Picking up a year after her adventures on the mysterious island of Yamatai, Rise of the Tomb Raider follows Lara Croft on her quest to redeem her deceased father, Lord Croft, who passed on before he was able to prove the existence of a Holy Grail-type artifact that could grant its user immortality. As expected, though, said exclusivity period has passed, and Rise of the Tomb Raider has stepped out from Microsoft’s shadow, finding a new home on PC, with a PlayStation 4 release coming later this year. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a decidedly-more next-gen game (mainly when it comes to its visuals), even down to the timed exclusivity period on Xbox One. Drawing inspiration from other games such as Uncharted, the rigid controls and less-than-fluid gunplay were ditched in favor of more freeform traversal and a much more manageable combat system, with an emphasis on melee and Lara’s now trademark bow and arrow. Tomb Raider (or Tomb Raider 2013 as some might call it) played it safe in many ways.
Rebooting a series is difficult enough, but when you’re talking about Tomb Raider, a series that has such a long and illustrious history, the stakes are that much higher. Some people might dismiss it as yet another action-adventure title, but I still hold great respect for Crystal Dynamics’ reboot of the Tomb Raider series.