Tomb Raider reboot trilogy post-mortem – Reader’s Feature

A reader looks back at all three recent Tomb Raider games and discusses what lessons he thinks should be learned for the next game.

I thought I’d share my thoughts on the now-completed Tomb Raider reboot trilogy, what I think worked, and what I think could have been better. And some thoughts on where the series could go from here. I hope you enjoy it!

Tomb Raider

Starting with the first game then. Tomb Raider was criticised at the time for being too combat-heavy and featuring no tombs worthy of the name. However, now that the series is completed, this game can now be seen as the first act of three and not a complete ‘Tomb Raider experience’ in and of itself. And as such I think these design choices can be justified, from gameplay, story, and commercial perspectives.

In gameplay and story terms, at the start of the game a young and naïve Lara finds herself shipwrecked, injured, hungry, and alone, and the first hour or so does a great job of impressing on you just how desperate her situation is. Strung up upside down in a cave, she immediately hurts herself further when trying to escape, is attacked by and forced to kill wolves, hunts and, apologetically, kills and eats her first deer, and shortly afterwards is threatened with rape and kills, with no little distress, her first human.

The remainder of the game sees her becoming more confident in her abilities, which is mirrored by her improving arsenal, culminating in one of the best weapons ever (competition bow with armour-piercing, napalm-tipped arrows anyone?) and defeating the main antagonist with the iconic twin-pistols from Tomb Raider games of yore.

The game is, unquestionably, combat-focused with enjoyable platforming in-between, a few stealth sections, and optional ‘hidden’ (actually very clearly signposted) and very straightforward tombs. It is technically open world, with the ability to fast travel to any previous location, but there’s never any need to do this, save for collecting the litter (‘collectables’) the developers have left for you to pick up post-completion (if that’s your bag).

It moves at a terrific pace, punctuated by some exciting set pieces (à la Uncharted) and is gorgeous to look at. It’s also quite short: 10 to 12 hours to complete the story. From a commercial perspective, Crystal Dynamic’s vision is now clear – create a commercially-successful game to create a mainstream audience for the rebooted Tomb Raider franchise, and then to add back in the more traditional Tomb Raider elements (i.e. puzzles and, erm, actual tombs) in the sequels.

As an aside, I think the criticism of Lara being a cold-blooded killer, and this jarring with the posh-yet-driven-girl-with daddy-issues she is portrayed as in cut scenes, is a bit unfair. References are (albeit infrequently) made to how many people she has killed throughout the game, and the concluding scene has someone say to her she now has a cold look in her eye, and that he doesn’t want to know where it came from.

Whilst this doesn’t quite justify her ‘normal person’ cut scene demeanour, the game does acknowledge that she was damaged by her experience in becoming a survivor. It’s also a wider industry problem that affects pretty much any game that involves shooting humans (i.e. 90% of games!), and one I don’t have an answer for. And the combat in the game is brilliant – it would have been a shame if this had been reduced.

Rise and Shadow

The two sequels share a similar gameplay structure to each other – a linear route though the story involving platforming, combat and puzzle-solving, some actual tombs, some great set pieces, and a few semi-open world hubs, where you can take on side quest, Ubisoft-fashion. Combat is still a major focus in Rise but is less so in Shadow.

Story and character wise, Lara becomes better mates with Jonah from the first game (all other characters she meets, in all three games, are immediately forgettable), she masters her abilities (including learning how to swan dive!) and learns that her actions have consequences. Lara also learns to become ‘at one’ with her environment, rubbing mud on herself for camouflage and using herbs for brief advantages, mostly in combat. Additionally, Trinity emerge as the evil organisation she is out to thwart.

Both games are great, however I think that the semi-open world structure results in a less-focused and slower-paced experience than in the first, to both games’ detriment. The addition of actual tombs and puzzles is a big plus (after all, that is what we came for!), however the side quests are mostly busy work and padding.

This is particularly true for Shadow – the narrative thrust for this game is a race against the clock to stop an apocalypse that Lara herself started. Stopping to do this to help a boy find his dice (or whatever) grates a bit. Yes, I get that she’s being all culturally sensitive and mature, and that’s an important part of her character and I like it, but the cost to the sense of urgency is too great. I think a better structure would have been to organically integrate more of these scenes into the actual story.

The weapon upgrade system is different too, with multiple bows/shotguns/rifles, etc. to upgrade. Personally, I think this is a poorer system than in the first game where you have one of each, and each had its own personality – I became very attached to my fully upgraded bow. In the sequels, I struggled to notice much of a difference between different versions of the same type of weapon.

The Future

What I’d like to see is a game that marries the best of the two different styles – a linear, focused game involving platforming, puzzles, combat (including stealth) and exciting set pieces, mostly moving around and through actual tombs, and with a sense of urgency and wonder. I’d welcome the idea of having multiple ways of moving through an area or of completing a puzzle, but these shouldn’t be open world areas as such.

There shouldn’t be any side quests distracting from the fun stuff, although a few secrets to find on the way would be great. I’m not a massive fan of the hunting – I’m not keen on killing animals just for fun or for resources for a different outfit, for example – so if this dropped out I wouldn’t be too concerned.

Lara’s character could develop further. She’s now firmly established as a survivor and confident explorer, with a conscientious respect for history, people, and their cultures. Maybe she could move on a bit from the daddy issues now – perhaps she could be given a rival to push her on? And maybe this person could also be a love interest?

Essentially then, what I think I’d like to see a modern version of the older style of games, complete with a modern Lara.

And if they can get a T-Rex in there too somehow, that’d be great!

What are your thoughts?