lara answers and tells him that there was no artifact there. Konstantin does not believe Lara and attempts to kill her, but Lara activates the explosives that Trinity set in the area. The area collapses, killing most of Trinity's forces. Lara barely manages to exit the water flooding the area, and soon finds a mysterious cross insignia engraving on the floor.”


Syria is the first gameplay section, but don’t expect it to be really big. You have two areas you can go to, one is a small circle room and you can pick up some collectibles over there and after you run through some scripted set pieces you’ll end up in the big ass room at the end where you’ll have some more stuff to pick up. You don’t really get into combat too much as it’s the tutorial section, but if you’re really thorough you could probably get almost everything in one go possibly. Now once you leave Syria you won’t be able to teleport back until after the main story is finished, and as such it was the last place that I had to get everything 100 percent. Looking out to see the desert landscape surrounded my mountains and a city down below. Also, the driver didn’t exactly think it through when he got murked through the windshield, selling out information like that. If you sell someone out, leave the scene or separate yourself because the people who paid you likely won’t care for your safety.

“The scene then reverts to Croft Manor in Surrey, England where Lara is doing some research on the mysterious cross insignia she found earlier. Jonah enters the room and after a short reunion, asks Lara about her adventure in Syria. Lara told him that she did find the Prophet's tomb, but it was empty, and she was being followed by an organization named Trinity who was also after the Divine Source. She told Jonah that she found a mysterious insignia of a cross during her escape. In one of her father's books, it says that the insignia is linked to the lost city of Kitezh in Siberia, which sank under a lake during the eve of the Mongol horde's invasion in the 12th century. Lara believes that if this really contains the secret of immortality, then it could change everything like sickness, death, to which Jonah becomes angered and regards that she has gone insane. He says he'd lost a lot of friends already and doesn't want to lose her. An angry Jonah leaves the room. Lara loses hope and shoves all the papers away. She kneels down and hugs the book. Later she sees a mysterious shadow on the vase and thinks it is Jonah. But she soon realizes that the mysterious figure behind her is not Jonah and immediately throws the vase at the intruder. An intense hand-to-hand fight ensues between the two. Jonah hears the commotion and helps Lara. The man steals her father's book and jumps out the window before Lara can shoot him. Jonah now becomes determined to help Lara find the Divine Source before Trinity does in Siberia.”

Nothing really to point out here for the most part, other than I’m surprised Lara didn’t just shoot the guy? I guess I wouldn’t have wanted to because I didn’t want to destroy the book but she really should’ve just popped his ass like Jules and Vincent would have in Pulp Fiction. Also again, Jonah was cool but I never really saw him as “bestie” status, so I must have missed something in the lore between the comics and books that had this become a thing. Who knows, maybe I’m daft and I didn’t notice either, so it could be my fault. Also, keep in mind that between Syria and Siberia is where 95% Blood Ties DLC takes place in, so I guess if you want to do that now then you can, with the post-game mop up taking place afterwards. However, the only thing you can really do other than find stuff that you missed is pick up three collectibles in Richard’s office from your previous two adventures and a letter from the front door I believe? I’m sure there’s more I just don’t remember.

“The scene then goes back to the present day in Northeastern Siberia. Lara awakens and tells Jonah to go back to shelter because she needs to finish the quest alone via radio. Lara then overhears a conversation from Konstantin saying that they are now looking for the artifact in the mountains and the Remnant, a group of natives trying to protect the Divine Source, is resisting them, but they will be handled. After gathering some sticks for fire and making a camp, she sleeps for the night, waiting for the storm to stop. Meanwhile, in the forest, a remnant (remnants are the natives who stayed in the area to protect the Divine Source) named Sofia and her companion are chased by Konstantin's forces. They managed to capture the remnant. Sofia urges them not to kill him, but the remnant tells her to go and leave him. Trinity kills the remnant and Sofia flees. The group split up to look for Sofia, and one of them finds Lara's campfire. Lara overhears the noise and manages to hide up in a tree. As the soldier investigates the campfire, Lara jumps down and kills him. As she explores the forest further, she manages to sneak in and kills many soldiers quickly. Then she overhears someone screaming and rushes. After finding the radio which was the source of the screaming, a large grizzly bear appears out of its hiding in a cave and chases Lara. Lara runs and tries to fight the bear, which overpowers and injures her. She barely manages to escape and soon finds Trinity's base of operations in a cold war installation. Lara has a flashback of her childhood years. She climbs the window to her father's room, and her father laughs, saying that she refuses to use the door again. Lara says that it's the fastest way. They then embrace. Lara says that he is going on another adventure and she should be his assistant. Her father says that his adventure would be really dangerous. Then he told Lara that she will make such a mark on history and make him proud. Then the phone rings and the flashback stops. The scene goes back to Lara in the present day. She realizes that the only way to the installation is through the bear cave. After a short fight, Lara explores the ruins inside the cave and the flashbacks continue. Young Lara overhears her father having an argument on the phone with a mysterious caller, presumably Trinity, over his discovery. Trinity hangs up, angering her father. Lara gets mad at her father and tells him to stop his adventures and be her father again. Then the scene reverts back to Lara's adventure. While walking, an arrow almost hits her. As she draws her bow, she finds Sofia, the one who fired the arrow.“

Again with Jonah, you won’t end up seeing him for most of the game ‘til the very end anyways because of this so why bother putting him in? Keep in mind, I don’t hate Jonah, he’s a nice guy and he’s cool as hell! I’m just surprised that they would put him in like this, give him some emotional depth and then essentially throw him out for most of the game like this. I kind of forgot he was in it until the end because of this. Nonetheless, this is where the game really starts as Lara repeats what she did when she arrived in Yamatai: hunt animals (including creating poison arrows to take down a bear), establish a campfire and stuff like that. You’ll also get your first taste in real collectibles, roadblocks in which you’ll have to come back to later (mainly the explosive arrows I think?) for other Metroidvania styled gameplay (the process of backtracking to unlock new things with equipment you haven’t used before) as well as murdering soldiers. The game here really doesn’t focus on PTSD or trauma this time around, or at least not in the way that the first game did. In fact, they don’t really go with this at all as Lara just kills indiscriminately and it’s not thought of much. The main type of trauma they deal with here is family trauma, how her father affected her life both through his work and love and also the fact that realistically she was neglected due to his own trauma losing his wife.


“Lara tells Sofia that she is not her enemy. Sofia tells Lara that she killed many of Trinity's forces, to which Lara replies that she killed them to survive and she suspects Sofia did the same. Sofia tells Lara that Trinity had been there for days and that she must leave the place before it's too late. Lara says she can't because she came there for something important. Sofia then says that they did too and if she sees Lara again she will put an arrow into her throat. Lara says that they are on the same side and tries to prove this to her. However, a distant building in the soviet installation explodes, catching Lara's attention. As she was about to ask Sofia, she realized that she had disappeared. After delving further into the installation and killing many of the mercenaries there, she discovers that many remnants were being tortured by Trinity to reveal the location of the Divine Source. All of the remnants remained faithful and did not reveal the location, even if it meant death. After finding a pistol from a dead remnant, Lara overhears Konstantin explaining their objective to get the Divine Source which will open to a "new world." Konstantin blinds one of the mercenaries who failed to do his duties with his own fingers. A mercenary then contacts Konstantin via radio and tells him that they found a captive who might know the location of the Divine Source. Lara sneaks in, bombs the building, and escapes. While exploring, she finds more of the remnants, who give Lara missions like breaking the communication repeaters in the area and more, therefore gaining the trust of the remnants. Lara overhears conversations via radio that the captive seems to be the leader of the remnants and might know the location of the Divine Source. The captive seems to have some experience with interrogation techniques and the man on the radio tells them to get "creative" with doing the interrogation because if Konstantin does it, he won't like it. As Lara sneaks in behind a small cabin, she overhears a conversation with Konstantin and a mysterious man on the radio. The man (probably the head of the whole Trinity) tells Konstantin that his reports have ceased. Konstantin says that they were having difficulty with torturing the faithful remnants and the communications became offline, but they managed to put it under control. A mercenary sees Lara from behind. As Lara flees, a mercenary appears in front of her and knocks her unconscious.“

Meeting Sofia (who I nicknamed Aloy because they look almost exactly the same here) was interesting but I don’t really think factors in much except to hint at a greater set of allies and guilt trip Lara a bit about the path to the “Divine Source”, as the only way Trinity discovered it was through Lara’s book. I wouldn’t blame Lara too much for this as Trinity was the one who went out of their way to raid her place to begin with. However, their presence should alert them that something is up. How did they get this information to begin with? Time will tell, but regardless I remember this coming section very well due to the old Soviet architecture, and you’ll go through and kill everything but there’s something funny here. The mercenary that Konstantin blinds has the same model as the book thief, so I always took it as they’re the same guy and adds an extra layer of irony somewhat to the story for me as the dude was useful until he screwed up once. While this area does give you access to the first optional deep cave where you could find a whole bunch of stuff, going through the Installation and sliding down the rope will reveal your first BIG open area, also called the Soviet Installation? It includes the main sawmill, extra caves, the prison nearby and a mill of sorts that you’ll get too later in the story and is one of two open areas that you’ll be able to truly explore with different entrances to different areas. It’s also here that you’ll be given missions by a group called the Remnant, missions that were similar to the dummied out ones that were supposed to be in the previous game but were cut. Doing these missions will award you with upgrades and such so I would say you should do them, but you also don’t NEED too unless you’re on a higher level. On the way into the prison to sneak around you’ll also meet a Maintenance Tech, who runs the supply shack that harbors the lines to get into the prison. He’s not going to report you, in fact if you end up giving him any of the gold you’ve found collectible wise then you can trade it in for upgrades. HOWEVER, there is a trap here, one that I fell into the first playthrough: there isn’t enough ancient coins for everything in here, and as such I would say do your research and see what tools appear in game later and which ones don’t because some of these tool’s only purpose is just to unlock some stuff early that if you’re going to do 100 percent anyways, you can always do later. Overall, this is a cool looking area though with backtracking collectible stuff it starts to become a real pain in the ass later to do it here.

“She awakens, tied bound to a chair with all of her equipment removed from her. Lara sees Ana in front of her, also tied to a chair and captured. Lara asks her what she was doing there, to which Ana replied that "she doesn't know and she is scared." Lara apologizes for getting her involved in the situation. She didn't know they would come after Ana, to which Ana asks who are "they." Lara says they were after the same thing her father was, which annoys Ana. Konstantin enters the room and forces Lara to reveal what she knows about the Divine Source by slowly choking Ana in front of her, but Lara cannot provide useful information. After Ana tells Konstantin that Lara is telling the truth, Konstantin releases her. It is then that Ana reveals the truth: she has been working for Trinity all along, having only posed as a prisoner. An angered Lara insults Ana and is slapped viciously by Konstantin. Ana tells Lara that she couldn't let it go and that Ana knew Lara would find her way to the place they are currently in. Ana offers Lara a deal - Trinity could use an experienced adventurer like her to find the Divine Source both of them seek, and that since Lara wants a purpose in life, Trinity could give her one. Lara refuses, knowing how Trinity operates. Lara furiously asks Ana if she was already with Trinity before or after screwing with her father. Ana replies that she loved Richard, but idealism blinded and destroyed him. Ana asks her what she would do with the artifact, to which Ana replies herself that Lara would show it to the world and redeem her father's good name. She tells Lara that she is so naive, "like a frightened little girl trying to walk in her daddy's shoes." Then she spits in Ana's face, resulting in Konstantin wanting to kill Lara. Ana refuses to let him in case they find use for Lara, and Konstantin locks her inside a prison cell. Lara meets another prisoner. After seeing Lara use a small earring to release her handcuffs, the prisoner becomes impressed. Then he asks if Lara could get both of them out of there. Lara says that she can't trust him because she doesn't even know who he is or why he is there. Lara apologizes for not really being in the trusting state at that time. The man tells her that she won't get far without him, to which Lara answers that he doesn't know how far she has come. Lara asks the man about what he knows about Trinity, to which the man says that they are a secretive sect who believes they are doing the work of God, which Lara regards Trinity as pretty "far from holy." Lara breaks the water pipe in the cell and breaks the wall. She manages to get to the other side of the room, where she retrieves her bow and arrow along with some rope, allowing her to craft rope arrows. Using her rope arrows, she manages to pull down the upper portion of her cell gate and crawl through to escape. The prisoner attempts to persuade her to help him, to which Lara says she can't trust him. The man says that they may not be enemies and that he can help her. Lara answers by saying she works better alone. The man still attempts to persuade her by saying that he knows the layout of the area, to which Lara responds by saying that she is a fast learner. The man says that he knows what she and Trinity are all after. Lara then agrees to help him. She retrieves all her equipment and opens the prisoner's cell. The man introduces himself as Jacob and thanks Lara. Lara then gives him a radio in case they get separated. Jacob guides Lara through the area.“

So right off the bat here, I didn’t really expect this “stepmother is actually a Trinity plant” twist, but also this brings something up for me. You only get to see her once before, so there’s no real character development here that makes his an actual surprising “twist”, even if it’s painted as such. The lack of build up makes me honestly not give a shit about this character and it’s a shame, because there are details in documents pointed out later that give her an interesting backstory. This woman is evil and manipulative, having given Konstantin (her brother) this stigmata god complex and luring him into the Trinity organization for her own ends. She’s not to be trusted and her relationship with Lara’s father is inevitably painted in a negative light because of this, but you won’t know unless you go out of your way to pick up documents and learn about it. Otherwise, she’s just some blonde chick who you’ll forget about by the end of the story and it’s kind of sad how forgettable she becomes other than “stereotypical evil woman” otherwise. Also meeting Jacob was interesting, and he’ll definitely factor in the story later (in an interesting twist that I didn’t expect, in a good way this time!) but for now the only thing I can remember is that this is where you can create the rope arrows to which you could backtrack and perhaps use on different areas for collectibles if you want to get them now.

“Lara soon learns that the soviets were sent there to work in the mines, excavating ancient artifacts. The two soon discover that Trinity has been conducting operations in the area, and that the gate to the train yard that leads to Jacob's village in the valley is closed. Lara sneaks in and opens the gate. The two enter a building and overhear a conversation between Ana and Konstantin, who chastises her for being sentimental towards Lara. Ana realizes that Konstantin had doubted her, and becomes furious. Then she coughs, revealing she suffers from a terminal illness. Konstantin says life has been hard on both of them and that he will protect Ana, to which Ana replies with sarcasm by asking who is being sentimental now. It is then revealed that Ana only wants the Divine Source to cure her illness, and that Konstantin is in fact Ana's brother. Ana then orders to send the men to the village to get more information from the remnants. Jacob is angered by this and tries to get to them but Lara stops him, saying it is too dangerous. A mercenary contacts Konstantin, saying that two prisoners have escaped the cells. They leave the area along with the mercenaries and goes to the cells. Meanwhile, Lara jumps down and finds an ancient text saying, "Mankind shall be judged, the non - believers turned to ash and swept away and the pure of faith will be raised up and given...life eternal." The alarm rings and the two split up as troopers storm the area. Lara treads the water down the basement quietly to avoid the mercenaries. Lara goes out of the basement hole and escapes in the other room. Jacob contacts her and tells her to meet him at the train yard near the end of the Gulag prison. The mercenaries find her and chase her down, with Lara managing to steal an assault rifle from a mercenary. As she reaches the train yard, she sees Jacob take down a mercenary easily. The two get chased by Trinity's chopper through the train tracks and into the trains. The chopper blows down the rest of the tracks causing a dead end. Troopers and the chopper had cornered Lara, with the two escaping by jumping down a nearby river. They barely survive the freezing waters. The chopper continues to chase down Lara, separating the two temporarily. After an intense, death - defying chase, Lara jumps down a zip line which soon gets cut down. Lara falls down a nearby river and nearly drowns.“

I like the idea of Ana only going after the Divine Source to cure her terminal illness, that is something I think is an interesting angle and adds a bit of depth to her character. The only other thing I could really add to this section other than the reveal of the two as siblings is just the fact that the game really knows how to pull off some pretty damn great action set pieces, and the whole train track helicopter chase explosion thing was actually pretty solid though.

“After another flashback of young Lara seeing her father dead in his office, she awakens with Jacob in a small camp. Jacob gives Lara some soup. Lara tells Jacob that he could've left her to die, to which Jacob replies and asks if Lara has left him. Jacob asks her why she risked so much to get to that place to seek the Divine Source. Lara says that when she was young, it was just her and her archaeologist father who in his last years was obsessed with myths about immortality in which no one believed him, including Lara, with their last conversation being a fight where he took his own life. She thought she had come to terms with it, but something else happened. During her experience in Yamatai, she saw something supernatural, and had started to believe her father. Her father died alone and broken, but died for something. Jacob asks her if she believes that the Divine Source is real, to which Lara says she honestly doesn't know, but if there is some truth to it, she must find out because the Divine Source is something not to be hidden, something that needs to be researched, studied, something that could make a difference to the world, with Jacob answering back by saying a difference is not always for the best. Then he asks Lara if she thinks Trinity should have the secret to immortality, to which Lara answers no. Jacob then asks her not to abandon her quest but to alter its path by joining his people in repelling Konstantin and Trinity. Lara asks after that what's to be done. Jacob answers that she leaves their valley untouched, but knowing she did the right thing. She refuses, saying that she will fight Trinity alongside Remnant but her goal remains the same. She says that once she gives up she will be letting her father down and she herself needs to understand. Jacob grows concerned about his village and leaves, saying that his village is a day's travel on foot over the mountain pass, but there is a shortcut through the old copper mine. He tells Lara to rest and he'll be back soon.“

I have nothing really to say here story wise, but what I will give is some of the improvements that the gameplay has taken compared to the first Tomb Raider. If you’ve gone this far you’ve at least been to a campfire, and you might have already seen it. If you get the DLC then you’ll have unlocked multiple separate outfits from classic Tomb Raider outfits as well as separate DLC outfits and weapons. With the weapons system in this game compared to the first one, there are multiple different weapons for each type which is upgraded from the first game, along with the fact they shared upgrades for each other (most of them anyhow). I’ll admit however, I really miss the evolution of watching your gun go from a Type-whatever Japanese machine gun into a makeshift AK. How about the outfit abilities? They all have different abilities but at the same time, they never really made too much of a difference for me personally and I rather stuck to the aesthetically pleasing stuff as if you’re going to 100 percent, most of the time it worked well regardless.

“The next day, Lara resumes her quest and follows Jacob's directions on her radio by going to the base of the old Soviet mill to meet her at the mine entrance at the top of the facility. Soon Jacob contacts her again and tells her that he is pinned down and Lara must escape. Lara infiltrates the base where the soviets had stored the ancient artifacts and kills the mercenaries trying to catalog the Soviet's relics. After throwing a molotov cocktail, the building starts to burn and Lara gets attacked by troopers armed with shields, but Lara manages to fend them off. She escapes the building and makes it through the mine where Jacob saves her from nearly getting killed by a mercenary. While exploring the mine, Lara realizes that the mines were once paths leading to Jacob's village. After the Soviets explored the area and used machines and explosives to search for artifacts that Trinity is now continuing, many of the old paths collapsed, which complicated things. Trinity's forces start to destroy the whole area separating Lara and Jacob, who become trapped by rocks. Jacob tells her to go find Sofia and tell her that Trinity is preparing an attack on the Remnants. Lara barely escapes, avoiding the machinery. Lara explores part of the lost city of Kitezh, where Trinity was trying to break open a large gate by attaching a cable to a truck and attempting to pull it down. Using her logic and intellect, Lara manages to find ways to use the obstacles in the area to open the door. The area nearly collapses and Lara jumps just in time to reach the entrance. Inside Lara finds a statue of the immortal prophet and murals. The first mural shows the exodus of the prophet's followers in Syria, then another mural shows the prophet and his followers building a village in the valley which is Kitezh. The third mural depicts the building of an army to protect the prophet and the city itself. And lastly, a mural depicting the creation of a small artifact known as the atlas so that the prophet can know his city and its secrets. Lara realizes she must get this atlas to find the Divine Source.“

Here is where I’m going to bring up two separate gameplay elements: the tombs and the set pieces. The tombs is where I’ll start as it’s a considerable step up from the previous game’s tombs that you’d raid. There’s only one more (or two if you have the DLC) tomb than in the previous game and they still give rewards like bow parts or a codex, which gives you specialized skills that you can’t unlock otherwise. However, they also feel a lot more puzzle based than the previous games and that may or may not be a good or bad thing depending on who plays. I’ll straight up tell you that I blow at puzzles, and as such attempting to play the puzzle portions I half sucked and half was able to wing it and figure it out compared to the first where I was almost always able to wing it with the exception of one physics based timing puzzle. I’m personally mixed on it though I’ll accept that the game is called “Tomb Raider” and is about raiding tombs and solving puzzles rather than murdering dozens of people at once. Thank god for guides (Shoutout to Stella’s guides) and the help of my more intellectually superior friends to give me help as well. Also the set pieces are still phenomenal like the one with the drill in this section or the burning mill though I don’t find them always as memorable as the first one.

“Lara finds the village where she gets surrounded by remnants led by Sofia. Lara tells her that she is not with Trinity, and that she escaped with Jacob, which Sofia does not believe and regards that Jacob would never trust an outsider. Lara says they were exploring the mines when the whole place collapsed, trapping Jacob, which one of the remnants regard as killing him. Just as she was about to shoot Lara with a bow, Jacob miraculously appears and stops Sofia. They embrace, and Jacob asks Lara to forgive Sofia for being cautious. Jacob tells Sofia that Trinity is about to prepare an attack on the Remnants and they must prepare. Jacob orders that no harm will reach Lara. Then he orders the preparations of the weapon stores and the battlements. He says that they are outnumbered, and the ones unable to fight go to the catacombs. Jacob tells her to work hard with the villagers to gain their trust. Jacob then tells her to light the signal tower to warn the people to evacuate, which Lara complies. Trinity choppers start to attack the area and soon the entire village is engulfed in flames. Jacob and two others are taken hostage, with their captor shooting them one by one. Lara tries to help him but Jacob stops her. After the first remnant is shot, the captor is about to shoot the second remnant until Jacob tells him not to do it. Just as the captor was about to shoot him, the second remnant tells him of an atlas that can show the way to the Divine Source, enough diversion for Jacob to kill the captor and give Lara his shotgun. After an intense gunfight with a mercenary armed with a flamethrower, Trinity's forces retreat as the natives shoot fire arrows at them. In a chapel at the Soviet installation, Konstantin hears the news of Lara's cooperation with the Remnants to fend off Trinity and becomes violently frustrated. Konstantin tells Ana that they should have killed her, to which Ana replies that he has nothing to do for his efforts and she'll succeed when he's failing. Konstantin furiously answers that he will not fail, to which Ana answers back that Trinity will step in if he does, and that means she is expendable. They will not care about her survival and that she needs the power of the source. Ana then coughs, with which Konstantin tells her not to lose faith in God and that their success is inevitable. Konstantin then prays and asks for the way to find the Divine Source and grant him strength to commit the sins just to get through the barriers between him and the Source. After blood drips from his hands, he presumes that it is the only way.“

This is the beginning of your second “hub” in the game, where you can go and interact with villagers and engage in some moments of peace along with a huge amount of collectible hunting as well. Compared to the old and snowy areas of the previous level, Geothermal Valley is easily the most beautiful and peaceful looking area of the entire game as it feels like it’s at the edge of the forest and not in danger. There’s new ways of traversal as well that you either have done throughout the campaign or will, like swinging from little hook areas as well as climbing trees and swimming as well, which adds a lot more variation compared to the last game as the last one had to cut swimming due to programming issues I believe? Also you get to meet Aloy again which is cool. As for the rest of it? The set pieces are still cool as hell, as there’s something that yells “awesome” watching as the entire place around you burns but otherwise not much to say here.


“Meanwhile, while Lara and Jacob treat the wounded remnants in the village, Lara apologizes for what is happening to his people and says Trinity won't stop. Jacob answers that it has been their duty and it is always difficult. Lara then asks about the atlas, which Jacob says that it is an ancient map of the lost city which Trinity will never find at the tower. Jacob says that many of his people are living by the tower and won't be prepared for what's coming ahead, so Lara volunteers to help them. Jacob then asks if she is doing this for the sake of his people, or for the Divine Source which she seeks, to which Lara answers both. After exploring the tower area, she finds no sign of the people, to which Jacob tells her via radio to find them in the catacombs because Sofia might have evacuated them there. Lara realizes that Trinity had taken the remnants as hostages in the area and infiltrates the underground catacomb ruins where Trinity's forces had Sofia's group as hostages, killing each of them one by one until they reveal the location of the atlas. Lara rescues them just in time and Sofia reconciles with her. Sofia then tells her that she wants to lead her people to safety, but the catacomb entrance is locked. Lara offers to help by bombing the gate. Sofia then tells her that although she seeks the Divine Source, her people are dying to protect it. Lara answers back, saying that her people are already dying and they can't protect it forever. Sofia tells her that they've already lasted so long and are glad to have her as an ally. Lara then goes to the tower where Trinity is converging and tries to rescue the people there. Jacob radios her and tells her that they are receiving fire from the chopper. He tells Lara to try and catch the attention of the chopper, to which Lara succeeds to get the upper hand. The remnants manage to take down the chopper with fire arrows, but Sofia tells her that Trinity's forces are still swarming the area. After an intense gunfight, Lara manages to fend off all of Trinity's forces in the area.


“Lara then asks Jacob about what really is the Divine Source, to which Jacob says that it is a long forgotten artifact that their Prophet took and hid in the lost city of Kitezh. They believed it holds a part of God's souls and that it will grant anyone who held it with immortality. The remnants are trying to stop Trinity from spreading darkness around the world and that if they find the Divine Source, their soldiers will be unstoppable. Lara then tells him to help her find the artifact before they do. She says that it is not just their burden but also her burden because her father died for it. Jacob tells her that she can't fill the emptiness inside her, but only set it free. She then continues her quest, with which Sofia tells her that since she helped them, she'll help Lara. Sofia tells her that the atlas is in the cathedrals but they won't follow her because there are the "deathless ones" in the area who will kill anyone who even trespasses. Lara accepts the challenge, and explores the cathedral. Sofia gives her a grapple/wire spool to help her reach the area. After stealthily avoiding Trinity's forces guarding the area, she finds access to the inner ruins and sees Ana overseeing the operations. Trinity is trying to bomb the floor, believing that the atlas is hidden underground. Lara ambushes them and threatens to kill Ana. Ana tells her that she'll never shoot her because it will be too cold even for Lara. Lara realizes her foot is tied to the explosives on the floor. Ana then shouts and orders to kill her, in which Lara responds by shooting the explosives. Lara and Ana fall underground with Ana falling on a higher platform than Lara. Ana tells Lara to reconsider her offer before it's too late, with which Lara says that it was already too late when Ana betrayed her family. Then she shoots Ana in the right arm and tells her to go to hell. Furious but still clinging to life, Ana radios trinity and orders them to give her the atlas. Lara delves deeper and finds the artifact, only to be ambushed by Trinity's forces. Lara makes advantage of the Greek fire vessels in the area to kill the mercenaries. She swims under the archives only to be chased down by a flamethrower-wielding mercenary. With him, the water starts to burn and the upper areas explode one after the other as sulfur surrounds the area. Then she uses the Greek Fire to take down a statue and blow her exit, only to be shot down by Greek fire arrows from the deathless ones. Lara manages to escape. Jacob contacts her and tells her to bring the atlas to the observatory.

Jonah finally finds a way to contact her and is relieved after realizing that Lara is still alive. Lara finds her way back to the observatory and reunites with Jonah. Lara then uses the atlas to determine the location of Kitezh and realizes that it is under the glaciers. However, Trinity's forces storm and attack the area. Lara falls off the window but manages to grab the chains. Jonah immediately grabs the atlas and attacks the mercenaries. Before one of the mercenaries could kill Lara, Jonah pushes him out the window. As he pulls Lara, a mercenary grabs Jonah and the artifact and escapes via a chopper. With Jacob wounded and Jonah and the artifact in Trinity's hands, Lara chases Trinity and starts from the old Copper Mill to the Gulag Prison, staging a daring rescue to save Jonah even if it means losing the Divine Source. Meanwhile, Ana and Konstantin had used the atlas in Trinity's Observatory and had started digging operations under the glacier. Ana fears that Trinity is just using them and will not let Konstantin keep the artifact to save her. Konstantin tells her to have faith.

Lara discovers that Trinity is beating and interrogating Jonah about the Divine Source, but he is resistant, causing Konstantin to lose patience and does the torturing himself. Lara helps the remnant prisoners escape and shoots the bulletproof glass window overlooking the room Jonah and Konstantin are in, causing a diversion. Jonah attacks Konstantin and steals his gun, threatening to shoot him, but Konstantin begs for his life. Lara insists that Jonah execute Konstantin but Jonah cannot bring himself to shoot an unarmed man, allowing Konstantin to pull out a knife and stab Jonah, to Lara's horror. Konstantin escapes and orders his men to sweep the area and kill her. The remnant prisoners help Jonah, telling Lara that only Jacob can help Jonah. Lara tells them to barricade the door and leaves to secure the area. After killing Konstantin's men, Lara returns to Jonah and the two Remnants, Jonah tells Lara that she has to stop blaming herself for everything that happened before passing out. One of the Remnants tells a tearful Lara that his time is short, though Jacob may be able to save him. Using a makeshift stretcher, Lara and the Remnant prisoners bring Jonah to the observatory and leave him under Jacob's care. Lara notes that has healed from his own injuries wordlessly. Jacob chants a prayer and uses his healing miracles, seals Jonah's wound.“

Again this is towards the latter half of the game, and while I understand that these two are supposed to be best friends, there’s nothing here to really suggest anything substantial to the overall plot. He shows up here for a bit, runs around and gets wounded. Sure, he provides some sound advice to Lara about not blaming herself and such but otherwise he doesn’t really do anything for the story here. You literally could’ve taken Jonah out and honestly nothing would have really changed. He’s here to add SOME emotional stakes and to ultimately reveal the next plot twist in the story which could’ve been done with anyone to be honest. I don’t know, I hate dogpiling on the guy like this but he just doesn’t do anything for me here.


“Lara confronts Jacob about who he is, having figured out that he is the Deathless prophet. Jacob reveals to her that the Divine Source is a deeply powerful artifact he found long ago, but is not actually divine. He lied to his people to protect them. He once used the source to grant his armies their immortality, but it was a terrible mistake. When enemies attacked Kitezh, the Deathless Ones brought the ice down upon the city. Thousands were killed, and they committed an atrocity to keep the power, and so will Trinity but on a much larger scale. Suddenly Trinity's choppers fly past in the direction of the glacier, Jacob realizes that they are going to use brute force to smash through the ice and take the source. Lara asks about the secret path leading to the city, which Jacob reveals as the dangerous Path of the Deathless, with no time left, Lara asks to be taken to the path. Jacob agrees, he orders Sofia to open the path before she takes their troops to hold Trinity off.“

This was a bit of an unexpected twist and while he as a character wasn’t really interesting to remember him in a later playthrough, I actually appreciate the motivations behind what will soon be revealed as this game’s undead army (like the samurai enemies in 2013 Tomb Raider) and it’s personal connection to the story. You can also find some documents that provide flavor text on his personality, his sadness as the people around him die with him staying the same age eternally.

“Jacob radios Lara inside and tells her about the Orrery, which was built by ancient astronomers before the deathless buried the area in ice. Jacob tells her that she needs the Orrery mechanism to open the entrance to Kitezh. Sofia radios Lara and tells her that they are on the mountain glaciers and are ready to fight Trinity, but Lara tells her to not attack too soon. She delves deeper into the Old City and sneaks past the deathless ones, who are preparing for an attack on Trinity as well. However, their attack is delayed when one of the Deathless Ones sees Lara. Lara narrowly avoids the Greek fire and kills the Deathless Ones. As she explores the village of the Deathless Ones, she realizes that a gate is blocking the entrance to the Chamber of Souls where the Divine Source is located. Soon, more of the Deathless Ones attack. Lara kills them and uses their trebuchet to bomb the entrance. Once she gets inside, Trinity finally break through the glacier, causing huge chunks of ice to drop. Things quickly escalate into a three way stand off between the Remnants, Trinity and the Deathless, as Lara scales her way to the chamber of souls. As she explores the village of the Deathless Ones, she realizes that a gate is blocking the entrance to the Chamber of Souls where the Divine Source is located. Soon, more of the Deathless Ones attack. Lara kills them and uses their trebuchet to bomb the entrance. Once she gets inside, Trinity finally break through the glacier, causing huge chunks of ice to drop. Things quickly escalate into a three way stand off between the Remnants, Trinity and the Deathless, as Lara scales her way to the chamber of souls.“

I love the medieval looking architecture along with the ice cave skybox colored textures, it provides a bit of a unique look for one of the game’s areas even if it looks familiar. Also the trebuchet is used for a challenge that I didn’t know about til’ looking it up late game so if you want to use it then try to take care of it while you’re there.

“Mortally wounded, Konstantin laments that this was not supposed to be his destiny and says that he was meant for greatness, as it was God's will. Lara tells him that it was never his destiny, that his sister deceived and tricked him into thinking that he was chosen. Konstantin is shattered by this revelation, as everything he had done was for her. Lara begins to leave to stop Ana. Konstantin demands she not walk away from him, telling her that Trinity killed her father, calling him pathetic and a failure and that he begged for his life, when that failed, he begged for Lara's. The game then offers a choice. The Player can execute Konstantin, or walk away, leaving him to be killed when the floor collapses causing him to plummet into the flames below.“

Honestly, spoiler alert, he still dies anyway so it doesn’t really matter. I ended up murking his ass both times so do your thing ya know? And also it’s kind of sad seeing this homicidal mercenary man with a divine complex to finally see his hopes get shattered like that though truth be told it’s hard seeing anyone’s hopes get crushed.

“Lara rushes to the very center of the city, where Ana is about to use the Divine Source. Lara tells her that her men are defeated and Konstantin is dead, and that is what Trinity had always wrought - death. Ana is shaken by her brother's death but refuses to give up the Divine Source, telling her that she doesn't want to give it to Trinity and that Lara is dooming her father to be mocked by history. Ana is dismayed by her and tells her how she can let it go when she is so close. Lara answers, stating that she is ready to make a sacrifice. Lara tells her that she can't let her take it. Ana replies, saying that they could save millions of suffering and dying people and change the world together. Lara says that the cost is too high and that they aren't meant to live forever because death is a part of live. Ana answers back, saying that it's easy for her to say because she is not the one who is dying. Lara tells her that it isn't about her but it is about protecting what it means to be human. She tells Lara "Another Croft doesn't have to die for this. One of Trinity's soldiers appears and tells Ana that they are surrounded, but soon gets stabbed by Jacob. Ana quickly shoots Jacob multiple times in retaliation, injuring but not killing him. Wounded, Jacob shouts that the divine source is not meant for the world. As Lara aims her gun at Ana, she aims her gun at Lara as well, beginning a standoff. Ana tells Lara that it's her chance to prove herself after everything they've both done. An army of the deathless ones advance on Ana, she empties her gun into them, to no avail. With no other way out, she uncovers the source and gazes upon it.“

“The artifact overpowers Ana, dropping the shining blue crystal. Lara grabs it but would not look at it for it might overpower her as well. Surrounded, Lara looks to Jacob, who tells her it's okay. Lara apologizes, (possibly to her father) and shatters the Divine Source, freeing the trapped souls, and causing its power to cease, to Ana's dismay. Now that the Divine Source is destroyed, causing any who had gained immortality from it to lose it, including Jacob, mortally wounded, Jacob begins to die. Lara tells him to hold on, though he laments, he's held on for too long, and begins laughing as his end is near. He tells Lara that he's met few as extraordinary as Lara. Lara apologizes saying she only wanted to make a difference, Jacob merely tells her "You already have", before he peacefully turns to dust. In Croft Manor, Lara had listened to his father's last words on a tape, "My dearest Lara, I often think about how my father would turn over in his grave if he knew the shame I had brought upon my family name. Croft....what does it even mean? I just hope you can make your own mark on this world someday. Remember that the extraordinary is in what we do, not who we are." Jonah tells her that breaking the source was the right thing to do. Lara replies, thinking that she still let him down. Jonah told her that he would've made the right choice. Jonah then tells her that she still has a plane to catch. Then the two leave off in the manor.“

The fun fact here is that this time, they actually do a bit of teaser material correctly! In the previous Tomb Raider game, they had teased Roanoke only to totally flub that and instead go for Siberia instead. In this game, they actually tease Mexico which is at the very least the first part of this game’s sequel, Shadow of the Tomb Raider.

“After the credits roll, a post credits scene starts two weeks before Lara was at the manor, happening just after Lara destroys the Divine Source. Lara and a sickly weakened Ana walk through the snow in Northeastern Siberia. A weak Ana sits on a rock and coughs. Lara asks what she meant when she said 'another Croft doesn't have to die for this.' After Ana gives Lara a few moments, Lara points her gun at Ana and demands to know if she killed her father. Ana explains to her that Trinity ordered his execution but she couldn't do it. Lara dismisses it as a lie. Ana then tells her that she loved him, before being shot dead by a hidden sniper. The hidden sniper, while aiming directly at Lara's head, asks his boss on the radio if he should kill Lara, to which the unseen superior responds "No, not yet".

This twist apparently has a bit of a similarity to a cut Tomb Raider: Underworld ending, but it’s an ending that I actually genuinely enjoyed. For all the manipulative shit that Ana has put Lara through, the idea that she genuinely loved her father is an interesting detail that adds two layers: one is that there is some genuineness underneath her demeanor, though the detail I prefer is that she’s obviously trying to get into Lara’s head so she could be spared. The hidden sniper though is definitely something that’s really cool and adds a bit of mystery and impact. The sniper is probably part of Trinity but who was it? Why? Why does the sniper’s boss want to be spared? Apparently this is all answered in the sequel, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but it’s an interesting game to leave off of.

“After finishing the story mode, if you go back to the world, you will get a scene where Lara is talking to Sofia about her father with Sofia replying that she trusts her and is thankful for her help against Trinity.“

That’s basically it for my review breakdown for the main plot of the game, though the only thing I can add here is that always while it doesn’t feel as bad as I thought it was going to be, backtracking for collectibles like this still blows and in a lot of cases feels bloated and eye rolling. Of course I didn’t have to do it so that’s on me, but I was surprised when coming back that it wasn’t as tedious as I thought it was because aside from a few instances, I actually fell into a rhythm of being able to find everything pretty easily.


Baba Yaga: The Temple of the Witch


Lara investigates a disturbance within the Soviet mining facility. After fighting off a Trinity patrol, she discovers a young girl named Nadia hiding in a sawmill. Nadia confides in Lara, recounting her search for her grandfather, Ivan. Ivan has disappeared while trying to enter the Wicked Vale, a valley rumored to be haunted by Baba Yaga, a witch from Russian folklore. Ivan blames the witch for the death of his wife and seeks to kill her. Lara is skeptical of Baba Yaga's existence, but as Nadia is injured, she agrees to enter the Wicked Vale and locate Ivan.

So, the beginning of this DLC takes place I believe the first or second time you enter the Soviet Installation map, where a Trinity patrol will be scouring through the sawmill in the middle of it. This DLC could be done at any point in the game I believe, though certain collectibles are only available to pick up after grabbing certain tools later on. I personally would place it to be immediately, as soon as you get it BUT my friend didn’t want to see the DLC because she thinks Baba Yaga stuff is freaky and also because I don’t know when Cold Darkness takes place so you could really place the DLC anywhere in the map. Luckily Baba Yaga connects to the main game so you could really do anything at any point anyways.

Once in the Vale, Lara is exposed to a rare pollen with potent hallucinogenic properties. After stumbling through a forest, tormented by visions of her father's suicide, she encounters Baba Yaga and a pack of demonic wolves. Lara narrowly escapes with her life and finds herself in a small Soviet-era outpost. There she unearths evidence of a secret Soviet biological weapons project that attempted to harness the pollen as a weapon; however, the project came to an abrupt end after the researchers, including Serafima, a biochemist imprisoned in a nearby gulag, succumbed to the hallucinations.

Now this is where the DLC really kicks into itself, and I appreciate offhand that whilst it’s an obvious hallucination that it also hits Lara personally as well. The entire hallucination sequence you’ll be dealing with her father and his suicide as well as some of the blame that she places upon herself. The atmosphere in this section is pretty good, and there’s a bit of a claustrophobic feeling walking through these woods. Seeing the hallucination however of the giant house with the feet like in the legends were freaky as hell, though the shadow wolf re-skins were kind of blatantly stereotypical and obvious. I don’t know, I can’t judge too much because it would be nitpicky and they were working with what they had but it did pull me out a bit. Also, I’m not sure why Lara would be reluctant to believe that Baba Yaga exists considering that she’s seen a LOT of supernatural shit going on at Yamatai, and even later with the Deathless Ones? That’s kind of strange and feels a bit out of character but I guess no one could really believe that a walking house has chicken legs so whatever there.

Realizing that Serafima resented her captors, Lara correctly deduces that she had successfully weaponized the pollen and developed an antidote and kept her research secret from the military. With Nadia's help, Lara synthesizes a rudimentary antidote from Serafima's recipe and returns to the Wicked Vale. Resisting the effects of the pollen, Lara finds Ivan injured at the entrance to Baba Yaga's lair.

This is kind of a padded fetch quest a bit, one where you go back to the Soviet Installation and trudge into different caves and hunt some animals in order to find things you need for the antidote. Luckily it’s not too bad that it’s a problem, however (and this is probably a skill issue), the puzzle to GET to the house lift that takes you to Baba Yaga’s lair? Fuck that shit, that was so frustrating actually trying to figure out that even with a Youtube guide I was getting everything all wrong. It’s goofy as hell and while it’s thankfully minimal and while I understand that post-launch DLC should probably challenge current veterans a bit, this area is the area I remember the most from the entire game just due to how frustrating it can get.

Unable to leave the Wicked Vale so long as Baba Yaga continues to control it, Lara ventures on to confront the witch and is forced to battle Baba Yaga under the effects of the pollen. Lara prevails, destroying the source of the weaponized pollen. Baba Yaga is revealed to be Serafima, who was led to believe that her husband, Ivan, was dead, and so used the pollen to become Baba Yaga and torment her captors in revenge. With Ivan, Serafima and Nadia reunited, Lara leaves the Wicked Vale.

See, my main issue with the DLC is that if you had found ANY of the documents you kind of realize what the full picture story is before Lara even does, or at the very least you realize that Serafima IS Baba Yaga. It’s not a bad twist by any means but with the limited amount of characters introduced plus the context that these documents were written in? It’s basically the only plausible explanation, though I’ll admit story wise that thinking about the distance between the grandparents for decades made me a bit sad. However, if she was able to get all of the supplies to build a giant house lift, I’m surprised she didn’t venture out more and perhaps find the natives that Ivan was living with? Also, the final boss here was actually pretty cool with you juggling both hallucination enemies (basically reskins of Deathless Ones) as well as using the rope arrow trick multiple times and ascending the layers makes for an engaging and challenging fight.

However, if I were to give any criticism to this final arena, it would be that backtracking into the final boss letter to collect all of the documents and such is probably one of my least favorite areas to do it in, mainly because some of the ways to the actual documents are honestly kind of frustrating and I had to look up a guide for it. In fact, another reason to beat the DLC after the base game is just because they seemed to have ramped up puzzle difficulty to an annoying level and that’s what might’ve ultimately pushed me to say “fuck this” and stop trying for 100 percent last time.

Cold Darkness Awaken:
“Lara enters a decommissioned Soviet weapons bunker that has been breached by a Trinity patrol. Trinity has inadvertently released an unstable pathogen into the air, which causes the people it infects to regress to a zombie-like state. Men are particularly vulnerable as the virus stimulates testosterone and adrenaline production. The pathogen was created by a Soviet researcher with the intention of creating an army of unstoppable super-soldiers, but all of his experiments ended in failure. Following an accident that released the pathogen, he died in the facility, proud that he had at least created a weapon to protect his homeland. With Sofia and Nadia providing support from a helicopter, Lara attempts to find the source of the pathogen before an enormous cloud is released into the atmosphere and contaminates the Remnant valley.”

My thoughts on this DLC were as follows: it’s a solid short-form horror based DLC where you essentially fight zombies in a small, sectioned off map separate from the main campaign itself. The only way to access it is through the Expeditions Mode I believe, yet contains an actual plot in relation to the main game. The atmosphere is dark and weather oppressive while pretty creepy and tense with an emphasis on stealth gameplay. Making noises unleashes a horde of infected dudes on you that while limited, feels like there’s just reserves of infected everywhere and it can basically get pretty scary. I also appreciate that this takes place inside of an abandoned Soviet facility, as these were basically my favorite environments in Rise of the Tomb Raider to begin with.

However, I was also kind of confused as to WHY this DLC was happening and HOW; maybe I missed it but there isn’t much in the way as to how Lara and the others even discovered the facility to begin with. You’ll load in to hear a Soviet researcher going on about his grand designs to create the ultimate super soldier for his country, but other than discussing with Nadia the plan to take down the facility and the stakes that it would have if the infectious gas were to hit the valley, there isn’t any inciting plot hooks to get us in.

“The three women hatch a plan to channel the pathogen from three towers into the central tower, and cause it to explode, which will hopefully burn off the toxin. Lara shuts down each tower while collecting equipment, rescuing female prisoners and eliminating waves of the infected Trinity soldiers, and finally enters the core tower. While fighting off the infected soldiers, she triggers a catastrophic explosion and jumps from the tower to Nadia and Sofia's helicopter. Nadia and Lara watch the explosion as they fly to safety. Although the resulting fire burns the remaining reserves of the pathogen, documents found throughout the facility reveal that the release was no accident; Trinity reactivated the facility to acquire a sample of the pathogen, and an agent of Trinity escaped with it before the bunker was destroyed.”

So what’s the gameplay like? It’s basically the same as the base game where you explore the map, solve puzzles (mainly revolving around the gas towers), kill enemies and grab collectibles which expound upon the background of the Soviet experiments as well as how Trinity is trying to grab samples of the serum for future. There’s a lot of randomized elements as well, mainly in terms of upgrade box locations (I think?), possible weapon placements (you don’t start with your campaign gear) but the female prisoners as well. These prisoners will appear on the map either randomly as you find them, or Nadia will point them out to you. Oftentimes they’ll appear JUST as you finished clearing out that section of the map and it’s kind of annoying to backtrack a bit just to rescue them in an area that you previously cleared but it’s not a super huge map anyways so whatever. Also, I appreciate but kind of find it funny as to why Lara is unaffected by any of the pathogens: she’s a wahman. The infection only attacks testosterone and while I think it’s a good excuse, it also kind of adds another layer to the horror mainly due to gender dynamics.

One of the documents does actually state that one of the agents managed to make an escape with it though I don’t remember actually seeing a bunker as much as I saw three towers and a giant building in the middle. I’m sort of curious as to how they’ll ever follow up on this DLC or if they even will in the future? Will a future Tomb Raider have this zombie pathogen at some point being used as a weapon? Probably not realistically, but it would be interesting to see it if not to resolve a plot point in general. Depending on how you complete the DLC, you unlock loot box rewards for the microtransaction system that I honestly haven’t followed/don’t really care for that much but does include things like “Big Head Mode” and other cool cheats. It’s a short DLC that’s randomized and ends on a cool bang but is isolated in itself that one would question whether this piece of DLC is canon at all. Regardless, I would give it a recommend and if you take your time with it, you could probably milk around two hours or so?

Blood Ties:

“Set between the prologue in Syria and Siberia, Lara receives a letter from her uncle, Atlas, who claims that she has no legal claim to the manor and he is the rightful owner of the Croft estate. Lara realizes that if her father left a will it's probably in his safe. She finds a note which offers hints as to what the safe combination is, and begins to search the house to find more clues. As she roams around the manor she reminisces as she finds mementos from her childhood. As well as this she finds her parents journals, chronicling their first meeting, time together as a couple, marriage, Lara's birth and culminating in her mother's death which acted as the catalyst for her father's obsession with finding proof of an immortal soul.”

Atlas is written like such a fucking chud here that it’s almost funny how easily hateable this dude is written. In some ways it even feels like a stereotype how much a douche he is but some people are just like this. This is also where I’ll address the gameplay of Blood Ties: the plot feels VERY similar to games in the “walking simulator” genre, in a sense like What Remains of Edith Finch. You explore your old home, picking up and reading bits and pieces of lore while listening to the main protagonist recount their feelings as the echoes of the past replay moments trapped in time. It’s homely and comfortable, though the puzzle aspects feel like it could be confusing as hell. Most documents aren’t totally needed to push the story forward but some art for the sake of puzzle solving, especially if it has anything to do with the safe code. I would recommend having a guide nearby BUT I would also say that for the most part that the game actually does a solid job at keeping the progress going and letting you figure stuff out. Also, this DLC is apparently VR approved and I’m not surprised considering the simple concept of it. There’s no violence here, and atmospherically it’s actually pretty comfortable and peaceful to go through even if the DLC isn’t exactly a long game; the longest parts you’ll be dealing with is trying to find the safe code to be honest.

“After finding all the clues connected to the safe combination, Lara heads to open the safe. Inside she finds some personal belongings of Lord Croft, but no will. However, she finds a page which she discovers holds directions to a secret room in the cellar. Lara discovers her father's secret lab where he conducted research after deciding it was too risky to allow his research to be public. Lara finds another clue, which leads to Lara discovering that her father had found her mother's body and brought her home (though not before attempting to resurrect her). Lara discovers a clue that leads to a hidden crypt behind a wall in the main lobby of the house.”

The attempted resurrection of Lara’s mother actually made me feel sad here, the saddest the game had actually made me feel. The sadness of loving that loved one and feeling desperate to find ANYTHING that would bring her back is a feeling that’s very real. I can’t say that I’ve ever had any death in my life that made me feel like that but I couldn’t imagine the toll it takes on other people. It’s also delivered so well, the voice actor for Lord Croft really pushes the limits here and delivers a fantastic performance as a grieving father.

“Lara breaks down the wall which leads to a passage to the crypt, finding an elaborate sarcophagus where her mother is interred. Lara finds a letter from her mother, telling her that no matter what, they will always be connected, and that she hopes she finds success and happiness in her life.”

This was a pretty cathartic moment and made me tear up a little bit, but also I’m a huge sucker for sentimental moments in ANYTHING really. That’s really it, this feels like the culmination of all of the family trauma that Lara has endured throughout the entirety of Rise and it feels cathartic to finally get all of that to get some form of closure.

“Lara has the grave verified and sends the documentation to her uncle. Several weeks later (after the events of the main campaign) Lara receives another letter from her uncle, confirming that his claim on the manor as well as the rest of her family's assets has been rendered null and void as a result of her mother's death being verified. As such all of the Croft family assets have been transferred to her giving her sole control of the Croft estate. Lara muses to herself that she'd been so occupied with trying to stop her uncle from claiming the manor that she had not realized that it had so many memories and so much sentimental value. Wanting to honor her parents and ancestors, Lara swears to return her family's name to its former glory.”

So this section apparently takes place AFTER the campaign in a sort of time skip, which actually makes sense considering how the legal process goes. I had always felt however that this DLC could’ve taken place entirely AFTER the main game. It felt kind of strange and contradicting that during the base game she would relive the trauma of her father’s suicide when in Blood Ties it felt like she had actually wrapped up all of her issues and acknowledged her issues. That and the fact that there’s absolutely no combat in the slightest feels like the sort of epilogue that the game deserves and makes context within the sense of the campaign. However, technically I don’t think the game explicitly said (unless I’m wrong) that the epilogue to Blood Ties takes place AFTER the base campaign so I’m going to choose to take this whole campaign as the final piece of healing in Lara’s personal journey with her family history. It’s a pretty good DLC and would give this a recommendation.

Lara’s Nightmare:
“In Lara's Nightmare the sequence begins similarly to Blood Ties, but instead Lara's uncle is unwilling to give her the Manor. She fights off hordes of zombies and skulls before finding the Master Key. Finally, she kills the large skull in the main hallway, successfully ending her nightmare.”

See, this one takes place in the Croft Manor just like Blood Ties, and even opens up almost verbatim except this one clearly took an ominous horror tone to it. The atmosphere is creepy with constant darkness, reused zombie assets from Cold Darkness Awaken and I believe Baba Yaga dogs and other ideas like picking up random gun placements. The goal is to find three separate floating skulls around Croft Manor while these zombies hunt you down with limited ammo around the map as a sort of survival game mode. While it’s a simple premise and doesn’t add much to the story, it does a pretty good job holding a solid tone of tension regardless and might be the closest that the game and possibly the series gets to survival horror. As for where it stays in the story, it would be obvious to place it around the same time as Blood Ties.

Thoughts on the Plot:
The thing about the main plot for me is that it originally could’ve been so different in how it tackles stuff. The writer, Rhianna Pratchett, had originally wanted to focus on the PTSD that Lara faced after her time on Yamatai. This was apparently scrapped due to the company wanting her to focus on writing the story around the gameplay, amongst other studio decisions like focusing heavily on Lara’s dad. Everybody and their grandmother stuck their fingers into the proverbial plot bowl and therefore I can understand the frustration and lament the fact that the narrative dissonance is still a thing. Lara still goes on giant murder sprees and feels even less than she does in the previous game, and while I’m sad that it doesn’t attempt to expound upon trauma, I can also say that I can understand that there might not have been a consistent way with showing that while keeping up with decent gameplay at that time. Narrative wise you could explain it as Lara is becoming emotionally hardened because of her experiences to where she doesn’t feel it anymore, but realistically I just think it’s because the studio didn’t really give a shit and just wanted to make a good gameplay centered title. A lot of people gave it criticism for underdeveloped characters and admittedly that is true: Konstantin was remembered because of his stigmata and nothing else, I remembered Ana’s character arc but not her name, I completely forgot Jonah was even in the game, I forgot that there was even a Prophet and that his daughter existed and even his daughter I just ended up calling her Aloy all the time which is ironic because I always found the Horizon game plots to be boring. That being said, I surprisingly wasn’t bothered at all by this? For one, I think a lot of it was just because I appreciated the art direction that it was going, and that the gameplay was expanded in all the right places. I remember my time that I enjoyed with the game previously, and remember it being more fun than the previous game even if it wasn’t as memorable as the depression fest that the last title was.

However, going through it now I actually do appreciate a lot of the storytelling that the game does now even if it’s not as memorable. While I would’ve preferred the PTSD angle more, I surprisingly do appreciate the impact that Lara’s father had on her, and the storytelling as a whole. The whole plot is based around Lara trying to prove her father’s name and restoring his reputation at any costs, an action that of course leads to the consequences of secret society Trinity going into the Siberian mountains and waging war against the locals in order to find this treasure. The Baba Yaga DLC has her deal directly with her father’s suicide (along with Nadia’s family history with her grandparents), blaming herself for it even and finally getting that closure with the Blood Ties epilogue, exploring her family history and how that family history impacted her as a character and her drive. The game seems to be more about family dynamics than anything else; other than Lara’s baggage (which was mostly healthy but tragic) you have Jacob, an immortal prophet who for the longest time refused to settle down with ANYONE because he both felt selfish and didn’t want to see them pass away but did it anyways because he’s human along with his daughter (which was surprisingly healthy and not tragic, until the end at least). Then finally you have Konstantin, whose family relationship with his sister is based around manipulative gaslighting, making Konstantin think he’s some sort of second prophet that will use the Divine Source to heal his sister when really she’s been doing this shit her whole life and pushed them both into Trinity to satisfy her endgoals. I’ll just be the wordy asshole here and say thematically it’s the holy trinity; father, son and holy spirit except it’s father, daughter and deranged prophet? I don’t know, I’m not some pretentious youtube essayist so take what you want out of it but even if it’s unintentional, I still find it to be a decent way of delivery even if there were better ways for doing it. The “too long didn’t read” version: it’s a good plot, maybe not the most memorable but I’m okay with it.

So what is the Endurance Co-op? Truth be told, I wasn’t able to find someone to play this with, nor was I really bothered but generally speaking it’s a co-op session between you and one other person where you both play as Lara Croft (or in certain cases, one person apparently plays as Nadia) but I’ll put a gameplay link down below for those interested in giving it a look. One thing that I do want to mention between all of the extra game modes besides the story is that there’s a card earning system? You can purchase cards via microtransactions but aside from that you unlock these cards by playing these challenges (doesn’t have to be co-op) and completing as many parameters as you can to earn credits, which you then use to buy the cards which has perks like the ability to wear certain outfits or big head mode. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why there had to be a microtransaction system in this game but I could’ve told you from the beginning that it would’ve flopped because I have no clue if anyone actually bought anything. I’ll post a video of the co-op mode but since I wasn’t able to play with anyone anyways (nor did I care to), I’m sure there are others who could say more about it.

The sound design aspects of the game are still pretty solid though I don’t have too much I could really say about them. Guns still sound pretty punchy, melee sounds visceral and violent and the explosions feel good too. The environmental stuff is pretty nice, with the main weather effect being extreme blizzards. The soundtrack is decent too, with an orchestral soundtrack by Bobby Tahouri who would compose a variety of things from movies and TV, though whose only work in video games included this game, a Transformers game, an Evanescence cover of a Fleetwood Mac song for Gears 5 and Marvel’s Avengers of all things. The only piece of music I really remember from this however is the music that plays for a bit when you find a secret because you hear it so much though it never bothered me. I don’t know, truth be told a lot of these orchestral soundtracks I just end up repeating in most of my reviews regardless sound good and do well blending into the background but nothing really stood out to me personally. How about voice acting? The most memorable voice acting jobs of course are Camilla Luddington for Lara who does such a fantastic job playing Lara that any other voice I would probably be okay with but wouldn’t hit me as much and Zach Ward of all people as Konstantin along with Charles Halford? I know Zach as the guy who played the Bully on Christmas Story and the Postal Dude, and I didn’t particularly recognize his voice anywhere to be honest, though I assume Charles did Konstantin’s main voice which honestly sounds like he could be a noir protagonist akin to Max Payne talking about the pain of life and the like. Everyone else does a good job though I think these two were the most recognizable to me personally.

After Rise of the Tomb Raider, I hadn’t really touched any of the Tomb Raider games for a while. Shadow of the Tomb Raider would only come out a couple of months after my expedition into the Siberian Mountains to find the Divine Source and after enjoying my 27 or so hours into my first playthrough I had moved on. Overall, if you were to go in to try all of the content at least once (the main story with the DLCs that would be considered story) I would say you could get at least a good 25 hours or more if that includes getting all of the collectibles and such. The story, while less interesting as an actual treasure adventure, just meshes a lot better with more interesting stakes and a more fleshed out feeling than the first. The gameplay is pretty much improved in every way and if you get all of the DLC then you WILL have your money’s worth playing through the game though I don’t really have much to say about it as it is pretty much basically the same. The sound design still holds up with a decent soundtrack and the graphics mixed with the art design feel a lot more colorful and interesting than the bleak and oppressive island of Yamatai from the previous game. If you liked the previous Tomb Raider or you’re looking for a casual adventure game that has a bit more of an emotional nuance than something like Uncharted then I would highly recommend a pickup. My final thoughts on this game are that it is technically better in every way, but that the first game is a lot more interesting. I guess it’s sort of fitting that after I had platinumed all of the Uncharted games that I would move onto Tomb Raider, and I intend on finishing Shadow next as a blind playthrough. I had already gone into what had happened for the most part with the rest of the history of the first two “Survivor Trilogy” which involved comic tie-ins and such but after this they kind of went straight to work on the sequel for three or so years.

Links:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gpxNrb1XTGo

https://www.ign.com/wikis/rise-of-the-tomb-raider/Soviet_Installation

https://www.svg.com/792202/the-tomb-raider-plot-rhianna-pratchett-regrets-writing/

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/RiseOfTheTombRaider

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D15eRe0cgMw&ab_channel=LaraCroftTombRaiderGamingChannel (Soundtrack)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3791072/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq7CWxuzOdc&ab_channel=ThaiGameGuide-Let%27sPlayCo-opGames