Rewrite the story of a video game legend like Lara Croft it is always difficult: few software houses have managed to find a balance between old and new, falling into mistakes that often required a return to origins. Luckily Crystal Dynamics she had the courage to show this inexperienced and weak Lara, and she told us how she became the most famous heroine of the videogame scene. Shadow of the Tomb Raider is the end of the beginning: mysticism and reality are mixed in the adventures of the most famous explorer ever, and this last chapter of the trilogy contains everything that Tomb Raider has always shown us, and more.
The end of the beginning
If the Lara Croft known in the previous titles was an inexperienced girl and little trained in the art of survival, that of Eidos Montreal has now become a skilled hunter: the first impression we will have in fact in playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider will be that of a direct sequel, almost a continuation of Lara's story. This last chapter of the trilogy dictates the end of the beginning, further marking the young adventurer in the most difficult challenge ever. At stake is the world as we know it, and this time all of humanity is in danger. The other humanity that is affected during the game is that of Lara herself: although she always remains a girl with a good heart, with past experiences and the desire to discover and defeat the Trinity, his becomes almost an obsession, which will be perfectly able to reveal to the player his friend Jonah.
In terms of gameplay we are faced with a slight evolution of the brand and genre: this time the adventurer will be able to exploit new hiding places like grass on the wall and mud, capable of hiding you from enemies. The difficulty of the battles has been slightly raised, balancing everything with the possibility of losing one's tracks after being discovered. Tomb Raider therefore discovers a new tactic, which will transform the simplest shootings into true puzzles to be solved with the head and not with the trigger.
The title says so, the tombs are back with great pomp: bigger and more articulated, this time they will also develop underwater: The submarine sector of the game has undergone significant improvements, detailing both in terms of design and aesthetics each individual pool, pond or basin.
Lara's evolution
In the game Lara Croft will be able to rely only on her strength mainly: her skills will be divided into three types, that is scout, Warrior e Looter. For each category there will be more than 20 skills that once chosen will influence your adventure. Customization also finds space in the game experience in terms of difficulty and dubbing: in the first case it will be possible to choose a difficulty level between Easy, Normal, Hard and Deadly Obsession for three components of the game, such as Enigmas, Exploration and Combat; in the second case the game dubbing will be customizable by choosing between the language of the console or the native language of each individual character.
In this way every single player will find their own game in Shadow of the Tomb Raider: not a simple adventure where the player will be a spectator, but a title where every single user will find the definitive experience regarding the new Lara Croft. In this game, the enemies will also be of various types: if humans will be a fundamental part of the clashes that you will find before you, this time even dangerous animals they will dot Lara's path, obviously undermining every single step.
Another adventure
Without hiding behind a finger, Shadow of the Tomb Raider is an adventure that takes advantage of the clichés dictated by Indiana Jones and the old chapters of the saga. Present the incoming catastrophic apocalypse, present the villain on duty and the mega organization, present many cinematic scenes. To approach these parts, the fighting will always be overwhelming for Lara, to the point that only the right tactical approach will give the best result: however, if you love shooting wildly, there is no problem, the new Tomb Raider is still for you.
In technical terms, the game shows itself very well, especially in 4K: the choice between resolution and frame rate allows you to opt for the right experience for the player here too. As for the sound, the game saw the production of soundtrack and sounds with traditional instruments, recreating the atmosphere of this adventure with an exotic trait.
Paititi: the HUB of the game
Shadow of the Tomb Raider sees the arrival of the largest gaming HUB in the saga. Paititi, the fictional city created specifically for the game inspired by Mayan traditions and myths. In this location Lara will find vendors capable of adding equipment to the arsenal at her disposal, NPCs who will build a detailed lore of the game world and some subplots, main and secondary missions, and finally a big psychological component for Lara. The adventurer, after the traumas suffered over time, will only be able to react to the mass of people she will find in the city, explaining and narrating information related above all to her personality, which in this way we will discover, making Shadow of the Tomb Raider the most profound game in regards to the character traits of the heroine.
In short, Shadow of the Tomb Raider adds but does not distort, prefers a more conservative path, making itself the right sequel to the two previous games, avoiding innovating a gameplay that ultimately works, and even well. We do not know what the future holds in the next games, but if with this title Eidos Montreal was able to take what characterized the titles related to Lara Croft, from the next it will be necessary to revise the soul of the game a little, both for technical reasons and to show a new face and a new evolution of the videogame icon that is Lara.
