Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration

The Steam Autumn Sale comes to a close in a few hours. For those of you who want to do some last minute shopping, we want to put the spotlight on a couple of games that we think is really worth getting. For this highlight, we look at Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration.

20 years and a lot of games (and clones) in between, we see Lara Croft back in this highly-regarded definitive edition of her best entry in the series yet. But is this two-decade game still up to snuff in a world that’s Uncharted? Read on and find out as we review Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration.

For those of you who live in a tomb, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a third-person action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It is the sequel to 2013’s Tomb Raider, which is a prequel and a reboot (preboot or Requel if you may) of the franchise. It was originally released for Xbox One and Xbox 360 last year and now the PS4 / PC fanboys got something to jump about because a special edition of the game recently hit the shelves.

At its heart, the game focuses on four main mechanics – Combat, crafting (my favorite), puzzles, and parkour platforming. What’s really neat about all of this is how well they all mix together in a sequence. At one point, I remember I was traversing and climbing stuff here and there, using my crafted items, then, suddenly after reaching my intended goal, I’m faced with hordes of various enemies that made me think up of various ways on how to engage each one properly. There are some really memorable moments in the game when all of those elements blend well together that the transition feels smooth and elegant, that, even though there is a lot of variety, it doesn’t feel as scattered as it should be. And that for me, is a big step from it’s predecessor.

So those who played it will ask “what’s new in this special edition?” Well for starters the game includes all the DLCs from the previous releases. But it doesn’t just stop there! There’s also some brand-new content here, most of which come from Blood Ties – an additional story set in the iconic Croft Mansion, a place that we are all too familiar with. It is both a nod and a throwback to the die-hards out there. And to top it all off, the entire sequence can be played exclusively on the PlayStation VR, if you so wish!

Riding on the Croft Manor high is another major content called Lara’s Nightmare, This is basically like the expedition missions in the original game as you see yourself firing at zombies left and right inside the mansion, though a fun addition to the game; it feels somewhat similar if you played the main game that those who want to experience something a bit different will definitely want to go back to Blood Ties.

Adding to the #TBT element here, there are some character skins for Lara that make her look exactly as she did on her first game on the original PlayStation, blocky edges and all!

But what really excites me the most even on the original versions is the cooperative Endurance Mode which merges the tried-and-true Tomb Raider Formula with Survival game mechanics. Everything blends and works well in this mode that I want to see more of this in future installments!

All in our this a really solid experience that is sure to please both the old-school gamers and newcomers in the franchise. It’s been 20 years since Lara Croft leaped in to our screens and raided our hearts, and by the looks of it, she is here to stay.

The Good: