Shadow of the Tomb Raider

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1696 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 997 out of 1696
  2. Mixed: 475 out of 1696
  3. Negative: 224 out of 1696
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  1. arrivist
    Aug 6, 2023
    0
    The graphics are great, and a bit more colourful than the previous games in the series, which had a brown sludge filter over everything. The strength of the previous games was the combat, it was satisfying, and lots of it. In this game, the combat is scarce, and you spend most of the time holding UP on the joystick, while Lara plods behind an NPC, or you wait for an unskippable cutscene toThe graphics are great, and a bit more colourful than the previous games in the series, which had a brown sludge filter over everything. The strength of the previous games was the combat, it was satisfying, and lots of it. In this game, the combat is scarce, and you spend most of the time holding UP on the joystick, while Lara plods behind an NPC, or you wait for an unskippable cutscene to finish. Apart from the underground level, the story isn't very interesting or engaging.… Expand
  2. Bizancio_Askatu
    Jul 17, 2023
    4
    A monotonous stroll through the Peruvian jungle, with little action, clunky platforming, repetitive puzzles, a forgettable plot and an insufferable Lara that is just a shadow of her better times.

    This game takes 2 steps back from Rise in terms of combat and rhythm and it's miles away from the 2013 reboot in terms of Lara's charisma and appeal. Let's start with Lara, changing the    A monotonous stroll through the Peruvian jungle, with little action, clunky platforming, repetitive puzzles, a forgettable plot and an insufferable Lara that is just a shadow of her better times.

    This game takes 2 steps back from Rise in terms of combat and rhythm and it's miles away from the 2013 reboot in terms of Lara's charisma and appeal.
    Let's start with Lara, changing the face/body from Megan Farquhar to Camila Luddington was an atrocious mistake already made by Crystal Dynamics on Rise under the excuse of "allowing better motion capture" although we all know the reason behind it. Now it seems that was not enough and Eidos uglyfied her even more, messing with her body proportions and designing the most hideous clothing ever present on a video game, clothing that is mandatory during long sections of the game even if you have purchased DLC outfits! This results in a Lara with 0 charisma, super weird facial expressions, no agility or gymnastic skills, it feels like handling a space marine, and an utterly monotonous voice acting. On top of that they give her a dislikeable and selfish personality. The legendary iconic Lara is gone.

    Eidos also stripped most of the combat from the game mechanics, making 2/3 of the skill tree useless, but forgot to replace it with something else apart from collecting garbage to upgrade the weapons that you will rarely use. The writing is atrocious and the history has a lot of obvious plot holes. The enemy AI is also very poor, being most of the time just lemmings that can be taken care of one after another on a corner.

    On the positive side, I liked the dark tone of the game a lot, like Indy and temple of doom, some scenarios are gorgeous, especially a couple of tombs and the executions are brutal.. On PS5 there is a free upgrade to play it on 4K and it offers impressive moments, except the NPCS, they still look consistently terrible. Another nice feature is that if you have save data of the previous Cristal Dynamic tomb raider some outfits will be automatically unlocked, even the 2013 PS3 Lara skin.

    I recommend playing it on "one with the jungle" difficulty and doing all tombs and side quests, this makes combats more frequent and gives a reason to upgrade Lara's skill tree, also removes the white painting on the platform sections.

    In summary, if this would be a new franchise I think it would deserve around a 6-7 score but being a Tomb raider with circa 100M budget (the 3th part of a trilogy!) the result is really disappointing. As a fan that has purchased and completed every tomb raider since 2006, even the isometric ones, it leaves me really worried about Lara's future.    … Expand
  3. spaghettiwest
    Jun 27, 2023
    3
    un passo indietro rispetto i predecessori. poche sparatorie, gioco noioso, la storia è brutta. si salva solo la bella grafica. aspetto il prossimo tomb raider sperando che sia come rise e il primo.
  4. cirospm
    Feb 10, 2023
    3
    Square Enix Ruined Lara. Too much "humanization". 1st, Tomb Raider is a Platform-Action-Adventure game. This one is another interactive-movie (the plot is also very bad) and the gameplay is something like 80% pre-scripted. You don't need to look at your surroundings and think where to jump or parkour to find a way. No. There's always that specific texture almost saying "Climb Here". AfterSquare Enix Ruined Lara. Too much "humanization". 1st, Tomb Raider is a Platform-Action-Adventure game. This one is another interactive-movie (the plot is also very bad) and the gameplay is something like 80% pre-scripted. You don't need to look at your surroundings and think where to jump or parkour to find a way. No. There's always that specific texture almost saying "Climb Here". After you find that texture, just follow the unique way possible. The combat is mediocre. Then comes another explicit cutscene, and more mediocre combat, or find again that Climb-Here Texture. There's some random puzzles in the way. The graphics are cool (better on the cutscenes, of course), and Lara's teeth are so beautiful, but not enough to compensate the mess they did with Tomb Raider and Lara herself. You need to watch Lara talking with her psychologist or something. LoL. Nobody's perfect and Lara has some kind of mania with rare archeological arctifacts and her therapy is travel to the Egypt pyramids to steal pharo's stuff because she likes these objects. Very dangerous. It's called Exposure's Therapy. More than Brave, she's also a good person because she's not satisfied with staying at her family's huge mansion with all the servants doing the job while she takes selfies for instagram etc, no!!!, she has (had) social conciousness, very cool Patty... Also she was very athletic. Now, when she falls on the water is something odd and even ugly to see, she crafts the arrows crouching like a monkey... wtf happened to you, Lara?! You need to be in better shape, Lara. If someone is reading this, don't be fooled by the first 15min of this game, this part is very well done, you can see the oranges rolling on the floor individually when you hit them individually, accidentally or not, also the general ambience of that mexican party is great, really beautiful, but the quality for the rest of 95% of this game is simply bad and is very nameless what they are doing with Lara's Character.… Expand
  5. evands
    Dec 22, 2022
    2
    When you start the game and the first thing you see is a text saying this game was made by a bunch of diverse people, you know right there that 'fun' is not their first priority.
    This game should be called "jonah!", because that's what you hear the entire game jonah! jonah! jonah!.
    Tries so hard to be uncharted 2 and filled with non sense puzzles with trial and error success, specially    When you start the game and the first thing you see is a text saying this game was made by a bunch of diverse people, you know right there that 'fun' is not their first priority.
    This game should be called "jonah!", because that's what you hear the entire game jonah! jonah! jonah!.
    Tries so hard to be uncharted 2 and filled with non sense puzzles with trial and error success, specially the automatic scaping events. You have to play like intended by the developers, specially the stealth areas,
    And for god's sake, someone kill that jonah, please.    … Expand
  6. baconboy123
    Sep 1, 2022
    0
    Very dissapointing game. Graphics are mediocre. Story is uninteresting and boring. Game feels like a chore. Cinematic trailer is very misleading and a cash grab. Boss fights are boring especially the jaguar and the ending boss fight. Would not recommend the game.
  7. Godudu
    Aug 16, 2022
    4
    This is weird. The first two entries were extremely good. Awesome pacing and story and the setup from the second game was really good. We were supposed to face the leader of the Trinity, which is a organization that seeks the entire world for mystic relics. But this leader is just a generic antagonist, whose plot is just centered around the mythos of the entry. Game focuses too much onThis is weird. The first two entries were extremely good. Awesome pacing and story and the setup from the second game was really good. We were supposed to face the leader of the Trinity, which is a organization that seeks the entire world for mystic relics. But this leader is just a generic antagonist, whose plot is just centered around the mythos of the entry. Game focuses too much on stealth, there is little action.… Expand
  8. erfan_arsanjani
    Jun 16, 2022
    1
    Shadow of the Tomb raider is the most overrated game I've ever played! Boring! Boring! Boring!
    It's not comparable with previous version!
  9. strangebrew123
    May 22, 2022
    4
    Wow, talk about tedious puzzles...just so boring. And I didn't care at all about the story or what was going on as there is so little to engage with. Massive disappointment after previous instalments. Also, that accent on Lara...simply awful voice acting. Where is the excitement of working out how to get through the tombs, and where are the battles? I'd advise to avoid this one.
  10. bhappenstance
    Apr 25, 2022
    2
    There are so many great elements to SotTR buried under clunky controls, terrible stealth, mediocre combat (with awful melee), opaque routes, and confusing (and ultimately boring) skill trees. You will fall to your death a lot. Why? Sometimes because you misjudged a jump. Sometimes because the input doesn't register. Sometimes because...well...Lara just flails off in a completely differentThere are so many great elements to SotTR buried under clunky controls, terrible stealth, mediocre combat (with awful melee), opaque routes, and confusing (and ultimately boring) skill trees. You will fall to your death a lot. Why? Sometimes because you misjudged a jump. Sometimes because the input doesn't register. Sometimes because...well...Lara just flails off in a completely different direction. (Jumping generally makes no sense whatsoever -- sometimes she can leap thirty yards, other times she can barely scale a wall.) It's truly astonishing that, three games into the series/trilogy, the climbing mechanics remain so wonky and frustrating. This should be the pinnacle of the trilogy, but instead it's far and away the worst of the three games. Why put so much effort into a stunning, lush environment, and some truly excellent puzzles, only to phone in everything else? With a few months of polish, this could have been an outstanding entry. Instead, well, I occasionally loved this game, but that love was inevitably undercut by one stupid, broken mechanic or another. There are sections of the game -- the mudslide comes to mind -- where the controls are so broken that the game is borderline unplayable.

    At a certain point it felt as though the game was punishing me for playing it.    … Expand
  11. thms_ua
    Apr 6, 2022
    0
    Absolutely fckng trash, horrible story, horrible core mechanics as parkour which simply doesn’t work the way it should. The VERY HARD difficulty is absolute trash, it doesn’t make the game difficult it is making it annoying because of none check points and you need to reply the same places all over again because you gonna die a lot because of parkour which is simply horrible. I’ve no ideaAbsolutely fckng trash, horrible story, horrible core mechanics as parkour which simply doesn’t work the way it should. The VERY HARD difficulty is absolute trash, it doesn’t make the game difficult it is making it annoying because of none check points and you need to reply the same places all over again because you gonna die a lot because of parkour which is simply horrible. I’ve no idea how core mechanics can be that horrible. One of the worst games i’ve ever played.
    Negative out of 10.    … Expand
  12. jcasetnl
    Mar 18, 2022
    4
    There are other reviews saying Shadow is the best because it's most like the original games, with less emphasis on action and greater emphasis on tombs and puzzles. I disagree. This is a REBOOT series, and the first two reboot games were massively successful based on their new, fresh take, which included a greater emphasis on combat.

    Yet, despite that Shadow took the less-combat route,    There are other reviews saying Shadow is the best because it's most like the original games, with less emphasis on action and greater emphasis on tombs and puzzles. I disagree. This is a REBOOT series, and the first two reboot games were massively successful based on their new, fresh take, which included a greater emphasis on combat.

    Yet, despite that Shadow took the less-combat route, that didn't have to be a deal breaker. They just had to make up for it in other areas. They didn't, and that's the problem with this game.

    But where Shadow really went off the rails was by rug-pulling nearly all combat from the game and confusingly not removing other systems related to it. The skill tree, for example, is mostly composed of combat, gathering and hunting abilities. You hunt and gather to acquire crafting items to upgrade weapons or make potions that enhance combat. So all hunting, gathering and direct combat skills are of almost no value BECAUSE THE GAME HAS VERY LITTLE COMBAT.

    This could not possibly have happened without a lot of copy and paste from Rise's source code. I can imagine the meetings: SENIOR DEV: "Well, that was already done in the last game and it works. Just copy it over."

    JUNIOR DEV: "Uh... but we're de-emphasizing combat, so shouldn't we pare this down a bit?"

    SENIOR DEV: "Did you hear what I said? Copy. And. Paste."

    But you're thinking, "Fine, just ignore them, then." However, they're something like 70- 80% of all available skills! It's a total bait and switch. I spent several hours grinding skills, exploring, getting XP and investing in skills, only to realize nearly all of it was pointless.

    At the very least, if Shadow wanted to switch focus they needed to massively improve exploration, puzzle-solving and platforming, and change the leveling and progression to support it. There could be multiple ways to solve a puzzle, for example but some approaches require certain skills. Shadow gutted a working part of the reboots (combat) and replaced them with slightly better tomb raiding. And then left a clunky, broken skill tree "hanging around" that just served to confuse and raise the hopes of all the fans of the previous two games.

    If they wanted to make such a dramatic shift in gameplay back toward the originals, they should have saved it for the next reboot, not created this confusing, disappointing mess.    … Expand
  13. IbnAlmary
    Jan 21, 2022
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It Is the worst game of the Trilogy by far Where do i start When you see lara holding freking Machine gun
    And switch to lara the mercenary and start to kill Literally anyone you think your self oh maybe i ran doom by mistake And the story oh the beloved story It is full with mistakes lack of motivation and dialogue was just bad plus there’s no character development at all it like you want to feel bounding with the other characters but you can’t cuz there no character development like for the queen **** dies i dont feel anything cuz i dont know her i just met this chick and lara start crying about it and when the son know about mothers death no freaking Emotion like non and switch from the 9 year old kid to the 9 old king with like second an there meny freaking flew like that But at least when you have a **** story you must have really good gameplay but that when square anix Come along with Repetitive gamplay from 2 games before it Literally the same you will Repeat everything you did from the last two hours to the rest of the game you remember the bear from last game yeah let’s get creative and change it to a Jaguar But lets go the good side
    The graphics and the sound from the music and the sound design it was literally the best thing in the game overall it’s a **** repetitive game with a **** story with great graphics and sound but does not worth it you waste your money or your time    … Expand
  14. OrphanTwin
    Jan 1, 2022
    0
    Haha. Who made this? Some of the worst story telling ever made. I mean, I LOVE bad fiction but this story is ridiculously horrible. At least that made it funny before I stopped playing. Lara loved her father. He was a bad ass and Lara wanted to be just like him. There weren’t any “secrets” about her mother like this. But, we all know what you were trying to do. But I laughed when it wasHaha. Who made this? Some of the worst story telling ever made. I mean, I LOVE bad fiction but this story is ridiculously horrible. At least that made it funny before I stopped playing. Lara loved her father. He was a bad ass and Lara wanted to be just like him. There weren’t any “secrets” about her mother like this. But, we all know what you were trying to do. But I laughed when it was all conveniently behind an actual secret room with puzzles! Also, this scene just makes Lara’s mom look like a huge b. The ol “yoU’Re AwAy aLl tHe tIMe”. Yeah lady, he’s working. Looks like Lara grew up just fine and followed in his footsteps. Another hilariously overdone subversive story that didn’t work the way it was intended. It’s just too bad to see this bad fan fiction made it through. Rehire the people you replaced. Never make another tomb raider please.… Expand
  15. Allex212
    Dec 12, 2021
    0
    a really frustrating game. few good parts. and the mechanics don't listen. fall from a very light level
  16. Reekum
    Dec 4, 2021
    4
    Could even bother myself to finish it, story it’s just too stupid. Previous two games stories also were bonkers but this one just blew it right from the beginning with apocalyptic bs. Trinity it’s supposed to be the most secret organization and yet they use trucks with their logo on it, damn how can writing be so bad. Also I couldn’t care less about Jonah. Game looks pretty but I was justCould even bother myself to finish it, story it’s just too stupid. Previous two games stories also were bonkers but this one just blew it right from the beginning with apocalyptic bs. Trinity it’s supposed to be the most secret organization and yet they use trucks with their logo on it, damn how can writing be so bad. Also I couldn’t care less about Jonah. Game looks pretty but I was just rolling my eyes the whole time. Uninstalled it after a month of couldn’t get myself to give it another try.… Expand
  17. Hackslashshoot
    Oct 11, 2021
    0
    So many games trying to be movies with tons of cut scenes and slow gameplay here is another one. People if you want a story read a book if you want a movie watch some bs from Hollywood. But please people stop encouraging this **** in gaming. This game is garbage. Not Fun at all
  18. Smithy_VonKarma
    Sep 12, 2021
    1
    Director's vision ruined everything about this game. Why is Lara still not over the barrier of finally becoming the Tomb Raider when it's a third game?
  19. ghosttoyou
    Aug 16, 2021
    4
    Хз, были у меня хорошие(не знаю почему) ожидания на эту игру, но совсем дерьмовинькая она, скучный банальный сюжет, не интересный геймплей, уебищный крафт, мало экшена, совсем мало, в целом игра вышла даже хуже прошлой части, никак не ожидал что мне она понравится меньше чем та, но как есть, серия медленно умирает как по мне и все покупки только изза имени, не было бы имени, в это бы никтоХз, были у меня хорошие(не знаю почему) ожидания на эту игру, но совсем дерьмовинькая она, скучный банальный сюжет, не интересный геймплей, уебищный крафт, мало экшена, совсем мало, в целом игра вышла даже хуже прошлой части, никак не ожидал что мне она понравится меньше чем та, но как есть, серия медленно умирает как по мне и все покупки только изза имени, не было бы имени, в это бы никто не играл бы, жалко.… Expand
  20. vassilisbobobo
    Aug 16, 2021
    1
    Lara was so special until they reboot the whole story and everything they destroyed an iconic character by making a boring and cynical perspective of Lara but anyway the fist two games was actually fun to play though
    Shadow of tomb raider has nothing to enjoy about is way too boring and has no soul the model of Lara looks a bit off here and personally i hated every costume in this game    Lara was so special until they reboot the whole story and everything they destroyed an iconic character by making a boring and cynical perspective of Lara but anyway the fist two games was actually fun to play though
    Shadow of tomb raider has nothing to enjoy about is way too boring and has no soul the model of Lara looks a bit off here and personally i hated every costume in this game !
    The graphics are good and some views are awesome but i don't play for graphics    … Expand
  21. PS4isbest
    Jun 27, 2021
    4
    lento, molto lento da tomb raider non ti aspetti questo. devi esplorare risolvere enigmi e qualche volta combattere. la grafica è nella media ma nulla di straordinario

    male male
  22. willyfenoll
    Jun 25, 2021
    4
    Stunning graphics, disappointingly boring story. I never found it interesting. Clunky and graceless gameplay.
  23. Random-Player
    Jun 16, 2021
    4
    Don't play this crap, go re-play Rise instead. I finished all the dlc's so i dont feel like i wasted my money LOL
  24. infernal_
    May 13, 2021
    0
    Worst tomb raider game ever :( i love tomb raider 2013 and rise of but this game not have any action just puzzle and boring after 4 hours later i cant finish this game just delete and re install rise of agin
  25. Star_Enios
    May 4, 2021
    4
    Story that doesn't make any sense
    Short game in total (which I'm unsure if it for good or bad)
    Indifferent as to what weapons to upgrade, you just do them all
    Some skills you never manage to use them in the game

    It's just all wrong. There are so many games out there that set a high standard and TR failed to even reach it
  26. shinjikun
    May 4, 2021
    0
    Woke and worst game of them all.

    Would not recommend this game. First off this game, makes no advancements compared to the other games, other than what seems to be some better lighting. Only reason anyone could tolerate this game is too see how much it tanks your fps by enabling RTX. Gameplay: Absolutely boring, and makes you want to speed run the game for lack of anything    Woke and worst game of them all.

    Would not recommend this game.

    First off this game, makes no advancements compared to the other games, other than what seems to be some better lighting. Only reason anyone could tolerate this game is too see how much it tanks your fps by enabling RTX.

    Gameplay: Absolutely boring, and makes you want to speed run the game for lack of anything interesting. Controls are the same as previous games which is Ok, But the game is riddled with minor bugs that break the experience on a constant basis. Same repetitive garbage over and over. This game feels like the doing stupid same trick of attaching your bow with a rope to something else to progress 70 percent of the time. 20 percent just going though these quick time motions to survive, which are so easy its a joke. and lastly 10 percent actual combat. You could probably beat the entire game in 20 hours with your eyes closed. They give you allot of upgrades for the fighting parts of the game, which is basically 1 hour of the entire game, and can easily be done with even the basic weapons.

    Story : I will go as far as to say i have played and beaten hundreds of games, and this game has the worst story i have ever seen. Constant blabbering about this fake god and moon goddess and other nonsense. In the most annoying bimbo voice imaginable. "Im a Reserchar" and "Yaaas". Manages to discriminate against actually beliefs, while touting tolerance and diverse cast and all the other typical SJW corporate non sense.
    Laura voice is has got to be the most annoying part of this game. if you can get though that, you may be able to complete this game without tearing your ears off. Also they manage to make Laura more and more unattractive every game for obvious reasons. They want to alienate fans for some SJW woke propaganda.

    Graphics: Nothing special aside from RTX, they took as long as possible, to make the characters as UGLY as possible while keeping basically all the assets the same. They put the model assets from previous games available to use. While still forcing you to use there new ones in certain missions. Lots of clipping unless you use the standard character model. No effort was made to make them blend a bit better in the game. Pure Hair is a joke, Hair FX was better in the first game at least the hair didn't bounce around like hairworks on steroids.

    0/10    … Expand
  27. fabgo
    Apr 20, 2021
    3
    The first two tomb raider reboot games are awesome. This third installment falls way short. It's much more challenging than the first two. It's much more tedious. It has these weird gameplay choices, where despite getting better weapons you are forced to fight with bow and arrow. You are frequently fighting meelee type enemies with only ranged weapons (your axe is useless in this game).The first two tomb raider reboot games are awesome. This third installment falls way short. It's much more challenging than the first two. It's much more tedious. It has these weird gameplay choices, where despite getting better weapons you are forced to fight with bow and arrow. You are frequently fighting meelee type enemies with only ranged weapons (your axe is useless in this game). The ongoing story about fighting Trinity is becoming trite. I absolutely loved playng the first two games, but this one was a real chore to finish, and I could not wait for it to end.… Expand
  28. monkeysee
    Mar 20, 2021
    2
    I really didn't like the game. The plot, the dialogues are just horror. The locations, despite the fact that they are kind of colorfully done, are boring and not interesting. The weakest game in the reboot trilogy.
  29. sycsyc
    Mar 8, 2021
    2
    I had issues with the following:
    - Story was lackluster, character development was abysmal (Lara is still the same stubborn woman it's like she learned nothing from ROTR)
    - Lighting was terrible (the flashlight randomly turns on at the wrong moments, easy to miss certain things,etc.) - no difference from the original 'Rise of the Tombraider' - expected more, whether its improved    I had issues with the following:
    - Story was lackluster, character development was abysmal (Lara is still the same stubborn woman it's like she learned nothing from ROTR)
    - Lighting was terrible (the flashlight randomly turns on at the wrong moments, easy to miss certain things,etc.)
    - no difference from the original 'Rise of the Tombraider' - expected more, whether its improved fighting mechanics, better puzzles, or better storyline - nothing changed
    - overabundance of random collectibles - became a point where I just skipped over all the collectibles dialogue
    - after a few missions, everything felt too repeatitive    … Expand
  30. Malef
    Feb 27, 2021
    4
    The Tombs are great visually and mechanically, most of them. All else is somewhat normal if not bad. Action sequences are worst part of the game.
    Changed score to 4 after playing DLC.
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Awards & Rankings

12
#12 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2018
25
#25 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 63 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 40 out of 63
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 63
  3. Negative: 2 out of 63
  1. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 11, 2019
    60
    Shallow story aside, Shadow of the Tomb Raider has the best tomb exploration in the series, and that’s what it’s all about.
    Read full review
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Dec 31, 2018
    60
    Still very good, but in some ways weaker than the previous game. Still, fans shouldn’t miss it, just because it is the conclusion of the trilogy. [Issue#289]
  3. Gaming Nexus
    Oct 22, 2018
    74
    Shadow of the Tomb Raider should leave us wanting more from the rebooted Lara Croft game, but with some clunky controls and a lazy combat system, what saves the game from being below average are beautiful visuals, fantastic puzzles and tomb layouts along with true adventuring. It’s as mixed up of a bag as one can get.
    Read full review
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