Hallucinogenic arrows are an odd one to hold back for so long in the story, given how they were regularly demoed prior to release, making them more useful for a New Game + run through. Oddly, some of her new tricks are only unlocked quite deep into the game, as rewards for completing Challenge Tombs, or are tucked away in the sprawling new skill tree that gives you so many options within its three branches. It feels like she reaches her lowest point in a particularly action packed stretch of the game, before coming back to a form of redemption and closure through the final act. The stealth kill animations are still as visceral as mainstream video games get, enemies get strung up in trees, and the story takes Lara to some darker places both figuratively and literally. Honestly, Lara is just vicious in this game, as she has been since 2013’s reboot. Breaking line of sight after you’ve been discovered lets you shift from going loud, to stealth and back again. Sure, you can still hunker down behind cover and play like a traditional third person shooter, but the fearful reactions of the Trinity soldiers are more justified when you’re striking from the bushes, from the trees, covering yourself in mud Predator-style and hiding in tree roots. That’s another area that has been expanded upon in Shadow, with the ability to break from combat and revert to stealth helping to emphasise the fragility of Lara in a gunfight.
There’s a disconnect for me between her character growth and the brutality of the combat on show.
WHERE IS THE LOST CITY TOMB RAIDER SKIN
There’s also some real strain in her and Jonah’s friendship at some points, as her single-minded pursuit of Trinity puts others at risk, but it feels like the lessons that Lara learns along the way are only skin deep. Paititi helps to throw this into a different light though, where there’s more lives at stake than just the core and guest cast. The story weaves together and wraps up some of the narrative strands of the previous two games, most importantly the threat that Trinity continues to pose to the world and the role that Lara’s father had through his own treasure hunting escapades. Brace yourself for some underwater stealth, as you hide in weeds to avoid angry eels and schools of piranhas. There’s also more swimming sections with improved controls that make getting from one pocket of air to the next easier. It’s a great looking game, but I do wish Lara’s flashlight was on a bit more often to help with puddles of absolute darkness. Shadow symbolically emphasises descent and darkness through its environments, from the shade given by the jungle to the near pitch blackness of certain crypts and passageways. Shadow artfully blends different types of traversal together at points, bringing certain combinations together in interesting and challenging ways that add a real thrill to the action. Lara’s movements will be instantly familiar, but are augmented most notably by a new rappelling cable, seamlessly switching from clambering around on soft rock to sliding down to pendulum along a wall, swing toward a ledge or simply descend into the abyss. Getting through the world is a joy as it pushes the limits of believability. It’s not the only hub in the game, but it is by far the most impressive and the one where you spend the most time. It’s a big city that’s easy to get lost in, stacked with the secret boxes and collectible bits of loot that you can find throughout the game, tons of people to talk to, llamas to pet, and branches off into the nearby jungles and temples. The centrepiece of this new adventure is Paititi, where instead of uncovering a long lost city of dead, Lara stumbles into a bustling vibrant civilisation right in the heart of the Peruvian jungles that has remained almost untouched by the outer world. If anything, she’s even more obsessive in her pursuit of Trinity, doing anything she can to get one step ahead and inadvertently setting into motion a cataclysmic chain of events. Thrust into one ordeal in the first game, before chasing after her father’s legacy and butting up against Trinity in the second, not much has changed as Shadow of the Tomb Raider open.
Since 2013’s Tomb Raider reboot, Lara Croft has been trying to find herself and her role in the world.
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