Shadow of the Tomb Raider

 Xbox One
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 624 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 415 out of 624
  2. Mixed: 108 out of 624
  3. Negative: 101 out of 624
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  1. odysseus420
    Sep 14, 2018
    0
    A terrible follow up to Rise of the Tomb Raider that forgets every lesson that game learned from the original reboot. The level design is boring and dull, the game keeps interrupting with cutscenes at the worst times, controls are sluggish (that one is baffling, why didn't they just keep the controls from Rise?) and the art direction is all over the place as if several parts of the sameA terrible follow up to Rise of the Tomb Raider that forgets every lesson that game learned from the original reboot. The level design is boring and dull, the game keeps interrupting with cutscenes at the worst times, controls are sluggish (that one is baffling, why didn't they just keep the controls from Rise?) and the art direction is all over the place as if several parts of the same levels had been contracted out to different people without any design guidelines. It honestly feels like Core got their B-team making this, it's the Andromeda of the Tomb Raider series.… Expand
  2. Dr_9658516
    Sep 12, 2018
    0
    The most disappointing game of the year.
    First game is good, but Shadow of the tomb raider just so bad.
  3. VladPasquale
    Oct 13, 2018
    3
    Worst part of Tomb Raider. Gameplay: awful(2/10) Characters: terrible (3/10) Plot: absolutely 0 (0/10) Graphics: great and fantastic (9/10) I really dont now how people like this game. 20 hours of wasting time. I like Tomb Raider, but this is awful, pity to see what such a series has turned into...
  4. SIPPIO
    Sep 23, 2018
    4
    I try to be HONEST with my reviews...And a 1 or 10 isn't honest= it's anger or being biased.....
    ****Tomb Raider needs a break. not a 1 year break LIke Assassin'sCreed but a long break...
    ~Crystal Dynamics didn't do anything in this new game at all.... Where is the innovation... if it aint broke don't fix it mentality doesn't apply gere because Rise of TR had hiccups w/ boring outside    I try to be HONEST with my reviews...And a 1 or 10 isn't honest= it's anger or being biased.....
    ****Tomb Raider needs a break. not a 1 year break LIke Assassin'sCreed but a long break...
    ~Crystal Dynamics didn't do anything in this new game at all....
    Where is the innovation...
    if it aint broke don't fix it mentality doesn't apply gere because Rise of TR had hiccups w/ boring outside of the main quest..
    *THE BIGGEST ISSUE FOR ME= Lack of fun playground.. it tries to be like a lot of games w/ stealth & unsuspecting badguys waiting to be stealth got.. but it's not fun. it's a choir..
    *I noticed this in the original TR 1st reboot game..the playing about is missing & it's onto the next part..
    ***I would play around in Skyrim,,MetalGearSolicV,,Farcry,,ShadowWar/Mordor for days ignoring progressing the story. FOR FUN..it's fun to sidequest & level you're character without even trying.....

    ***this game is 1/2 the game Rise of was & that screams CASH GRAB..if it's not a cash Grab then something MassEffect Andromeda like is wrong @ CrystalDynamics..
    ***if you are really into Gameplay ! & story 2nd then skip this & watch the cutscenes on youtube..

    *I got very VERY lucky that I was able to rent this game..i probably woulda wasted my money if I didn't get lucky by it being available on day 1 to rent...

    To Fanboys~ im one of you & have defended this series ALOT.. we we're let down and we deserved more...    … Expand
  5. mostly10
    Nov 15, 2018
    4
    Another user called this "the Andromeda of the Tomb Raider series" - and it is by far the most apt description I've seen so far.
    The world itself is beautiful - the graphics are good and I really enjoyed the controls and overall gameplay. The sneaking, hiding, and camouflage is very cool.
    But the story is dull, linear, and far too short for such an epic game. It's like they took a full,    Another user called this "the Andromeda of the Tomb Raider series" - and it is by far the most apt description I've seen so far.
    The world itself is beautiful - the graphics are good and I really enjoyed the controls and overall gameplay. The sneaking, hiding, and camouflage is very cool.
    But the story is dull, linear, and far too short for such an epic game. It's like they took a full, good, game and squeezed it through a sieve to simplify and minimise. Collectables are too easy to find, simply because they're everywhere.
    I also found the quest overview and menu system clunky, difficult to navigate (non-intuitive), and unhelpful. After finishing the main questline, there was little to no incentive to keep playing, as I had not been encouraged to immerse myself with the secondary characters.
    At the 'normal' difficulty, the game is too easy. At the higher difficulties, you basically just die too easily - everything else is the same (but you don't have to listen to Lara repeat the same thing over and over).
    I enjoy replaying games - but this is not one I will readily revisit. I'd much rather play either of the older games than go through this one again. It'll collect dust next to Andromeda on my shelf.    … Expand
  6. Broyax
    Sep 21, 2018
    4
    Décidément, Tomb Raider est une série maudite et notre jolie petite Lara a certainement chopé le mauvais oeil... Pourtant le précédent (Rise) avait marqué quelques progrès sensibles mais encore à la fois trop timides et insuffisants : il se complaisait ainsi dans la médiocrité alors que ses aînés restaient confinés dans la fosse à purin, celle de la quasi-nullité selon les épisodes plus ouDécidément, Tomb Raider est une série maudite et notre jolie petite Lara a certainement chopé le mauvais oeil... Pourtant le précédent (Rise) avait marqué quelques progrès sensibles mais encore à la fois trop timides et insuffisants : il se complaisait ainsi dans la médiocrité alors que ses aînés restaient confinés dans la fosse à purin, celle de la quasi-nullité selon les épisodes plus ou moins hasardeux et foireux depuis 1994 !

    Eidos Montréal a donc repris le flambeau et amélioré ou tenté d'améliorer pas mal de détails mais tout en gardant l'ossature très inspirée des Unchartiep depuis le reboot de la licence TR en 2013 par Cristal Dynamics. On a donc quelques zones assez grandes mais fort peu ouvertes reliées par des séquences-couloirs qui font la part belle au spectacle et aux scripts. Ah les scripts ! avec les QTE de merde et tout le tremblement...

    Notons tout de même que dans les options, on peut les réduire significativement... mais pas entièrement hélas, loin de là. Le QTE foireux demeure et ne meurt pas. Shadow impose donc ses phases de combat ou d'infiltration et garde les mêmes défauts pour les combats, accentués ici par de nombreuses phases nocturnes. Ici, Lara ne peut pas tirer de la hanche mais épaule systématiquement et comme les ennemis vous foncent dessus, on se rend vite compte de la nullité du corps-à-corps... et de la confusion totale à ces moments-là.

    Par contre, l'infiltration a été bien améliorée avec une Lara dorénavant bien plus prédatrice qu'avant via quelques compétences très efficaces... Sauf quand il s'agit de jouer à cache-cache avec des piranhas bien sûr : là c'est tout simplement horripilant.

    L'exploration en tout cas m'a semblé dans ce Shadow bien plus importante que dans le précédent et comme on est servi par des environnements sompteux et une escalade très gratifiante, on apprécie amplement la balade dépaysante à souhait. Car techniquement le jeu assure comme un prince (en 4K sur la X !) et en plus se permet d'étaler son bon goût à tous les niveaux, tout le temps : c'en est bluffant !

    Si l'histoire tient plus ou moins la route, la caractérisation de la célèbre héroïne se veut plus "réaliste", plus humaine, voire pleine d'émotion... or tout cela est raté, maladroit et d'une naïveté pitoyable... On aimerait en rire tellement c'est mauvais mais c'est bien trop mauvais pour ça. Qui a écrit des dialogues pareils ? on arrive pas à y croire ! sans doute un auteur de la collection Harlequin ou d'une telenovela quelconque.

    Enfin, les tombeaux sont devenus très casse-couilles et s'ils restent très optionnels, on ne comprend pas pourquoi ils sont devenus aussi chiants et tordus quand ceux de Rise gardaient un bel équilibre. Et donc lorsqu'on en a un ou plutôt l'équivalent d'un dans la campagne principale avec des miroirs et des chariots à pousser et tirer, là on craque. Sans doute parce que j'en ai fait trop à côté (presque tous je crois) et que celui-là est la goutte d'eau qui a fait déborder le vase...

    Tout cela est dommage donc, car l'ambiance est bien là et les décors sont splendides. L'infiltration est plaisante (en dehors des piranhas...). Mais que de scripts tout de même et de niveaux bien étriqués. Et de tombeaux qui me les casse. Il faudrait que Tomb Raider passe au monde ouvert, je ne vois que ça pour sauver une série qui reste moribonde depuis des décennies. Même en 4K.    … Expand
  7. rfisha
    Sep 30, 2018
    4
    Beautiful looking game, but this franchise has just become more stale with time.

    Doesn't take very long to complete, and not much of end game. Wait for it to come out on special.
  8. Fullblade2580
    Oct 25, 2018
    3
    Cinematically beautiful, but all visuals with no substance. The gameplay is rigid, predictable and after only a few hours...positively boring! The lack of combat or any meaningful storyline reduces this game to little more than a very nice looking interactive jumping simulator.
  9. Steyraus
    Oct 11, 2021
    3
    Boring walk and pick up junk simulator..Bugs every where, puzzles broken and cant be solved unless you restard, thanks to jenk pysics..There about 5 combat encounters in the first 20 hours. Nice world to look at but it boring
  10. CoolDadTx
    May 28, 2019
    1
    This game is complete garbage. A series based upon raiding tombs and discovery has been converted to a FPS probably because somebody in marketing said they sell. A typical mission involves one or more of the following: QTEs that if you fail you instantly die, reload; you have nothing but a bow or knife against 6+ men with automatic weapons. As soon as combat starts you die, reload. This isThis game is complete garbage. A series based upon raiding tombs and discovery has been converted to a FPS probably because somebody in marketing said they sell. A typical mission involves one or more of the following: QTEs that if you fail you instantly die, reload; you have nothing but a bow or knife against 6+ men with automatic weapons. As soon as combat starts you die, reload. This is the most useless mission system I've seen in a very long time. This game alone has completely put me off the Tomb Raider games completely. If this is TR then I don't want anything to do with it.

    Beyond the horrific combat is bad stealth. While you can start out stealthy and the game strongly recommends it because, after all, you're not a combat person, it never ends that way. As soon as you kill anyone (because you have to on every level in order to move on) you leave the body behind. Then somebody finds it, they immediately notify everyone else and within seconds no matter where you are at they find you and kill you. One person you could in theory take out fast enough but while you're taking out the 2nd of 6+ men the rest surround you and kill you within seconds. Reload. Try a different stealth, same thing happens, reload. How is this at all fun??

    The traversal system, which should be the highlight of the game, is just plain bad. It is really glorified QTE events that if you fail you die. The traversal system never makes you feel like an accomplished climber, it just feels like button mashing. And you can't even climb most things. You can only climb exactly what the designers wanted you to. On many occasions I couldn't clear a wall at waist level but I could jump from one cliff to another. It is sad to say but AC has a better (even buggy) climbing system.

    The historical aspect is cool but given the horrible mission designs, stupid combat and broken traversal system this is just the worst of a quickly diminishing series. If you are remotely interested in just the tomb raiding/historical side then forget this game. It simply isn't worth the bad design.

    Finally, the fact that every time you quit for the night and then resume the next day it kicks you back to the main menu is unacceptable in this day and age. Every Xbox game should support resuming. If you can't then your game is simply lazy. There are far heavier games that have no problem with this so this is just plain unrealistic in the modern game world.    … Expand
  11. Spiralus
    Jan 4, 2020
    2
    You know what? I just can't get behind platformer style linear jump puzzles in an adventure game that's supposed to be immersive. You're constantly just wondering what direction to push to get lara to climb the way the devs wanted. It's an archaic mechanism that just doesn't belong in this decade. It's boring, it's dull witted, it's lazy. I quit the game forever when Lara, gazing up at aYou know what? I just can't get behind platformer style linear jump puzzles in an adventure game that's supposed to be immersive. You're constantly just wondering what direction to push to get lara to climb the way the devs wanted. It's an archaic mechanism that just doesn't belong in this decade. It's boring, it's dull witted, it's lazy. I quit the game forever when Lara, gazing up at a giant clock-work looking monolith straight out of Prince of Persia with spikes moving on it that you just know you're going to be climbing all over in a very specific way. . . and says, "wow it's survived after all of these earthquakes and natural disasters." and I thought to myself - "ya Lara - you're right this is stupid AF. I'm stupid for playing this garbage."… Expand
  12. danishwonder
    Jan 19, 2023
    0
    How many times do you need to fall off the cliff to get bored and destroy the disk in a rage?
  13. Kingdim
    Dec 18, 2020
    0
    Why Tomb Raider, at the origin had great success ?
    Crazy level design and HARD puzzles (find keys, mechanism, try to find a way by climbing, etc.), loneliness and immersion with great dark ambient music, precise gameplay (with a clear view where you can go or not), great OST, different kind of levels (for example, in TR2 you had China, Italy, a boat in the sea).
    What Is Shadow of the    Why Tomb Raider, at the origin had great success ?
    Crazy level design and HARD puzzles (find keys, mechanism, try to find a way by climbing, etc.), loneliness and immersion with great dark ambient music, precise gameplay (with a clear view where you can go or not), great OST, different kind of levels (for example, in TR2 you had China, Italy, a boat in the sea).

    What Is Shadow of the Tomb Raider ? A game that has nothing to do with Tomb Raider and its spirit, who died in the reboot in my opinion.

    So basically, it's a walking simulation, in a fake open world (you can't climb 80% of the stuff). 70% of the gameplay is hunting, picking stuffs (in nature or reading useless stuffs). Everything is scripted when you explore the tombs, you have no liberty at all and you have to take THE way the devs wanted you to take). YOU DON'T HAVE TO THINK, except for some littles puzzles in very few moments. The firts tomb raider were way HARDER and better in everything.

    Basically so : useless side quests, useless story, useless characters (yeah, the fat latino with you is useless, Lara needs to be alone and don't talk, the immersion in levels normally have to do the talk if you understand what I mean), broken stealth system, too many cutscenes and dialogues, you collect things that you will never use, the map system is horrible.

    The only thing positive is the aestheticism in the game, that's all.

    I finish the game in 20 hours in hard mode doing a big part part of the side quests (thing that would be unconceivable with the first tomb raider). 80% of my deaths were due to : stealth that doesn't work, broken gameplay when you climb etc). Basically it's a straight line, and if you try to think and try other possible ways, you will die...

    Tomb raider needs to stop trying to copy the other games and come back to what make the success : a very hard game with crazy level design, immersion (you have to feel trap where you are). No no no and no, tomb raider is NOT a RPG with quests with talks to useless characters. That's the fate of video games nowadays (unfortunately) : you wanna please for a large public to make money, with everything is scripted with no savor! TOMB RAIDER 1 is way better than this piece of s****, believe me !    … Expand
  14. Hinnay
    Jul 28, 2020
    3
    O jogo retira basicamente todas as mecânicas que tornam os outros jogos tão interessantes e de tirar o fôlego, como cenas rápidas e alta ação, e as mecânicas que ficam não passam de uma cópia, até mesmo em suas armas e animações sendo iguais
  15. guimaster90
    Dec 25, 2020
    0
    This is not only the worst Lara Croft game this game is the one of the worst games I played in years. It is basically a walking simulator.
  16. Sadra_The_Gamer
    Jun 4, 2023
    4
    The worst Tomb Raider game in this trilogy, i just wasted my time and money on this trash!
    - AI of enemeis is horrible
    - When you damage someone in the game, no blood is shed from that person - Story is horrible and cliched - Face animations are sometimes awful - Shooting gameplay of the game when using firearms is outdated - The antagonist is a disaster - After a time playing this    The worst Tomb Raider game in this trilogy, i just wasted my time and money on this trash!
    - AI of enemeis is horrible
    - When you damage someone in the game, no blood is shed from that person
    - Story is horrible and cliched
    - Face animations are sometimes awful
    - Shooting gameplay of the game when using firearms is outdated
    - The antagonist is a disaster
    - After a time playing this game, it gets boring and cliched
    - Glitches!
    - Some problems in lighting
    - Awful dialogues
    - Terrible ending    … Expand
  17. Umjogador
    Jun 7, 2023
    0
    Spoiler alert! Another mediocre optimization for the new generation...The game was already cool, but for the current generation is not worth anything anymore, ridiculous optimization, 900p for the Xbox series s. I thought of buying but after the gameplays I saw I decided to save my money, I will spend on games that are really worth it and not in a garbage of this totally dated

Awards & Rankings

31
#31 Best Xbox One Game of 2018
10
#10 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
6
#6 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 56 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 51 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 56
  3. Negative: 0 out of 56
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 9, 2019
    80
    It’s a very solid game, lacking any surprises or a wow factor, but boasting outstanding level design, very satisfying exploration and beautiful graphics. [11/2018, p.68]
  2. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Nov 21, 2018
    60
    Solid yet underwhelming, shadow fails to send Lara out on a high. [Dec 2018, p.75]
  3. The Sydney Morning Herald
    Sep 26, 2018
    85
    Dark and dirty but also full of fun and discovery, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is rife with jungle mysteries, embellished history, gratifying puzzles and Lara Croft's personal struggles. With more open world exploration, more climbing, more tombs and more options for combat, it's a familiar but improved adventure and a gripping conclusion to the trilogy.
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