Shadow of the Tomb Raider; it’s a good game overall I do like to play the game, it was enjoyable but it wasn’t captivating like Tomb Raider or Rise of the Tomb Raider. It honestly; and truly felt rushed and I didn’t like it simply because of that and it just didn’t sit right with me.
Now I know what you’re thinking but Daniel it’s a triple-A game and okay it’s good, they did put a lot of money into its development, and the quality in terms of its artistic designs is wildly breathtaking but I still didn’t care for it and I’ll tell you why.
If you have played the predecessor titles like I have you get to learn about Trinity the organization responsible for the death of Lara Crofts’s father and her mother. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at the very start of the game before everything you just casually meet the guy in Mexico who just happens to run all of Trinity, no build-up, no hype, oh it’s just this middle-aged man with gray hair who just happens to be looking for something in Mexico.
There is the villain he’s right there, and to add insult to injury and since you are Lara Croft you want to stop them, you want to do what is needed to prevent them from getting their hands on whatever it is they are after; even if it means you jump-start the apocalypse and the end of the world as a whole.
Congratulations you are now the villain of the story for the first twenty minutes so while you brood over what you have done and you have to face off with the consequences of your actions. The entire storyline for the game is primarily built around your hatred for Trinity for them killing your family but the interactions with Trinity are so few and far between you wonder when you will see them again, even after meeting the notorious leader of Trinity the interactions with him are even less than what you’d imagine.
Even Lara Crofts’s’s mother in Rise of the Tomb Raider had more appearances throughout the story which helped aid in the development of the plot. You knew just from playing that there was a lot more at stake for Lara in Rise of the Tomb Raider that this isn’t just a fight about an ancient relic that involved Jesus Christ but a connection between her mother and her.
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, you want to feel something for this villain you want to try and see things from his perspective you want to know more about him and all you really get is. Oh, I’m an Aztec, and I kind of run things in this super hidden city and I got to cut out people’s hearts now because you jump-started the Apocalypse; Thanks, Lara!
His character as a whole feels watered down with very little world-building involved in his character, and even the person who directly killed Lara Crofts in mother in Rise of the Tomb Raider is overplayed in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. You know this person killed your mother, he could have killed you but he didn’t and he says he should have. The banter and disgust you want to feel for this person you want to have come full circle and you want to get that revenge by fighting him in some great amazing and epic battle…. Only for him to be killed by some Aztecs who just kind of happens to live in a cave. 
Its story from a writing perspective is weak, I am not hanging onto what’s going to happen to these characters except Jonah because he’s been around for three games and I am actively involved in hoping he doesn’t kick the bucket; they even give him a love interest good for him! But even that feels painfully rushed like a love-at-first-sight kind of deal.
Now in terms of the actual gameplay, it remains pretty solid and straightforward with new additions to the combat mechanics such as hiding yourself in mud to sneak up on enemies, outside of that it’s pretty much the same as the modern Tomb Raider games. 
You get to have a variety of guns several dozen in fact I think I have like seven or eight bows at this point the DLC bow just happens to outclass every single one in every single regard and for most of the game even despite getting a vast variety and assortment of weaponry you will consistently be using the bow over every other weapon.
Even if you have seven different shotguns, automatic rifles, pistols, and so on, you will always and primarily use the bow at points in the game also it restricts what you can wear and equip actively; leaving only the option of the bow.
The same is applied for cosmetic costumes which in this game give you passive buffs now with the bonus of crafting and combining different outfit pieces from Tombs and Catacombs to get a combination you would be content with, but the DLC outfits are by default better if you invested into them.
The game as a whole like any other of the modern Tomb Raiders is breathtaking in terms of its visual appearance. It’s nice to look at and fun to play but my biggest issue with the game is simply its story being incredibly weak, and despite the vast variety of equipment they included you rarely get to use most of it because the story locks you out of it.
There still is a lot to do in the game, other tombs to explore other people to maim and adventures to be had but if I had to pick a Tomb Raider title that best represents the current run of the franchise I still would pick the first one.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider I feel in time will become the black sheep of the new titles, but what do I know I’m just a casual reviewer and the opinions are my own. If you want to play it you can download it from Steam as I did.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!