Rise of the Tomb Raider

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☑ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second live for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Writing a review in 2025 for a game that was released in 2016 and that I have played and completed at least 5+ times feels quite strange. Nevertheless, I don't want to pass by without saying a few words about this game. Instead of writing a typical review, I'm gonna share my thoughts as someone who has almost completely finished, even exhausted, the game's content.
In the journey that began with the renewed Lara, I believe Rise of the Tomb Raider is the only game that successfully accomplished its mission. Unlike the absurdity of the first game's promised "birth of a survivor" story in the trilogy, this time Rise of the Tomb Raider is a game that successfully hits its target. I used these expressions cuz Lara turns into almost a terminator just a few hours into the first game, nvm though I still consider that game successful for its time but the 2016 Tomb Raider rly shows us the Lara the developers aimed to portray.
Yes, regardless of which difficulty setting u play on, we're still facing a game that doesn't challenge us too much but at least this time, we can clearly see that Lara has shed her naivetythrough her dialogues, reactions to events and inner thoughts. Lara is now more pragmatic (compared to the previous game) and more resilient against challenges. Based on this analysis, I'd say that the most beautiful and character fitting Lara Croft modeling in the new trilogy is also in this game. However, I must mention a deficiency I noticed without giving a negative mark here. Lara, who feels more lively in response to the commands we give in the third game, appears more pale in this game. I think this might be due to the release year difference between the two games.
While my sentences comparing the games among themselves r still fresh, let me immediately say that compared to the boring environmental design of the previous game, this game is really much more successful.
Not because of the graphic and texture differences between them, but in terms of designing maps, locations and environments, this game is significantly superior. And even raising my claim a notch higher, I must say that I think it's even better than the 3rd game in the series.
The Soviet sections in this game often reminded me of the maps with rusty metal war camps in the first game, and I have to admit that sometimes I found these sections a bit tedious but apart from this, especially in the geothermal valley region and the remaining other areas, I really enjoyed playing every time.
However, I can't say the same praise about the AI of the enemies in the game. Especially on the hardest settings, I saw that the enemy AI went quite off track. Right here, I also want to point out another mechanic I disliked: the mechanism of a special bow we gained after playing the game's DLC and the poisonous arrow that we could use specifically for it is also another thing that looks nice on paper but fails in implementation. Speaking of DLC, it came to my mind that we can only reach a collectible item on the DLC map with an apparatus we gained near the end of the game.
In addition to these, another negative point I want to mention is the sound errors, especially when we start sliding from one place to another on wires, u can notice that the same sound goes into a loop. If u're someone who pays attention to details like me, this can get a bit annoying. I must also say that there r audio sync issues in some metal platform areas.
Apart from this, another issue is that normally many games implement a mechanic known as Coyote Time, which slightly forgives late inputs to create a smoother experience for the player. The same mechanics r certainly available in this game as well but on the contrary, in the surfaces where Lara climbs with her axe, I witnessed many situations where the character dies or cannot complete the movement even in correctly performed actions. This was quite frustrating at times.
Another system that I believe needs to be developed a bit better is the features we unlock from the skill tree with experience points. Since I've completed the game many times, acknowledging that I might be tolerating some of these with my own play style, I must also add the following: to unlock some skills, u need to have another skill that is conditioned as a prerequisite. And these things r so unrelated and non complementary to each other that when finally gain that skill, it's no longer useful to use it cuz u've already progresed in different ways.
Another weak point in the game would be that the game is overly generous with ammo n resources, even on the hardest difficulty. So I never once felt pressured by resource management.
And the items we can purchase from the merchant with ancient coins are somewhat attractive but the rewards from NPC missions are not. Always earning the same type of (bow) reward loses its appeal after a point. And I must also say that most of these missions are content padding. My main motivation for completing them was the related Steam achievement, not the rewards. Overall, these side missions feel reminiscent of the overly forced and unnecessary content often found in Ubisoft titles.
As for the characters beyond Lara, I must say that the side characters and especially Jonah were written very superficially. Especially the characters in the position of the game's main villains r processed in such a clichéd way... Also, considering the weight of the story, the dialogues of friendly NPCs remain so empty and meaningless that they are disappointing in themselves, although they're not as nauseating as the dice losing NPC child incident in the next game in the series.
When it comes to graphics, considering the year it was released and the available technology at that time, nothing negative comes to my mind. Although distant renders look a bit bland and pale, when graphics r considered as a whole this is rly one of the things this game is successful at.
On the other hand, I'd have liked to hear more memorable music in such a game but unfortunately I think the soundtracks quite ordinary in this regard. But there is one track I absolutely adore: I Shall Rise, composed n performed by Karen O. for this game. Its rly among my favorites in game music.
Well, I don't want to drag on at length about a game that most of the community already has a good or bad opinion about. I feel I’ve already said quite a lot about it. In the new generation Tomb Raider trilogy, this is definitely the most successful game in my opinion. So if u’ve read this far thank u for your time.

---{Graphics}---
☐ Masterpiece
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Will do
☐ Bad
☐ Awful
☐ Paint.exe
---{Gameplay}---
☐ Try not to get addicted
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Nothing special
☐ Ehh
☐ Bad
☐ Just don’t
---{Audio}---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ Earrape
---{Audience}---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Everyone
---{PC Requirements}---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Minimum
☑ Decent
☑ Fast
☑ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
☐ Does works with 3rd party modify.
☐ Does not works even with 3rd party modify.
☐ Windows XP and similar older system
---{Difficulty}---
☐ Just press a bunch of buttons
☐ Easy
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Not so easy
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{Story}---
☐ Doesn’t have (Not counting historical stuff)
☐ Something isn’t nothing I guess
☐ Not great
☐ Average
☐ Good
☑ Lovely
☐ Will make you cry or smile a lot
---{Game Time}---
☐ Long enough for a cup of tea
☐ Short
☐ Average
☑ Long
☐ Depends on you
☐ Endless
---{Bugs}---
☐ Never had any
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Few bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ Ruining the game
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
☐ Bad AI bots
-재미있게잘하고있는디요... 왜 산지 일주일만에 8000원으로 세일하는거임? 저 59000원 정가로 줬는데... 너무 슬프군,

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☑ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☐ Old Fashioned
☑ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☑ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Okay so first thing first... I'm totally biased towards the game, the "Tomb Raider" series has to be my favourite game series of all time. So we will talk about the pros first and of course there are few cons too, just one or two.
PROS: This game's atmosphere is stunning you know things are serious when everything is dark and serious kind of tone. The world building is amazing, when the game starts we are in Syria exploring a tomb which was perfect and then the snowy mountains where it became even better, the swimming into shallow waters and drowning the enemy was perfect. The gun-play became more better and the tomb puzzles became even tougher and the puzzles were very well curated, this time the dev's gave us more freedom with the weapons customization, the weapon upgrade system and the crafting was well detailed. The combat was engaging and the side characters were fascinating, the voice acting was fabulous and the cinematic cut-scenes were amazing because the graphics was better in this game compared to the last one. The story is also very well written and the progression feels smoother and not rushed. The villain in this game had a better story and background and felt stronger compared to the last one who was just a "cultist". Overall the game was fantastic and so enjoyable you would love every moment in the game because the world is so gorgeous it's worth exploring. And the dlc "Baba Yaga" was a chef's kiss, perfect dlc.
CONS: Last game "Tomb Raider 2013" you would have instantly felt an attachment toward Lara and would enjoy the emotions the character brings forward but in this game, I've played more than 40 hrs and still didn't feel the same attachment towards the character as I felt instantly in the previous game.. now that maybe subjective, but while everything around Lara changed and became more better and compelling she on the other hand remained same,, there was no character growth overall. What actually happened was that she lost more of her emotions, like in first game Lara cried, showed frustration which made her character show more depth but in this game it's very shallow, maybe because she became more strong with time, with the losses she overcame but seeing Lara all serious and show so little emotions just didn't feel right. Now this is all subjective and maybe it's all in my head but yeah that was all.
Great game 10/10.

This game is absolute awesome... The gameplay and exploration are incredible.
Very good graphics even today standards.
I recommend you to play it if you never did.
Top...

Honestly didn’t think I’d get this hooked. Compared to the 2013 reboot, this one feels like it found its rhythm—less “survival horror,” more “Indiana Jones with a bow and a backpack.”

Exploration is super rewarding. The tombs? Finally feel like actual tombs—clever puzzles, atmospheric design, and just the right amount of challenge. Combat’s fun, stealth is viable, and the gear upgrades make sense without feeling too grindy (unless you’re going for 100%).

Story’s decent—not mind-blowing, but enough to keep me invested in Lara’s journey. Visually, it still looks amazing, even years after release.

If you're into adventure games with a mix of puzzles, action, and exploration, this is a solid pick. Better than I expected—and one of the stronger entries in the series.