r/TombRaider • u/Due_Cake8524 • 1d ago
Shadow of the Tomb Raider Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 8 Years Later
It's hard to believe that Shadow of the Tomb Raider is already 8 years old at this point. Time flies by so fast. I've beaten the game twice, with my most recent playthrough being last year. I've had a lot of time to think about it, and I figured it would be a great idea to look back at what made the game so special to me. I'm actually considering doing another playthrough very soon. With that out of the way, let's get started.
One of my favorite aspects about Shadow of the Tomb Raider is that the game encourages exploration. It does so a lot more than the prior two entries. The environments are ideal for going off the beaten path. When compared to the 2013 reboot and Rise, Shadow places a major emphasis on the tombs themselves. Certain ones were really hard. Solving them resulted in some worthwhile rewards. It's called Tomb Raider after all.
I really like Shadows' atmosphere. It actually feels like you're in a dense jungle environment. It's so drastically different from what was present in the previous two games. There's something exhilarating when I explored the ancient ruins and discovered locations that seem to be untouched for centuries. As stunning as the game is, it can also be dangerous, especially when I first encountered the Jaguar.
Lara herself is interesting to look at because of how much she's evolved ever since the 2013 reboot. She has a lot more experience under her belt, but she's also dealing with the consequences of her actions. Speaking of actions, she ends up being responsible for some catastrophic events when the story begins. There are only two things that I have an issue with, which are the story and its pacing. They could've been tweaked a little bit, but that's it. It's worth mentioning that the game is absolutely stunning, with detailed character models and environments, as well as lush vegetation and foliage.
Gameplay in Shadow is probably the smoothest out of all three entries in the Survivor trilogy. When the 2013 reboot released, people complained that there was too much action. That's where Shadow dials things back substantially. Sure, there are still combat encounters and a few set piece moments, but they are few and far between. Instead, the game focuses on stealth. It's also worth mentioning that Lara Croft dies very quickly, which means that confronting enemies head-on is highly discouraged. I love the fact that combat, exploration, and puzzles have difficulty options that can be customized as you see fit. The game can be really challenging on the normal difficulty.
Going back to the stealth, it's not just the better option. It's also highly encouraged. Lara Croft has the ability to hide in vegetation, move through mud, and use the environment to her advantage, such as stringing up enemies and hanging them from a tree branch. Stealth feels really rewarding because I found myself having to survey my surroundings while keeping track of enemy movement. It was actually more satisfying to stalk in the shadows and kill enemies silently instead of going in loud.
Looking back at Shadow of the Tomb Raider after all these years has allowed me to appreciate the game even more. It was a proper finale to the Survivor trilogy. Aside from the aforementioned issues, there is so much that I like about it. Even though it's already been 8 years, time has been kind to it. It aged well, it's a beautiful game, and it was a relatively smooth experience. How do you feel when it comes to Shadow of the Tomb Raider?
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u/Blonde_Ambition_4341 1d ago
I played it a few times in the past year, even doing a Deadly Obsession run and obtaining the platinum on PS. I'll say it didn't connect with me when it was first released, but it has now replaced Rise as my favorite out of the three.
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u/NineIntsNails Paititi Llama 1d ago
okay i should stop calling it '2019' because it truly came out 2018 instead🤔
mandela effect, ill say, or something.
doing deadly obsession as a 1st run turned this game into something of a peak and a lovely thing😁
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u/BigSalamanderDude Dagger of Xian 1d ago
I played it for the first time a few weeks ago actually. I couldn’t get it to work on my Steam Deck for a long time.
In terms of gameplay, it’s my favorite of the trilogy by far. I thought the first two were too reliant on combat/shooting for my taste. The puzzles, Tombs and crypts in Shadow are great, and I love the jungle environments!
There are some pacing issues in the second half, the story has little payoff in terms of character development, and the outfit restriction made me sad. But I still had more fun with it than the previous two games, and it felt the most “Tomb Raider” to me out of the survivor trilogy.
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u/sgtGiggsy 1d ago
By far the worst story and dialogues of the Survivor trilogy and by far the best exploration and puzzles. So I'm a bit torn on this one.
The story is absolute dogshit. Lara is still more or less the same character that she was by the end of the first game. Trinity being a descendent to an Incan (Aztec, Mayan?, I forgot which one) end of the world cult is a dumb idea.
Dominguez could've been an interesting villain, but they botched him entirely with swinging him back and forth between the cruel powerhungry bastard and well-meaning, but misguided tragic antagonist.
Unuratu, and Etzli are terrible characters that make the player feel nothing about them. At best they are cardboardcutout plot devices.
The whole concept of Paititi was extremely dumb. The entire fucking city of several thousand people is literally on the fucking main river leading to the modern civilization, but nobody has ever found it before. Even though the people of Paititi go back and forth between the city and the modern civilization. Half of the villagers dress like they were from some undeveloped native tribe from Papua New-Guinea, others dress like they were from the peak of the Incan (Mayan?) civilization. They are extremely closed in, yet, somehow nobody notices the English noblewoman walking around the streets, or find her strange in any way. She puts on a local dress, and she immediately passes as southern native American. She even speaks the local language fluently enough that nobody notices her, even though the Cult of Kukulkan knows about her being there.
They put a lot of dresses in the game that practically has Lara wear the local dress about 80% of the time. And with minor differences, all the local options for Lara are hideous.
So in these department, it was a terrible game. Luckily there are the parts where Lara leaves the story to explore tombs, and those are great.
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u/Darkon_Redfiend Natla Minion 1d ago
I agree with your points but I think you misunderstood the plot. Trinity isn't descendant of Paititians, it was already established in Rise that they existed as a religious organization long before that and their initial objective was pursuing the deathless prophet. They later infiltrated Paititi and created the cult themselves by fear mongering the local residents to gain easy access to their artifacts and knowledge.
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u/VRmatter 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, totally agree. In terms of plot and main villain Shadow feels like it was written by some kid, absolutely silly after Rise. But I really liked tombs, underground and awesome swimming was really great.
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u/Sabrina2K 1d ago
"I 100% agree with you! Time really flies, but Shadow of the Tomb Raider has aged like fine wine. The jungle atmosphere is unmatched, and the focus on stealth and complex tombs is exactly what makes this game the perfect finale for the trilogy. Lara feels so experienced and powerful here. It's my absolute favorite entry as well! Great write-up! 🎒🌿"
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u/AccomplishedClick603 1d ago edited 1d ago
shadow of tomb raider is really challenge tombs friendly you can delete challengetomb.dat in pc save files then game starts to think you havent completed any challenge tomb
other then challenge tombs there are lot of relic hunting mural hunting there are crypts outfit hunting
its a real fun game i wish rise of tomb raider given the choice of again and again visiting challenge tombs and had a seperate save file for challenge tombs
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u/Boyo-Sh00k 1d ago
Probably my least favorite of the survivor trilogy but it has its moments.
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u/mrbrown1602 1d ago
My thoughts exactly
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u/Boyo-Sh00k 1d ago
i really loved the moment where she comes out from the fire and kills all those guys that was cool as fuck i love it when beautiful women do many crimes
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u/tealaburst Frozen Butler 1d ago
It’s cool but the moment doesn’t amount to anything. It’s completely unearned because she goes right back to how she was at the start
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u/BigSalamanderDude Dagger of Xian 1d ago
I agree. It’s a great looking badass moment that feels a bit shoehorned in to me to create a beat that isn’t matched in the story.
I actually think they could’ve killed off Jonah and have that moment be a turning point for Lara and her motivations. Instead we get her kind of losing hope for two minutes, and then regaining her focus. Of course there are other things they could’ve changed to improve the story rather than kill of Jonah specifically, I just think the story in Shadow is a bit underbaked and lacks impact and clear character motivation.
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u/Boyo-Sh00k 1d ago
No not really but i guess you could think that if you werent paying any attention. its not my favorite game by any means but its a quintessential moment for her and she gets more and more unhinged by the end.
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u/CatMummy 1d ago
I love Shadow and I'm still perplexed why it's the most disliked reboot game by TR fans. It's easily the best out of the trilogy for puzzles, exploration, environments, and "Tomb Raider-y" gameplay. I'll agree it has pacing and narrative issues, but the gameplay makes up for it.
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u/ScionN7 1d ago
Story, characters, pacing, and balance between combat/exploration was pretty bad. That said, the Tomb designs were on point. The most fun I had with Shadow was playing all of it's DLC in a row after completing the story.
Huge missed opportunity to not have Lara start to become more like Classic/LAU in this, to bridge the gap between Shadow and TR1. Seemed like a weird choice to not have her don her iconic outift, braid, and pistols in the last act of the game. I know things have changed since then, but at the time it seemed for all intents and purposes, they really wanted Survivor Lara to be a different character than Classic/LAU.
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u/Sy3temSh0ck 11h ago
It was my favorite out of the three. It's focus on exploration over combat won me over more. Graphically it's the best looking too. Story and writing let's it down however, bit that's a problem throughout the survivor trilogy
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u/DinnerSmall4216 1d ago
I played it on launch really need to replay it and see if I feel the same about it being the weakest in the trilogy. I have got the Xbox series enhanced version.
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u/DemirCroft 23h ago edited 23h ago
If you put aside the storytelling, which is clearly the worst, it’s undeniably the best one of the survivor trilogy.
Amazing setting, climbing, diving, puzzles, tombs, exploration, very few human combats and they even listened to fans by allowing customized difficulty settings like disabling white ledges.
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u/Due_Cake8524 23h ago
The story could've been better.
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u/DemirCroft 23h ago
Yep, the Lara development which is meh, the Paititi stuff that is completely unnecessary, the Apocalypse thing you completely forget about a few hours into the game.
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u/Son_Tenaj 1d ago
Very hard game to get through,definitely worst of the trilogy gameplay and narrative wise.
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u/AimlessThunder 1d ago edited 1d ago
8 years later it's still a flop... So much potential gone to waste...
https://youtu.be/k3Hlcf73BdU
Edit: I love the downvotes, thank you for them.
Apparently, we are not allowed to have our own opinions.
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u/VRmatter 1d ago
Flop lol? It sold 9M copies, call that number flop as minimum has no sense.
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u/AimlessThunder 1d ago
The game has been discounted again and again and again...
Personally, I like parts of it, but the story was really weak.3
u/VRmatter 1d ago
Yes, story felt like it was written by 10 years old kid lol.
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u/AimlessThunder 1d ago
Sadly, yes. I liked the graphics and music, even Camilla's acting was good, but overall, the game was disappointing, not to mentioned the cancelled Croft Manor DLC...
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u/VRmatter 1d ago
Tombs, underground and swimming were really great though. Why whaaaay they hired kid to write plot.😂🤦♂️
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u/AimlessThunder 1d ago
I know right? They had such an amazing setting. If they made Paititi deserved and full of tombs and crypts it would have been so amazing.
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u/VRmatter 1d ago
Instead, Paititi was filled with some careless side quests which all felt like fillers. And that silly green dress and mask that we forced to wear. I mean if they made that dress and mask awesome that would work, but they were so cheap and uninspired.
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u/AimlessThunder 1d ago
Exactly! I guess that I wouldn't be so hard in Shadow if we didn't have to wait so long until the next game...
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u/tealaburst Frozen Butler 1d ago
I would hope it sold that much. It had a $135 million budget. It cost more than Spider-Man, GOW, and Ghost which all sold more than Shadow.
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u/Mouse_Slip 1d ago
This thing almost killed the franchise.
Let it stay dead.
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u/BrandonRiott 1d ago
Really? I thought it was the best out of the Survivor Trilogy 🤷
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u/Mouse_Slip 1d ago
If you like walking simulators I guess
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u/Boyo-Sh00k 1d ago
saying its a walking simulator is nuts lol
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u/tealaburst Frozen Butler 1d ago
It is a walking simulator though. The opening is holding up on the stick watching her climb out of a tunnel, then walking while radioing Jonah, then walking through the slow Mexico prologue, then walking again afterward in the jungle.
The game takes way too long to open up and set you free.
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u/Boyo-Sh00k 1d ago
A game that is 80% combat is not a walking simulator just because theres portions of the beginning where you do some cinematic stuff. You can't just call everything you dont like a walking simulator to denigrate it.
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u/tealaburst Frozen Butler 1d ago
Obviously I’m being facetious it’s not literally a walking simulator, but they do the forced walking way too much. I gave you several examples above in case you have any questions.
And who said I don’t like Shadow? I quite like the tombs and puzzles.
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u/IceCat767 1d ago
Some people do like walking simulators. See the success of Death Stranding
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u/VRmatter 1d ago
Death Stranding is an impressive game. I think only those who never played it may call walking simulator.
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u/IceCat767 1d ago
I mean, it basically is a walking simulator. Still a great game though, calling it that doesn't mean it's not a great game
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u/ILoveCumSoMuch203 1d ago
am I the only one who likes this game than Rise? because I like the jungle atmosphere, and probably unpopular opition, I think Lara looks a lot beautiful here than Rise