Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1996 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,491 out of 1996
  2. Mixed: 363 out of 1996
  3. Negative: 142 out of 1996
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  1. MerodeTalks
    Jan 4, 2017
    7
    Rise of the Tomb Raider is a quite good game but nowhere near amazing as some people here portray it. It's actually a shame for such a great franchise. I have like Tomb Raider (2013) a lot more.

    This game cannot decide if it wants to be Uncharted or Far Cry. On one hand you have amazing linear story-driven parts which are as well the best parts of it. Unfortunately they are not what you    Rise of the Tomb Raider is a quite good game but nowhere near amazing as some people here portray it. It's actually a shame for such a great franchise. I have like Tomb Raider (2013) a lot more.

    This game cannot decide if it wants to be Uncharted or Far Cry. On one hand you have amazing linear story-driven parts which are as well the best parts of it. Unfortunately they are not what you experience most of the time. Between them you find two large and one medium-sized "open-world" zones. They are filled with collectibles, challenges and side quests. This is the most boring part of game because collecting all this stuff can be compared to more grindy parts of MMOs. There's little incentive to do side-quests and collect all this stuff because just walking through the game on normal difficulty gets you so much stuff that you don't know what to do with it.

    There are also some strange aspects of the game like hunting bears and large cats. A hunter would have waited for the beast to come out of it's lair and shoot it from afar or up from the tree. Not in this game, Lara charges head on into these beasts and literally kites them until she shoots them dead. If you run too far or jump on a tree or ledge, animal runs to lair and resets sequence. Brilliant.

    The writing is however the weakest part of this game. It's very shallow and dialogues are on the brink of cringe. Main characters and villains both write personal notes about their deepest feelings and thoughts and lay them all around in really high quantities. Lara in her thoughts always refers to herself per "Lara". Nobody does that for crying out loud and it soon becomes irritating and quite hilarious. The main storyline is nowhere as good as Tomb Raider's (2013) - it is predictable and lacks the same mysticism.

    The highlights of the game are mechanics, although they have not changed since Tomb Raider (2013). This game is to the predecessor as Crysis 3 was to Crysis 2. This doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable, however they could have done a little more.

    The best part of the game are the tombs which are much better than in Tomb Raider (2013). There's also a lot more of them. They offer quite interesting riddles but I wouldn't mind if each was a tiny bit longer and more elaborate.

    The graphics are very good but animations and especially facial animations are lacking except for main cutscenes. There's also some severe issue with aliasing on PS4 (I can't say for other platforms). It seems there's simply no AA which is evident in ropes which are frequent sight in this game.

    It's also worth mentioning that this game feels a little rough around edges. I found a few bugs playing in December 2016. It's been one year since initial release so I guess they should have been fixed by now. One of them required reload of last checkpoint as it blocked progress (fortunately checkpoints are frequent).

    I would sum it up this way. If you liked Tomb Raider 2013, you'll like this one too. It's the same game in different setting with different maps. The story is weaker, but it's serviceable. It actually feels like this game was due for 2013 release but just got stuck in time.    … Expand
  2. bryan016
    Nov 16, 2016
    7
    I really enjoyed the first Tomb Raider when it was released for the PS3 and I had high hopes for this game after waiting a year for its release on the PS4. My first few hours in the game was great but after a few more I started to feel as if I was playing the same game that I had played several years before but without the gripping story that pulled me in.

    The story: I personally found    I really enjoyed the first Tomb Raider when it was released for the PS3 and I had high hopes for this game after waiting a year for its release on the PS4. My first few hours in the game was great but after a few more I started to feel as if I was playing the same game that I had played several years before but without the gripping story that pulled me in.

    The story: I personally found it hard to really care for any of the characters in this game including Lara which is a shame because the developers could have really made a great story out of this game. For example, the characters just come in go in this game. I found it hard to finish this game and once I did I literally had no desire to replay the game like I did so many other times like the original TR.

    Graphics: They are good, however a lot of the textures are used again and again throughout the game since the game is extremely repetitive.

    Overall, I would recommend this game on sale but not full price for it. Most of the DLC that is included felt cheap and short. Though exploring Lara's mansion was interesting it was really short and should have been more in depth. The story and characters just didn't have enough life to them to develop or care for them.    … Expand
  3. Steyraus
    Dec 6, 2020
    6
    The Tomb Raider reboot was one of my favourite games of the generation. After the rain high praise from critics and decent sales of this game I really tried hard to like it full stop but it ended up taking me 3 years to actually finish the game. Where the first game was an amazing action-packed adventure that blended old and new together perfectly this game is a slow trudging experienceThe Tomb Raider reboot was one of my favourite games of the generation. After the rain high praise from critics and decent sales of this game I really tried hard to like it full stop but it ended up taking me 3 years to actually finish the game. Where the first game was an amazing action-packed adventure that blended old and new together perfectly this game is a slow trudging experience trying to coffee Uncharted rather than being its own thing. Lara went from being an absolutely beautiful badass to being an annoying whining little princess in this game. The overall experience feels far too long there's hardly any combats most of your time is jumping around and solving stupid puzzles.… Expand
  4. Elucidate
    Aug 28, 2019
    7
    Pretty good in general. ROTTR keeps a lot of the 2013 reboot's strengths, especially the fluid gameplay/combat. And again, the graphics are excellent. It doesn't push any boundaries though, and the overall feel is incredibly similar to TR 2013.

    The story is the game's greatest weakness, quickly becoming stale and predictable. There isn't the same sense of mystery as we saw with TR 2013.    Pretty good in general. ROTTR keeps a lot of the 2013 reboot's strengths, especially the fluid gameplay/combat. And again, the graphics are excellent. It doesn't push any boundaries though, and the overall feel is incredibly similar to TR 2013.

    The story is the game's greatest weakness, quickly becoming stale and predictable. There isn't the same sense of mystery as we saw with TR 2013. I didn't feel much emotional connection to the plot or side characters either. And while Lara's voice-acting was pretty good, the overall dialogue and acting for the other NPCs is not great, especially compared to games like Uncharted 4.

    I still feel like the game could do without the whole brutal finishers thing and whatnot. Fun as they are, it continues to ruin the consistency of Lara's character.

    The upgrades have been expanded on, accompanied by a plethora of grindy collectibles. However, there's little practical reason to grind for these, as Lara quickly becomes powerful enough to take on all the enemies the game throws at her. And so, despite all the content added into the game, I feel like there isn't much incentive (for most gamers) to go back and finish it.

    The best part of ROTTR is the challenge tombs. Although most of them lean on the short side, there are now a lot more of them compared to TR 2013. The rewards from these tombs are a mixed bag, but the experience of completing them is pretty much worth it by itself.

    Overall, ROTTR is like Uncharted 4 with more open-world elements, a considerably inferior story, and worse dialogue. If you liked TR 2013, you'll enjoy this for sure, as it's very similar gameplay- and mechanics-wise.    … Expand
  5. tomvs123
    Dec 6, 2019
    6
    Okay, so this released before Uncharted 4. So then why is this game better than Uncharted 4 in every way?

    Well, even though it's better in every way, it's still a dumb action movie turned video game. Just less dumb than Uncharted 4, and with more interesting things to do. The story is a standard Indiana Jones knockoff, with this one focused on searching for what is basically the    Okay, so this released before Uncharted 4. So then why is this game better than Uncharted 4 in every way?

    Well, even though it's better in every way, it's still a dumb action movie turned video game. Just less dumb than Uncharted 4, and with more interesting things to do.

    The story is a standard Indiana Jones knockoff, with this one focused on searching for what is basically the fountain of youth - for no particular reason other than your dad died looking for it. While the ideas behind all of the unexplored ruins and character actions are quite far-fetched, they're at least less far-fetched than Uncharted 4. As long as you're okay with the typical blockbuster action movie, you'll have no problems with this story.

    The action sequences are quite unbelievable. You'll frequently be running through exploding buildings, falling canyon walls, and crumbling ruins, just barely surviving each time. Yeah more dumb action movie nonsense, but less dumb, and slightly more believable than the same stuff in Uncharted 4.

    And then there's the combat and climbing. You're basically superwoman disguised as a normal woman. You'll be able to take on groups of gun-armed troops with only an axe, by running directly at them, one-shot multiple enemies at the same time with a single shot from your trusty bow (after you get the skills to do this - which makes most guns useless), and climb near-vertical cliffs with your scrawny not-at-all-suited-for-rock-climbing arms. So if you're still young and on a power trip, this game has got you covered.

    Realism in enemy placement is done better than in Uncharted 4. In that game, people would just start randomly attacking you, like everyone in the evil organization knew exactly what you looked like and where you were at all times, even when going to remote random locations. At least in this game, you're typically going into enemy-protected territories, so it makes sense that they'd fire on whoever showed up.

    When you're not doing combat or running through exploding corridors, you'll be exploring and solving physics-based puzzles. Some of this is required to get through the main story and much more of it is optional. The great part about this is that there are skill-based rewards for finding and completing optional tombs. So you don't just get a useless relic, but something that feels tangible in-game, and is normally quite useful. The puzzles are pretty good, although a bit on the easy side for an experienced puzzle solver. After I found all of the levers, ropes, interactive objects, and the end-goal of each puzzle, it was easy enough to figure out the solutions and then climb my way around to activate the right parts in the right order. The exploration and puzzle aspect of this game was far more interesting to me than Uncharted 4.

    And then there's the crafting. There's a good number of items and weapon upgrades to craft that require animal skins and other things you find lying around or on enemies. After you craft something, its yours forever, so you will eventually run out of stuff to craft. Well, besides usable items, such as fire arrows, exploding arrows and poison arrows. And thankfully the raw materials are plentiful enough for those that I never felt the need to try to conserve my arrow use. The crafting aspect of the game makes it much more interesting than Uncharted 4, which had nothing like that.

    Oh, and there's loads of costumes. None are really fan service related, but at least a few show off the main character's assets well enough. They're all quite normal clothes (mostly winter clothes), with some giving various benefits. Most are unlocked by default with this 20th anniversary edition, but you get a few others by doing story content, side content, and collecting money in-game.

    Besides all of the above, there's lots of relics and documents to collect. Relics don't do much, and are basically just an achievement goal. Documents give in-game lore for various periods of time. Having 100 year old documents sitting around doesn't make much sense, but at least they all have a summary at the top. Most documents aren't very interesting (don't expect any thought-provoking writing), so I normally just read the summary - again, better than what Uncharted 4 offered, which was no summary for its documents.

    I'm not at all awed by visual realism in games, but this one does a pretty good job at it.

    The game surprised me. I wasn't expecting the well-done puzzles, crafting, or slightly-more-believable story than Uncharted 4. So now I'll be looking for a good deal on its sequel.    … Expand
  6. ToshLichev
    Sep 8, 2020
    7
    For me Tomb Raider has never been much more than the starting-off point from which a much better franchise took notes and was born (Uncharted) but when I played the 2013 reboot I felt like the devs might be on to something - and they were... sort of. Rise of The Tomb Raider is a decent sequel that manages to do everything a sequel should techincally, it manages to fix gameplay problems,For me Tomb Raider has never been much more than the starting-off point from which a much better franchise took notes and was born (Uncharted) but when I played the 2013 reboot I felt like the devs might be on to something - and they were... sort of. Rise of The Tomb Raider is a decent sequel that manages to do everything a sequel should techincally, it manages to fix gameplay problems, gives you more options, takes you to new and (kind of) interesting locations and it serves as an evolution of it's predecessor.
    So why did I end up feeling like the game was just "Fairly good", despite liking most of the gameplay, the locations and the mechanics. Easy - the story and characters. The game's story is filled to the brim with every Indiana Jones-esque cliche known to man. There isn't a single plot point which you don't see coming a mile away, and the few twists it tries to pull never get the chance to make an impact because of how little you care for the characters and what happens to them. Not wanting to see Lara fall to her death aside, I couldn't give less of a **** about what she felt, what she wanted or the whole "father-daughter" plot they did (I swear I zoned out every time that came up).

    RISE OF THE TOMB RAIDER: 20 YEAR CELEBRATION is a great game gameplay-wise and you can have a lot of fun with it, but it just feels hollow, it lacks any emotional pull. You'll find yourself trailing off into side-activities constantly because they just feel far more interesting than the campaign itself.
    That is why I'm rating it a very light 7/10./    … Expand
  7. RealMuthaF
    Apr 14, 2017
    7
    After the exceedingly positive critique of the game I expected more from this. Rise of the Tomb Raider is worse than its predecessor, which is a shame.

    In terms of graphics, it is, of course, an upgrade - everything looks more detailed and redesigned Lara is a sweetheart, no kidding. In terms of gameplay, it is neither a step forward nor backward, as it is exactly the same game as in    After the exceedingly positive critique of the game I expected more from this. Rise of the Tomb Raider is worse than its predecessor, which is a shame.

    In terms of graphics, it is, of course, an upgrade - everything looks more detailed and redesigned Lara is a sweetheart, no kidding.

    In terms of gameplay, it is neither a step forward nor backward, as it is exactly the same game as in 2013, only set in different environments, and with more upgrades to unlock. There is still a dissonance between the cutscene caring Lara and gameplay Lara butchering dozens of soldiers without remorse and even performing absolutely unnecessarily violent executions like putting a shotgun to a person's chin and pulling the trigger. The lack of a dedicated cover button is still annoying, as is the abundance of collectibles. Seriously, I don't remember the previous game too well, but this time around there is just way too much grinding for different resources, relics, documents, caches, strongboxes, challenges, etc. The game just tries to stretch itself so that it can boast larger completion time.

    The storyline, though, is just atrociously bad. The centuries-old evil secret society with seemingly unlimited resources on the hunt for the same treasures Croft is after, really? An ancient primitive tribe living in some miraculously warm and humid valley in modern-day Russian Siberia?? Some old woman imposing as a witch from a Russian CHILDREN FAIRYTALE instilling terror within anyone who stumbles upon her??? All this ridiculous crap is only made worse by absolutely boring borderline cringy dialogue which is unbearable to listen to. All Lara's moaning about her father's death completely fails to resonate with the player, as you just don't care for any single character in this game, and her father was shown to have killed himself, for crying out loud, even if it's implied in the end that he did not. You just can't take all this talk that "my father died for this" seriously if you are told that he freaking killed himself!! Hell, I only found out that Jonah is a recurring character from the previous game from the game's wikipedia!

    Overall, ROTTR is playable and more or less enjoyable, but its attempts to strike some middle ground between cinematic linear Uncharted and open-world crafting hunting Far Cry are not successful. When the game goes linear, it's mostly fun, even though the setpieces are limited to the already outdated "run forward while everything around you blows up". When the game goes semi-open-world, it quickly gets tedious and boring. And yes, people saying that this is better than Uncharted 4 either have not played it or are paid off or something, because not only U4 does it better with the shooting and climbing mechanics, beautiful graphics and smooth animations, but in that game you care about the story and the characters (even if Sam Drake is probably the weakest side character in the series), whereas here I'll forget all these names in a couple of days.    … Expand
  8. Nednerb
    Mar 30, 2017
    6
    Compared to the previous title, this game is quite disappointing. The story line is flat and the game play provides nothing new. The game feels and plays exactly the same as the original with nothing new to bring to the table. For the trophy hunters the platinum and DLC trophies are a huge grind and will take some time to complete.
  9. MaxPayneIsGod
    Feb 19, 2017
    6
    Rise of the Tomb Raider is an average third person action game. I thought the reboot a couple of years ago was pretty good, it was the kick in the teeth that the franchise needed. The problem with RoTR is that it is veeeeery similar to the reboot.
    The graphics are fantastic and but the gameplay is pretty run of the mill, its just not a big enough step up from a few years ago. Upgrades are    Rise of the Tomb Raider is an average third person action game. I thought the reboot a couple of years ago was pretty good, it was the kick in the teeth that the franchise needed. The problem with RoTR is that it is veeeeery similar to the reboot.
    The graphics are fantastic and but the gameplay is pretty run of the mill, its just not a big enough step up from a few years ago. Upgrades are back and straight forward, but sometimes they go too far by giving her too many buffs and advantages. The story is just more Tomb Raider, its Indiana Jones, rinse and repeat; Lara gets in the usual predicaments, captured, thrown around, beaten down, stranded etc. Again, its really nothing new, but what else could I expect?
    The Tomb's are actually present in this game and are a welcome addition, they're all relatively straight forward puzzle rooms which, when solved, result in unlocking an upgrade which will aid in over powering you further.
    Combat is as expected, solid third person action, stealth and cover based shooting. Stuff is scattered around the environment which can be used to craft bombs, molotovs etc. all of which are handy and can be buffed by upgrades to make them even more powerful.
    The environment is pretty spectacular as expected and varied to fit the theme, dangerous animals populate each section which (of course) can be killed and looted for supplies.
    Collectables are scattered literally everywhere, collecting them awards you with XP, there are all sorts of things to pick up, most of which unlock the usual "guy reading letter" type reward, seriously do developers actually think people listen to these things?! Every time Lara first sits at a campfire she goes into a monologue about what she's going though, I found these tiresome and didn't really compliment the experience as a whole.
    The backtracking because you don't have certain upgrades/equipment is a total bore. Its a sign of the developer trying to milk the game so it takes longer to complete. I feel its totally unnecessary and when you do eventually track back to past areas you are too OP for anything to cause you a worry. I can't stand this type of gameplay! And "Score Attack", don't get me started.
    Lastly the game is too easy, even on Survivor difficulty it doesn't really offer up much of a challenge.
    RoTR is really average, by the end of the game it capitulates into out right plagiarism, the final boss "battle" is a rip of of Ellie vs David from Last of Us, super, super dumbed down, and way easier. Lara is a one-woman-killing machine who, frankly, belongs in something like COD because of the way she dolls out punishment. This is a AAA pop-corn for the masses action game at its finest, all its needs is micro-transactions oh, wait    … Expand
  10. Nath6349
    Jan 28, 2017
    7
    This game does the tomb raiding really well, but has a rather bland story and is not much of a challenge.

    The design of the tombs I love, it was what I loved most about the reboot and the atmosphere here is fantastic. The fight mechanics are tight and crisp, the bow is awesome. It's lack of an intriguing storyline relying on ridiculous supernatural plot is even more obvious that    This game does the tomb raiding really well, but has a rather bland story and is not much of a challenge.

    The design of the tombs I love, it was what I loved most about the reboot and the atmosphere here is fantastic. The fight mechanics are tight and crisp, the bow is awesome.

    It's lack of an intriguing storyline relying on ridiculous supernatural plot is even more obvious that before. Uncharted 4 improved a great deal in this area and I really hope this does too in future installments. The side quests never felt like that added any story, but to add lots of checklists to an area. I have a tendency to be a completionist, I found everything in the TR reboot, but I feel all Square Enix have done is add checklists and think this that adds content, I didnt bother to attempt them it this time.

    The game is lacking in difficulty too, often there are just too many enemies from everywhere, but bizarrely you take very little damage. The casing point, in an end game battle my controller died, I was able to go to pick up my spare controller, sync it and still not die. Maybe fewer harder enemies?

    In short, I love this type of game, the treasure hunting was done very well, the tombs & crypts were impressive. The lack of a realistic or engaging storyline and difficulty meant that that finishing the game was of little interest.    … Expand
  11. alexteo07
    Apr 16, 2017
    6
    Was looking forward to this game after playing through the previous one multiple times on PC as well as PS4.
    Sadly there are quite a few aspects that for me are deal breakers:
    The story is very straightforward with no mistery Characters are bland, it's hard to care about them or their motivations Level design is poor. Only two sandbox type areas to explore Gameplay is filled with    Was looking forward to this game after playing through the previous one multiple times on PC as well as PS4.
    Sadly there are quite a few aspects that for me are deal breakers:
    The story is very straightforward with no mistery
    Characters are bland, it's hard to care about them or their motivations
    Level design is poor. Only two sandbox type areas to explore
    Gameplay is filled with fetch quests from NPC's. Well f*** you, no thanks. Lara Crost is no one's slave
    Combat controls are somewhat clunky
    Input lag is problematic, leading to many deaths from mistiming jumps

    All in all this a poorer showing than the previous game, and a far cry from Uncharted in all aspects.    … Expand
  12. teren48
    May 19, 2020
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The game is good BUT its far away from being realistic. I don’t want it to be realistic but some parts of the game are really annoying. For exemple the last part of the game i killed like 200 soldiers, the ice breaks just after i jump etc. Theese are normal things in such games but there were excessive amount of extraordinary things in this game. If you wait an experience like Uncharted don’t be hyped bcs Uncharted is way more better game and its more relaxing. The gunfight parts were satisfying but really exagerated and overused.… Expand
  13. Vcorrea89
    Oct 24, 2016
    5
    I'm not sure if it was the glowing reviews that came out for this game when it hit Xbox One almost a year ago, but my expectations for this game were high, and it didn't deliver at all what I had hoped.

    Now let me start by saying this, I LOVED the 2013 reboot. And as I head into Rise of the Tomb Raider i was extremely interested in exploring more of this new Lara Croft. But what what    I'm not sure if it was the glowing reviews that came out for this game when it hit Xbox One almost a year ago, but my expectations for this game were high, and it didn't deliver at all what I had hoped.

    Now let me start by saying this, I LOVED the 2013 reboot. And as I head into Rise of the Tomb Raider i was extremely interested in exploring more of this new Lara Croft.

    But what what this game gives us...is more of the same with a few minor gameplay tweaks. Let me stop you there, of course you can make that argument against the Uncharted series, but the Uncharted series at least makes the effort to tell a better more engaging story time and time again.

    While playing Rise of the Tomb Raider, I found myself growing more and more frustrated with the story being told. I had no reason to care about Lara's paper thin relationship with her father. I had no reason to care about Lara's motivations to clear her family name. And I had no reason to care about the characters she met along the way.

    They could have told a much better story if Lara was much more skeptical about this expedition. In the small snippets of information we gather from her relationship with her father it sounds like he was extremely absent minded and neglected his daughter a lot. There is a lot of missed opportunity for great story telling. A much more character driven story could have been told if Lara throughout this journey was coming to the realization that her father was deluded and the divine source didn't actually exist...all the while being followed by this shadowy organization (Trinity) whose leader is just as deluded as her father (only to then be proven wrong, find the divine source at the end of the game and realize her dad was right). But no...right from the get go Lara is all in from the beginning and she never wavers.

    Not only is the story extremely straight forward, we learn nothing new about Lara herself. This woman has absolutely no personality at all. When you're directly competing against Uncharted and the ultra charming Nathan Drake, you need to make sure we care about your character.

    Now the minute to minute gameplay is fun. But not much has changed when compared to what we got in 2013. Now i typically wouldn't care about this...but as I said with Uncharted...if you fail to tell a more compelling story than last time then it's a lot easier to notice what changed in the gameplay and what didn't.

    So we got the same gameplay and a much weaker story. That is why i'm giving this game a 5. It was extremely average. I pales in comparison to the Uncharted series where the adventure is always exciting and the characters you meet along the way are memorable.    … Expand
  14. liontamer
    Dec 9, 2016
    7
    I thought this was supposed to be one of the best games out there? It isn't.

    I've been playing for three days now, and I'll probably update my score when I'm done with the main story, but so far I have to say I'm disappointed. One of the things that intrigued me about the game when I started was the number of difficulties you could select. I imagined playing on "survivor" would mean    I thought this was supposed to be one of the best games out there? It isn't.

    I've been playing for three days now, and I'll probably update my score when I'm done with the main story, but so far I have to say I'm disappointed.

    One of the things that intrigued me about the game when I started was the number of difficulties you could select. I imagined playing on "survivor" would mean a shortage of resources and ammunition, and all that seemed really exciting, but I was very wrong. I never have trouble with resources or crafting items, the game isn't challenging at all. In fact, I'm not using skill points because I'm afraid that would only make things easier.

    Other than that, the game isn't very.. innovative, for lack of a better word. I don't care for the characters so far, and the combat feels really outdated. The graphics are good, but there are a few occasional bugs that can ruin certain animations.

    There are a lot of side activities, but there isn't much of a reason to be doing them when I don't need new weapons or new upgrades. I don't need them because I'm doing fine with my default pistol.

    I had high expectations for this because I liked the reboot from 2013, but I wasn't expecting it to be so bland.    … Expand
  15. zabracadabra
    Oct 11, 2016
    6
    Quite boring about all kinds of collectables, antiques around the corners, medals dangles the tree branches,what‘s the point except making the shallow game even more redundant?

    Besides,very disappoint about the sneaking part, with poison arrows you can just pass every carefully carved scene within 2 mins, no exaggeration, this kind of mechanisms ruins all the fun of sneaking which I    Quite boring about all kinds of collectables, antiques around the corners, medals dangles the tree branches,what‘s the point except making the shallow game even more redundant?

    Besides,very disappoint about the sneaking part, with poison arrows you can just pass every carefully carved scene within 2 mins, no exaggeration, this kind of mechanisms ruins all the fun of sneaking which I expected the most from this game before it launches.

    Can you believe you can shoot a rifle to put a near enemy down like you are using a shoot gun? Yes you really can do that because the weapon system is so unbalanced and without any necessity of selecting in different situations. Just blow every far and near enemies with your god blessed rifle, babie!

    Do you believe you can kill any legendary fierce animals with repeated X evading and △ fighting back？Yes, you can do that becaues there is no tatics in that. I eliminated 6 wolves in a cave with this single move, you get hurt from time to time but not a single blow can really waste you, so you will kill'em all just with this stupid move.

    Sure there are some shining moments in this game, but from my point of view, 9-10 is not a score this game deserves. If I am a new tomb comer I can give it 8, but as a tomb raider serial player, when comparing with the exciting tomb raider 2013(I will give 9 to that game), I wll give this game 6-7, which I think is proper.    … Expand
  16. GypsySoul
    Oct 22, 2016
    7
    Against my better judgement, I didn't wait to buy this used and went full impulse buy because I loved the first one so much. I didn't want to spoil it for myself so I avoided watching it on YT and spoilers. I've just finished and am going through it again in hopes that I will find it more enjoyable the second time around, but I can't help feeling like it's missing something prettyAgainst my better judgement, I didn't wait to buy this used and went full impulse buy because I loved the first one so much. I didn't want to spoil it for myself so I avoided watching it on YT and spoilers. I've just finished and am going through it again in hopes that I will find it more enjoyable the second time around, but I can't help feeling like it's missing something pretty substantial. First, what I enjoyed:

    - Croft Manor - Very well done, decent storyline, creepy effects done well. I enjoyed this little side story more than the regular game.
    - Premise for the story, the mythology behind the main plot was intriguing
    - The animals
    - Baba Yaga - Totally enjoyable and in line with my expectations. Decent little story even though I guessed the plot pretty early.
    - No QTE. THANK YOU!
    - The main antagonist was well written and balanced.
    - The tombs has rewards of substance, unlike the first game
    - Lara's character was obviously more mature after Yamatai, I appreciated the character development

    What I didn't like:

    - When collecting ammo or other loot, have to press square twice before it picks it up. I thought it was only my controller but apparently it's an issue others are having as well. While it is merely annoying when scouting, it is infuriating when fighting.
    - Very, very little content and time spent in at the first location. Story/plot was barely engaging and pretty cursory.
    - Environment was pretty bland for both Syria and Siberia
    - Getting additional weapons felt like it took forever. I don't know if that is really the case, or whether I noticed it because of the lack on engaging story
    - I loved the main ally. Unfortunately he's the only one I ended caring about. Didn't really connect with the rest of the group despite talking to everyone.
    - Combat wasn't as interesting or exciting save for a couple of locations.
    - Many of the puzzles were just boring and tedious
    - Really didn't care for having to craft the special ammo or being in control of the lighting in dark places. I find these to be artificial constructs and just end up being annoying and adding nothing to the experience

    All in all, I would have spend $30-$40 on this game. It's not as good as the first one, but definitely better than Uncharted 4, which was a HUGE disappointment, IMO. I'm not sure if this is a keeper yet, but I am definitely going to buy the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition for the PS4 because I LOVE that game.    … Expand
  17. sityoazzdown
    Oct 27, 2016
    7
    This is going to be a very subjective review, but here it goes. Back in 2013, I was blindsided by Tomb Raider and gave it a 10. Uncharted with rpg elements, my mind was blown. Now we have the sequel to that game, and while it is safe to call this a good game, I wished it would've been more "fresh". After all it is literally more of the same of the 2013 game, but with a newThis is going to be a very subjective review, but here it goes. Back in 2013, I was blindsided by Tomb Raider and gave it a 10. Uncharted with rpg elements, my mind was blown. Now we have the sequel to that game, and while it is safe to call this a good game, I wished it would've been more "fresh". After all it is literally more of the same of the 2013 game, but with a new story/characters and a tad-bigger open world. First the positives. The action set pieces in this game are wonderful and a treat to play when it triggers. The open world is bigger and there are more tombs to explore, collectibles to collect, an even a few side quests thrown in to mix things up a little. I enjoyed all of these elements,although to an extent. The rpg elements and general gameplay are carbon copy of the 2013 version, so in my book it's also good. And that's when my complaints about this game arise. There is literally nothing new about this game, except for a couple gadgets and story which in my opinion was generic, made worse by the fact there were no character development in this game at all; everyone you meet was just to push you toward the next objective. The game felt soul-less in the story and character standpoint, and my second time around with Lara, I realized how devoid of personality she has throughout the game. Without a good story, and game play that felt actually like the same in 2013, not to mention the animals and rpg level up system is about an 90% copy and paste job from 2013, I just wished there were more new things in this game. It's an bigger open world, but we do the exact same thing in the 2013 reboot. Yes, there are more tombs, but they were all very simple, ok at best. The worst part is the rewards were unsatisfying. To end, it may seem like I hated this game, but I enjoyed it, although not to the extent of an uncharted or even its 2013 counterpart. I just really wished it added on from the 2013 game for this one, and seeing as I didn't enjoy the story, the game play just felt too similar for me to enjoy it as much as I did in 2013. Probably a high 7 in my book.… Expand
  18. timmytime
    Nov 26, 2017
    7
    Yeah, just a 7 out of 10 for me. There are moments of brilliance in this game, and in particular, I actually enjoyed a lot of the Challenge Tombs. The other open world stuff though was pretty lame and bloated, and at times this game just feels unsure of whether it wants to be an Ubisoft Open World Game, an Uncharted Game, or to actually have an identity of it's own. I preferred the firstYeah, just a 7 out of 10 for me. There are moments of brilliance in this game, and in particular, I actually enjoyed a lot of the Challenge Tombs. The other open world stuff though was pretty lame and bloated, and at times this game just feels unsure of whether it wants to be an Ubisoft Open World Game, an Uncharted Game, or to actually have an identity of it's own. I preferred the first one to this.… Expand
  19. memus
    Aug 15, 2017
    7
    An amazing sound design (would play again just for the procedural percussion in this game). A solid combat system. A weak story and lame bosses. Last 2 hours of the game really sucked.
    Plus a star for a Lenin statue within the game :)
  20. Valkyrje
    Feb 11, 2021
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Overall, I had a blast with this game over the course of 3 or so days but it's not without its flaws inherent to the genre and open-world trend. While the gameplay is mechanically almost perfect and the story well-paced, intriguing and engaging, I feel (and it's not a feeling exclusive to Tomb Raider) that overwhelming amount of meaningless collectibles cheapen the experience and artificially make it too long.

    SPOILER. This feeling is especially present in the game's final area that opens up when the feeling of urgency should be dominant. END SPOILER

    Not hating on the documents though, they were very well made and add flavour to the world. I also loved little nods to original series, especially with wild animals encounters. Another baffling flaw is dropping framerate on PS4 Pro in performance mode.

    Full disclosure, the game came with PS+ subscription which made it totally worth the spent time. I wouldn't pay the full price though.    … Expand
  21. vaughtex
    Nov 28, 2016
    7
    Like many here I loved the first Tomb Raider game. Although the setting is now frosty Siberia It plays more or less the same. Unfortunately I found the experience largely forgettable, as it lacked the "wow" moments from the first game. It's pretty much the same thing, a solid experience, just not as exciting as the original.
  22. Spidor
    Nov 18, 2016
    7
    By no means awful, Rise of the Tomb Raider is just the most normal, benign sequel out there. It's a retread of Tomb Raider with fancier graphics, slightly less polish and a lot less excitement. It's a diminishing return, though, which makes me worry a third installment will have to try a lot harder to impress.

    The story this time around is much more predictable and cookie cutter - if    By no means awful, Rise of the Tomb Raider is just the most normal, benign sequel out there. It's a retread of Tomb Raider with fancier graphics, slightly less polish and a lot less excitement. It's a diminishing return, though, which makes me worry a third installment will have to try a lot harder to impress.

    The story this time around is much more predictable and cookie cutter - if you can't see what's coming you're just not paying attention. Lara herself is really not quite as interesting as she used to be, with her only growth as a character is the coming to terms with her father's mysterious suicide, offering a lot less than its predecessor. Gameplay is what you'd expect, with all too familiar set piece moments and gunplay/platforming. RPG elements are back, adhering to the school of "forgot every little thing I knew just in time for the sequel"; and there's the odd design choice again where Lara can encounter droves of armed enemies only to ever receive specific weapons she already encountered much later, so long as it's part of a cutscene.

    Excitement from this game is greatly diminished since the original. Set pieces are identical often, puzzles are even easier this time around, enemies behave exactly the same and even colorful and painful looking death scenes are somewhat absent.

    If you're seriously hurting for more Tomb Raider, it isn't awful. But if you want something a little more groundbreaking and exciting then just more of the same and not quite as good - you can afford waiting for it to hit the bargain bin or give it a rent.    … Expand
  23. BurgerGoEpic
    Oct 30, 2016
    7
    I bought Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration from another retailer because I had approximately $20 promotional credit to spend before it expired. What I have to say is this game is not worth $59.99. Not only because it's one year old due to the Xbox One 1 year timed exclusivity, but because of the season pass included. Firstly, the game was advertised on TV as having over 50 hoursI bought Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration from another retailer because I had approximately $20 promotional credit to spend before it expired. What I have to say is this game is not worth $59.99. Not only because it's one year old due to the Xbox One 1 year timed exclusivity, but because of the season pass included. Firstly, the game was advertised on TV as having over 50 hours of gameplay, but the story campaign is only about 5-8 hours long. My play time was 21 hours and 27 minutes with 100% game completion including collectibles meaning the other 10 or so hours were just hunting animals to upgrade skills and gear, collectibles as well as solving puzzles in optional tombs. I felt the vanilla version is worth about $39.99. Here, it's $59.99 with the inclusion of the season pass on the disc.

    And so here's where I evaluate the season pass. For the extra $20, only about 2 of the add-on were worth playing for me: Baba Yaga and Croft Manor. And even those missions each were only about 2 to 2.5 hours long. Endurance/co-op endurance, I would never have chose to purchase these. And the Cold Darkness Awakened, played 3 min. of it last night and pulled the disc out right away. I did get the Platinum, but you're required to achieve a par score to gold star each stage. That's just not replay value. It does provide a different experience, but you can really tell it's a really cheap way by the developers to extend the game and make you hold on to it longer before it gets passed on as a used game.

    I'm getting rid of this. My experience won't necessarily be the same as yours and I'm sure there are others that will enjoy all the extra content that you're required to buy now. I'm just glad I paid only $40, but I wouldn't have paid $60.    … Expand
  24. Danieljreid1987
    Dec 17, 2016
    7
    Starts off good maybe a little bit too much action and Explosions love the setting until you get to the open world area where its all just snow story line is not too bad but not as good as the first one way too many collectables but having it on PlayStation 4 it's nice to get all the DLC for free the multiplayer is addictive and fun for a while
  25. MadBert91
    Dec 5, 2019
    7
    A diferencia de su predecesor, este videojuego empeora todo un poquito, sin ser dramática la caída, no logra igualar y mucho menos superar a su predecesor. Mecánicas que empeoran, intentos de innovar que consiguen todo lo contrario, mecánicas de armas empeorada, repetitivo en numerosas ocasiones que te hacen plantearte si deseas que el juego termine lo antes posible o quieres alargarlo unA diferencia de su predecesor, este videojuego empeora todo un poquito, sin ser dramática la caída, no logra igualar y mucho menos superar a su predecesor. Mecánicas que empeoran, intentos de innovar que consiguen todo lo contrario, mecánicas de armas empeorada, repetitivo en numerosas ocasiones que te hacen plantearte si deseas que el juego termine lo antes posible o quieres alargarlo un poco más, es decir un juego que se sitúa en el centro, no es malo pero tampoco es cojonudo es de un simple siete si no tienes opciones mejores ya que en numerosas ocasiones te hace plantearte si deseas que el juego termine lo antes posible o quieres alargarlo un poco más, es decir un juego que se sitúa en el centro, no es malo pero tampoco es cojonudo es de un simple siete si no tienes opciones mejores llega a entretener… Expand
  26. lipton5001
    Nov 13, 2018
    7
    A good game. Not great or awesome, but 100% worth playing through.

    GREAT: Visuals - this game, although somewhat crippled by the ps4 pro being still rather very weak - are very beautiful; I've had people pop in and immediately say how pretty it was. Also, after finishing the game, the map is split into zones, which tell you how much % complete each one is -- I find this awesome (hear    A good game. Not great or awesome, but 100% worth playing through.

    GREAT: Visuals - this game, although somewhat crippled by the ps4 pro being still rather very weak - are very beautiful; I've had people pop in and immediately say how pretty it was.

    Also, after finishing the game, the map is split into zones, which tell you how much % complete each one is -- I find this awesome (hear that 2k ? mafia 2 anyone ?).

    SO-SO: the gameplay dynamics, while quite enjoyable, could have been a bit improved, on the 2nd difficulty level (1 above the easiest), it's a bit too easy I found (and the 3rd one up was a bit too hard for a very quick play-through (I had bought rdr2)).

    On the easiest you could literally finish off almost all opponents with the melee weapon (which in select cases literally got you stuck - for example the mission "Survive the Ambush by the D******* Ones", if you would melee kill everyone, the gates wouldn't open and you'd literally be stuck - you need to shoot with weapons there). I got very pissed off when I wasted a good hour on that mission ... other stuff like the bow are indeed very fun to use, and make for very interesting stealth approaches in select areas.

    BAD: honestly the voice active for Lara I found incredibly annoying - she has a very artificial and forced British accent; I'm not a native speaker and truly love all accents, texan, canadian, australian, scotish british -- you name it I love it -- but when 90% of your energy goes into faking me a posh british accent ... I don't know ... really pissed me off -- you either get used to it or it gets better as you progress through the game. It pissed me off enough to write .. what .. 5 6 lines on it so ... yeah. The divinity and god and what not was also not my favorite topic, but, meh, that I didn't take points away for.

    CONCLUSION: especially at what it costs now - it really shouldn't be a game you didn't play - it really is good fun    … Expand
  27. hector_bcn98
    Nov 17, 2022
    7
    Siento que copía demasiados elementos de Uncharted, con la diferencia de que la historia y personajes de Tomb Raider están a un nivel muy, muy inferior.
  28. Daemon20
    Jan 25, 2021
    5
    While the characters. lore and story are very engaging, every other aspect of the game is either unmemorable or bad. The main gameplay loop does as little as possible to differentiate itself from every other 3rd person shooter out there, and the open world elements feel forced in to get you to engage and spend more time with a game that hasn't gotten the polish and work that it wouldWhile the characters. lore and story are very engaging, every other aspect of the game is either unmemorable or bad. The main gameplay loop does as little as possible to differentiate itself from every other 3rd person shooter out there, and the open world elements feel forced in to get you to engage and spend more time with a game that hasn't gotten the polish and work that it would require to make that process fun, it could've been a great game if it was more ambitious and focused with what it wants, but as it stands it is nothing more than an unmemorable third person shooter with good writing.… Expand
  29. drlowdon
    Aug 7, 2022
    7
    A sequel to the 2013 reboot of the series, Rise of the Tomb Raider follows Lara Croft as she ventures into Siberia in search of the legendary city of Kitezh which promises the secret of immortality. She soon runs into a mysterious military organization known as Trinity, which intends to take the secret for their own nefarious means.

    While I personally quite enjoyed the 2013 reboot many    A sequel to the 2013 reboot of the series, Rise of the Tomb Raider follows Lara Croft as she ventures into Siberia in search of the legendary city of Kitezh which promises the secret of immortality. She soon runs into a mysterious military organization known as Trinity, which intends to take the secret for their own nefarious means.

    While I personally quite enjoyed the 2013 reboot many fans were understandably disappointed with the increased focus on combat rather than exploration and puzzle solving. This follow up certainly redresses the balance by not only introducing better stealth mechanics, but also through the inclusion of optional challenge tombs that each offer a reward or upgrade for solving the contained puzzle.

    There are still plenty of faults with this game of course, from the unnecessary hand-holding, intrusive cut-scenes and poor melee combat but as with the first title in this rebooted series I largely enjoyed my time with it and I think fans of the older games will find this more to their liking as well.    … Expand
  30. houyi111
    Nov 26, 2018
    6
    A lot of things about this game feel a little off. The reboot tomb raider did everything better than this game imo. Spoiler: The main story is so uninteresting, meet up the most important guy in the jail is too convenient. And that guy just sucks, he cannot fight, always got capture and did nothing to show his divine power the entire game. There is almost zero character development. TheA lot of things about this game feel a little off. The reboot tomb raider did everything better than this game imo. Spoiler: The main story is so uninteresting, meet up the most important guy in the jail is too convenient. And that guy just sucks, he cannot fight, always got capture and did nothing to show his divine power the entire game. There is almost zero character development. The open world is fun to explore but it hurt the pacing of the game. The game is big let down for me compared to the first reboot .… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

9
#9 Best PS4 Game of 2016
16
#16 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
26
#26 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 12, 2017
    90
    The game did not age a bit while it awaited its PS4 release. It’s still fantastic and looks stunning. [13/2016, p.71]
  2. Games.cz
    Nov 28, 2016
    90
    One of the best modern action adventures has finally arrived to PS4. Except a few small issues this version is a success, moreover, you will get all DLC along with the game; you can play in co-op and you will experience and extraordinary trip to Lara's home –  even with the support of VR. Set high difficulty, turn off auxiliary indicators and enjoy the Tomb Raider with everything that goes with it.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Nov 27, 2016
    90
    All combined, you’re looking at the biggest and one of the most enjoyable Tomb Raiders yet. Here’s to 20 more years. [Christmas 2016, p62]
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