As a two-decade-long fan of Tomb Raider, since I was a kid, I waited eagerly and played the rebooted trilogy when they came out. Completed all they had to offer, and played through them again in the last two weeks.
So finally, with the knowledge of how these games are in their full picture, and with a refreshed memory of their story and mechanics, I’ll try to do an objective complete review, with hindsight. A perspective of the new trilogy of Tomb Raider. I’ll try to keep it short.

A Survivor is Born

This game has a special place in my heart. It was the reboot of a series I loved deeply, and they were going for a bold new style. A completely different game. At first, I thought it was more like Uncharted, but I’d say it also went for some The Last of Us, because while it is about “finding tombs and treasures”, Uncharted is more light-hearted, while this new reboot had much more survival elements to it.
The player has to live with Lara all the trauma she has to endure in her journey, basically as a teenager, who is looking for the lost kingdom of Yamatai. And all the game is going to take the stage in it.
The story is top-notch, and the gameplay is very solid as well. It aged gracefully since the gameplay was already a bit ahead of its time, and also thanks to some graphic options like the hair effects – TressFX – which still today holds up amazingly.
It is a product of its time, obviously, and it was a smaller project. But it’s a great solid start, and it puts the foundations of something great. It features the tool-kit Lara is gonna use in the whole trilogy, and makes great use of it, in the exploration and tomb puzzles. The game allows Lara to use different weapons, having the bow being the main one, especially during exploration. It has weapon upgrades and a simple skill tree, which helps Lara become even stronger during the journey!
It’s almost Metroid-like when it comes to progression, having areas inaccessible until a new tool is obtained, which opens crazy shortcuts at times and encourages replayability and exploration.
It’s not a long game, but just like other games of the genre, it features some small treasures around the maps, challenges, diaries with lore in it, and some optional tombs as side content and multiplayer?
Yes. This game, as I said, it’s a product of its time. Starting with the bow as the main weapon – looking at you Hunger Games – and finishing with a multiplayer mode in a single-player game, which was very common at the time. But having played some of that too, I can say that it’s not for everyone, but the choice it’s always good to have, especially with such a great combat system!

DLCs

When it comes to DLCs this game doesn’t have much to offer in my opinion. I know that the game is so cheap right now, with all the DLCs it’s a few cents more, but I still wanna talk about what they offer, cause they used to cost much more.
I think the only DLC worth buying and playing is Tomb of the Lost Adventurer, which as the name suggests it’s a new tomb for the game. The rest of the DLCs are either skins for Lara, multiplayer stuff, or...abilities. This is one of the things I really don’t like about the DLCs: instead of making and selling you something new, they just sell easily accessible in-game content for real money, and I honestly despise it.

Conclusions

This game is worth it, especially if you like the genre. It’s a great start for the series and has a great story and some optional content for those who want to stick around.

8.5/10

Uma obra de arte dos videogames!
Joguei ele pela primeira vez no meu Xbox 360 e esse ano, fiz questão de comprar na Steam para jogar novamente.
Vou colocar minha review da Steam aqui:
Jogo sensacional. Muito a frente da sua época , história, jogabilidade o cenário e os puzzles me encantam. Uma obra de arte na sua época e nos dias de hoje.
Fico triste em saber que os outros 2 jogos dessa franquia foram uma cópia desse primeiro, mudando poucas coisas porém ainda meio repetitivo.
Joguei o Rise Of The Tomb Raider e o Shadow Of The Tomb Raider também, porém, o de 2013 ainda é meu preferido <3

I really like this game. It’s very different from the pre-reboot Tomb Raider games, don’t get me wrong, taking on an Uncharted-like, cinematic vibe, but it’s still incredibly good. The story’s somewhat basic, but I find it works, the open world is good and has collectables that feel worthwhile but aren’t too overwhelming, the combat’s basic in some ways but works very well, and the setting is really atmospheric and surprisingly varied, for taking place on only a single island. And I know it’s a controversial topic in some parts of the internet, but I really like this game’s version of Lara; she’s sympathetic and likeable, even if some of her arc feels a bit rushed. Overall, one I definitely recommend.