An excellent sequel continuing Laura Croft's rise in another atmospheric narrative driven adventure game.

Having played through most of the original games and the first game in this reboot series, I can say this was an excellent followup and continuation of the young Laura Croft's adventure. I enjoyed the story and mechanics from start to finish. This one is in a semi-open world setting again that mostly takes place in Siberia. You'll travel this frozen land in another epic adventure. Some of the collectibles/challenges can be a bit tedious and grindy but does not deter from the experience. The game takes place a while after your expedition in the first game. You are seeking a treasure that had harmed the family name to show your dad wasn't crazy. There is the typical deep conspiracy with a secret organization that is also after the artifact and it's a race against time to get there before they do. Although this plot is nothing new the story it tells is unique enough with mostly believable characters. Gameplay wise you'll be traversing around the map running, climbing, and swinging to get to where you need to go. The movement feels solid and is a bit forgiving. Exploring the challenge content like tombs and crypts reward you with new gear and skills as well. Combat was passable and definitely favors a more stealthy approach. All of this together made for a solid experience.

I played this entirely on Steam Deck and it ran nearly flawless. I set it to medium settings and 40hz/40fps. It had a few hiccups here and there but was very stable throughout. It took me exactly 20 hours to compelte the game.

Overall, I appreciate what the devs have done with the reboot series thus far. This game had a solid story, really solid gameplay mechanics, and ok combat with a bit of jank at times. If you are a Tomb Raider fan I highly recommend.

A fresh take on the series set in an amazing environment, but gets a little grindy.

This was a great follow up to Syndicate. Ubisoft really stepped it up a notch with this game and tried something new. The game is more RPG and action focused and isn't without it's fair share of oddities. Story-wise the game is pretty solid. You play as Bayek who is on a revenge mission against a secret organization that killed his son. You travel all across Egypt (in a HUGE map) hunting them down and meeting interesting characters along the way. You periodically play as Bayek's wife Aya as well which are more story driven missions, but the gameplay feel kind of flat for me there. The mission narratives for her were great, but you lose some of you abilities when you switch to her. The out of animus activities are very limited which was nice. Gameplay-wise this one is very solid. With the RPG direction you have a fairly deep skill tree to customize to your playstyle and loot is CRUCIAL. You can loot weapons, gear, crafting items, etc. from various sources including chests/containers, enemies and animals. The leveling is fairly well paced as long as you do some side activities in each area. I had not problem with this as the activities were fun. Towards the end it can feel a bit grindy though and is required to get to the end game. The game progressed well and had solid pacing overall though.

I played entirely on Steam Deck and it played near flawlessly. I had it set to medium graphics, and locked it to 45fps and 45hz refresh rate (also set this in the game settings). I found adaptive resolution to help stabilize the frame-rate in larger cities as well. It took me a little over 38 hours to complete the main campaign. I did not venture into the DLC at this point.

Overall, I really enjoyed this game and the new RPG mechanics and more sandbox style of gameplay. It definitely gets grindy at the end, but is not excessive. Highly recommend for any AC enthusiasts or even if you are newer tot he franchise.